Joshua 8
The Capture and
Destruction of Ai |
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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 A'i: see, I have given into
thy hand the king of A'i, and his people, and his city, and his
land:
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and thou shalt do to A'i 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.
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So Joshua arose, and all the people of
war, to go up against A'i: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand
mighty men of valor, and sent them away by night.
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4 |
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:
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5 |
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,
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(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.
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Then ye shall rise up from the ambush,
and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God
will deliver it into your hand.
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8 |
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.
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Joshua therefore sent them forth; and
they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and A'i, on
the west side of A'i: but Joshua lodged that night among the
people.
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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 A'i.
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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 A'i: now there was a valley between them and A'i.
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And he took about five thousand men, and
set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and A'i, on the west side
of the city.
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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.
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14 |
And it came to pass, when the king of A'i
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.
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And Joshua and all Israel made as if they
were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the
wilderness.
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And all the people that were in
A'i were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued
after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
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And there was not a man left in A'i or
Beth-el, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city
open, and pursued after Israel.
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18 |
And the LORD said
unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward
A'i; 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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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.
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And when the men of A'i 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.
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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 A'i.
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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.
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And the king of A'i they took alive, and
brought him to Joshua.
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And it came to pass, when Israel had
made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of A'i 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 A'i, and smote it with the edge of the
sword.
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And so it was, that all
that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve
thousand, even all the men of A'i.
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For Joshua drew not his hand back,
wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed
all the inhabitants of A'i.
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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.
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And Joshua burnt A'i, and made it a heap
for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
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And the king of A'i he hanged on a tree
until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded
that they should take his carcass 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.
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The Law Recorded at
Mount Ebal |
30 |
Then Joshua built an altar unto the
LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
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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 lifted up any iron: Ex. 20.25 and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
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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. Deut. 27.2-8
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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
Ger'izim, 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.
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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.
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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. Deut. 11.29 ; 27.11-14
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