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And the
Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou
dismayed: take all the people of war with thee,
and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into
thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his
city, and his land:
02 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou
didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil
thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take
for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush
for the city behind it.
03 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to
go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty
thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away
by night.
04 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye
shall lie in wait against the city, even behind
the city: go not very far from the city, but be
ye all ready:
05 And I, and all the people that are with me,
will approach unto the city: and it shall come to
pass, when they come out against us, as at the
first, that we will flee before them,
06 (For they will come out after us) till we have
drawn them from the city; for they will say, They
flee before us, as at the first: therefore we
will flee before them.
07 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and
seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will
deliver it into your hand.
08 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city,
that ye shall set the city on fire: according to
the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. See, I
have commanded you.
09 Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they
went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel
and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged
that night among the people.
10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and
numbered the people, and went up, he and the
elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 And all the people, even the people of war
that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and
came before the city, and pitched on the north
side of Ai: now there was a valley between them
and Ai.
12 And he took about five thousand men, and set
them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on
the west side of the city.
13 And when they had set the people, even all the
host that was on the north of the city, and their
liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua
went that night into the midst of the valley.
14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw
it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the
men of the city went out against Israel to
battle, he and all his people, at a time
appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that
there were liers in ambush against him behind the
city.
15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were
beaten before them, and fled by the way of the
wilderness.
16 And all the people that were in Ai were called
together to pursue after them: and they pursued
after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel,
that went not out after Israel: and they left the
city open, and pursued after Israel.
18 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the
spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will
give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out
the spear that he had in his hand toward the
city.
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19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their
place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched
out his hand: and they entered into the city, and
took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them,
they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city
ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to
flee this way or that way: and the people that
fled to the wilderness turned back upon the
pursuers.
21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the
ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of
the city ascended, then they turned again, and
slew the men of Ai.
22 And the other issued out of the city against
them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some
on this side, and some on that side: and they
smote them, so that they let none of them remain
or escape.
23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and
brought him to Joshua.
24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an
end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the
field, in the wilderness wherein they chased
them, and when they were all fallen on the edge
of the sword, until they were consumed, that all
the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it
with the edge of the sword.
25 And so it was, that all that fell that day,
both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even
all the men of Ai.
26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith
he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly
destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city
Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according
unto the word of the Lord which he commanded
Joshua.
28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for
ever, even a desolation unto this day.
29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until
eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua
commanded that they should take his carcase down
from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the
gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap
of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God
of Israel in mount Ebal,
31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the
children of Israel, as it is written in the book
of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones,
over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they
offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord,
and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of
the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence
of the children of Israel.
33 And all Israel, and their elders, and
officers, and their judges, stood on this side
the ark and on that side before the priests the
Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of
the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was
born among them; half of them over against mount
Gerizim, and half of them over against mount
Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had
commanded before, that they should bless the
people of Israel.
34 And afterward he read all the words of the
law, the blessings and cursings, according to all
that is written in the book of the law.
35 There was not a word of all that Moses
commanded, which Joshua read not before all the
congregation of Israel, with the women, and the
little ones, and the strangers that were
conversant among them.
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