Verse
BSB
Berean Standard Bible
ASV
American Standard Version
Then
the
LORD
said to
Joshua, “Do
not be afraid
or
discouraged.
Take the whole
army
with you
, and go up and
attack
Ai .
See, I have delivered
into your
hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land .
And
Jehovah
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 ;
And you
shall
do to Ai and its
king as you
did
to
Jericho and its
king, except
that
you
may
carry
off
their
plunder
and livestock
for yourselves .
Set up
an ambush behind
the city. ”
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 :
set thee
an ambush for
the city behind
it
.
So Joshua and the whole
army
set
out
to attack
Ai .
Joshua chose 30
, 000
mighty men of valor and sent them out
at
night
So Joshua arose,
and all
the people
of
war,
to go
up
to
Ai :
and
Joshua chose out
thirty
thousand
men
, the
mighty men of valor ,
and sent them forth
by
night .
with
these
orders:
“Pay
attention.
You
are
to
lie in ambush behind
the city, not too
far from it.
All
of
you
must
be ready .
And
he
commanded
them,
saying,
Behold,
ye
shall
lie in ambush against
the city, behind
the
city;
go
not very
far from the
city,
but
be ye
all
ready :
Then
I and all the troops
with me will advance
on
the city. When they come out against us as they
did
the first time
, we will flee from
them .
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 ;
They will pursue
us until
we have drawn them away from the city ,
for they will say, ‘The
Israelites
are
running
away
from
us
as
they did
before .’
So
as we flee from
them ,
and
they will come
out
after
us ,
till
we have drawn them away from the city ;
for they will say, They flee
before us,
as at
the
first:
so
we will
flee before
them ;
you
are
to
rise from the ambush and seize
the city ,
for the
LORD
your God will deliver it into your hand.
and
ye
shall
rise up
from the ambush ,
and take
possession
of
the city :
for Jehovah
your God will deliver it into your hand.
And when you
have taken
the city, set it
on fire .
Do
as
the LORD
has
commanded!
See, I have given
you orders
. ”
And it
shall
be,
when ye
have seized
upon
the city, that
ye
shall
set the
city
on fire ;
according
to
the word
of
Jehovah
shall
ye
do:
see, I have commanded
you.
So
Joshua sent them out,
and they went to the place
of
ambush
and lay
in
wait
between Bethel
and Ai, to
the west of Ai .
But Joshua spent
that night among the people.
And
Joshua sent them forth;
and they went to the ambushment,
and abode
between Beth-el
and Ai, on
the west side
of Ai :
but Joshua lodged
that night among the people.
Joshua got
up early the next
morning and mobilized
his
men
, and he and the elders of Israel marched
before them
up
to Ai.
And
Joshua arose
up early in
the morning ,
and mustered
the
people
, and went
up,
he and the elders of Israel ,
before the
people
to Ai.
Then
all the troops
who
were with him marched
up and approached
the city .
They
arrived
in
front
of
Ai
and camped
to
the north of it,
with
the
valley between them
and the
city
.
And
all the people,
`even'
the
`men
of'
war
that
were with him ,
went
up ,
and drew
nigh,
and
came
before
the city ,
and encamped
on
the north side
of Ai:
now
there
was
a
valley between him
and Ai
.
Now
Joshua
had
taken
about five thousand men and set up
an
ambush between Bethel
and Ai, to
the west of the city.
And
he
took
about five thousand men ,
and set them
in
ambush between Beth-el
and Ai, on
the west side
of the city.
So the forces
were
stationed
with
the main
camp
to
the north of the city and the
rear
guard
to
the west of the city .
And that
night
Joshua went into the valley.
So they
set
the people,
even
all
the host
that
was
on
the north of the city ,
and their
liers-in-wait
that
were
on
the west of the city ;
and Joshua went that
night
into the midst
of
the
valley.
When the king of Ai saw the
Israelites
, he
hurried
out
early in
the
morning
with
the men of the city to engage
them
in
battle at an
appointed place
overlooking
the Arabah .
But he did
not know
that an ambush had
been
set
up
against him behind the city.
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 the
time
appointed ,
before
the Arabah ;
but he knew
not that there
was
an ambush against him behind the city.
Joshua and all Israel let
themselves
be
beaten back
before them, and they
fled toward
the wilderness.
And
Joshua and all Israel made
as
if
they
were
beaten before them, and fled by
the way
of
the
wilderness.
Then
all the men
of
Ai
were summoned
to pursue them ,
and they followed
Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
And
all the people
that
were in
the
city
were
called
together
to pursue after
them :
and they pursued
after
Joshua ,
and were drawn away from the city.
Not a man was
left in Ai or Bethel
who
did
not go
out after Israel ,
leaving
the city wide
open while
they
pursued Israel.
And
there
was
not a man left in Ai or Beth-el,
that
went
not out after Israel :
and
they
left
the city open ,
and
pursued after
Israel.
Then
the
LORD
said to
Joshua, “Hold
out your
battle
lance
toward Ai ,
for into
your
hand
I will deliver
the
city
. ”
So
Joshua held
out his battle
lance
toward Ai,
And
Jehovah
said unto
Joshua, Stretch
out the
javelin
that
is
in
thy
hand
toward Ai ;
for I will give
it
into
thy
hand
. And
Joshua stretched
out the
javelin
that
was
in
his hand
toward the
city.
and as
soon
as
he
did
so,
the men
in
ambush rose
quickly from
their position.
They rushed
forward
, entered the city, captured
it ,
and immediately
set it
on fire.
And the ambush arose
quickly out
of
their place,
and
they ran
as
soon
as
he
had
stretched
out
his
hand
, and
entered into
the city, and
took
it ;
and they
hasted
and
set the
city
on fire.
When the men of Ai turned
and
looked back
, the smoke of the city was
rising
into
the
sky.
They
could
not
escape
in
any
direction
, and the
troops
who
had fled to the wilderness now
became
the pursuers.
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.
When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men
in
ambush had captured
the city and that smoke was
rising
from
it
, they turned around
and struck
down
the men of Ai.
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.
Meanwhile,
those
in
the ambush
came out of the city against them ,
and
the
men
of
Ai
were trapped
between
the Israelite
forces
on both
sides.
So Israel
struck
them down
until
no
survivor
or fugitive
remained
.
And
the others
came forth
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
.
But
they
took
the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
And
the king of Ai they
took
alive ,
and brought him to Joshua.
When Israel had finished
killing
all the men
of Ai who
had
pursued
them
into
the field and
wilderness, and when
every
last
one
of
them
had
fallen by the sword, all the
Israelites
returned to
Ai and put
it to
the sword as
well
.
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
pursued
them
, and they
were
all
fallen by the edge
of
the
sword, until
they
were
consumed,
that
all Israel
returned unto
Ai ,
and smote
it with
the edge
of
the
sword.
A
total
of
twelve
thousand
men
and women
fell that day —
all the people
of Ai.
And all
that
fell that day ,
both
of
men
and
women,
were
twelve
thousand,
even
all the men
of Ai.
Joshua did
not draw
back the
hand
that
held
his battle
lance
until he had devoted
to
destruction
all who
lived
in
Ai.
For
Joshua drew
not back his hand,
wherewith
he
stretched
out
the
javelin,
until he had utterly
destroyed
all the
inhabitants
of
Ai.
Israel
took
for
themselves
only the cattle and plunder
of that city, as
the LORD
had
commanded Joshua.
Only the cattle and the
spoil
of that city Israel
took
for
prey
unto
themselves
, according
unto
the word
of
Jehovah
which
he
commanded Joshua.
So Joshua burned
Ai and made it a permanent
heap of
ruins
, a desolation to
this day.
So Joshua burnt
Ai ,
and made it a heap for
ever
, even
a desolation ,
unto
this day.
He
hung
the king of Ai on a tree until evening,
and at sunset
Joshua commanded that
they take
down
the
body from the tree and throw
it down
at the entrance of the city
gate .
And over
it
they
raised a large
pile
of rocks
, which
remains
to
this day.
And
the king of Ai he
hanged
on a tree until the
eventide:
and at the
going
down
of
the
sun
Joshua commanded ,
and
they took
his
body down
from the tree ,
and cast
it at the entrance of the gate of
the
city,
and raised thereon
a great
heap
of stones
, unto
this day.
At
that
time
Joshua built an altar on
Mount
Ebal
to
the
LORD
, the God of Israel,
Then
Joshua built an altar unto
Jehovah
, the God of Israel, in
mount
Ebal,
just
as Moses the servant of the
LORD
had
commanded the Israelites.
He
built
it according
to
what
is written in the Book of the Law of Moses :
“
an altar of uncut
stones on
which no iron tool
has
been
used.”
And on
it
they offered burnt offerings to
the
LORD
, and they
sacrificed peace offerings.
as Moses the servant of Jehovah
commanded the children
of
Israel,
as
it is written in the book of the law of Moses ,
an altar of unhewn
stones ,
upon
which no man
had
lifted
up
any
iron :
and they offered thereon
burnt -
offerings unto
Jehovah
, and sacrificed peace -
offerings.
And there in
the
presence
of
the
Israelites,
Joshua
inscribed
on
the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had
written
.
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
.
All Israel, foreigners
and citizens
alike,
with
their elders ,
officers, and judges, stood on both
sides
of the ark of the covenant of the LORD
facing
the Levitical
priests
who
carried
it.
Half of the
people
stood
in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal ,
as Moses the servant of the
LORD
had commanded earlier
, to
bless the people of Israel.
And
all Israel, and their elders and
officers, and their
judges, stood on this
side
of the ark and
on
that
side
before
the
priests
the
Levites,
that
bare
the
ark
of the covenant of Jehovah,
as
well
the sojourner
as
the homeborn;
half of them
in front of mount Gerizim ,
and half of them in front of mount Ebal ;
as Moses the servant of Jehovah
had commanded at
the
first
, that
they
should
bless the people of Israel.
Afterward ,
Joshua
read aloud
all the words of the law —
the blessings
and the curses—
according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.
And
afterward he
read all the words of the law ,
the blessing
and the curse,
according to all that is written in the book of the law.
There was not a word of all that Moses had
commanded that
Joshua failed
to
read before the whole
assembly of Israel, including
the women, the little ones, and the foreigners
who
lived
among them.
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded ,
which
Joshua read not
before all
the assembly of Israel, and
the women, and
the little ones, and the sojourners
that
were
among them.
Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible and American Standard Version. Public domain; source text distributed by BSB Publishing, LLC.; Public domain..