Joshua 8

vayyomer Adonai el-yehoshua al-tira ve'al-tekhat qakh immekha et kol-am hammilkhamah vequm aleh ha'ay re'eh natatti veyadekha et-melekh ha'ay ve'et-ammo ve'et-iro ve'et-artso

GOD said to Joshua, “Do not be frightened or dismayed. Take all the combat troops with you, go and march against Ai. See, I will deliver the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land into your hands.

ve'asita la'ay ulemalkah ka'asher asita lirikho ulemalkah raq-shelalah uvehemtah tavozzu lakhem sim-lekha orev la'ir me'akhareha

You shall treat Ai and its king as you treated Jericho and its king; however, you may take the spoil and the cattle as booty for yourselves. Now set an ambush against the city behind it.”

vayyaqom yehoshua vekhol-am hammilkhamah la'alot ha'ay vayyivkhar yehoshua sheloshim elef ish gibbore hakhayil vayyishlakhem layelah

So Joshua and all the combat troops prepared for the march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, valiant warriors, and sent them ahead by night.

vayetsav otam lemor re'u attem orevim la'ir me'akhare ha'ir al-tarkhiqu min-ha'ir me'od vihyitem kullekhem nekhonim

He instructed them as follows: “Mind, you are to lie in ambush behind the city; don’t stay too far from the city, and all of you be on the alert.

va'ani vekhol-ha'am asher itti niqrav el-ha'ir vehayah ki-yetse'u liqratenu ka'asher barishonah venasnu lifnehem

I and all the troops with me will approach the city; and when they come out against us, as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

veyatse'u akharenu ad hattiqenu otam min-ha'ir ki yomeru nasim lefanenu ka'asher barishonah venasnu lifnehem

They will come rushing after us until we have drawn them away from the city. They will think, ‘They are fleeing from us the same as last time’; but while we are fleeing before them,

ve'attem taqumu meha'orev vehorashtem et-ha'ir unetanah Adonai elohekhem beyedkhem

you will dash out from your ambush and seize the city, and the ETERNAL your God will deliver it into your hands.

vehayah ketofsekhem et-ha'ir tatsitu et-ha'ir ba'esh kidvar Adonai ta'asu re'u tsivviti etkhem

And when you take the city, set it on fire. Do as GOD has commanded. Mind, I have given you your orders.”

vayyishlakhem yehoshua vayyelekhu el-hammarav vayyeshevu ben bet-el uven ha'ay miyyam la'ay vayyalen yehoshua ballaylah hahu betokh ha'am

Joshua then sent them off, and they proceeded to the ambush; they took up a position between Ai and Bethel—west of Ai—while Joshua spent the night with the rest of the troops.

vayyashkem yehoshua babboqer vayyifqod et-ha'am vayya'al hu veziqne yisra'el lifne ha'am ha'ay

Early in the morning, Joshua mustered the troops; then he and the elders of Israel marched upon Ai at the head of the troops.

vekhol-ha'am hammilkhamah asher itto alu vayyiggeshu vayyavo'u neged ha'ir vayyakhanu mitsefon la'ay vehaggay benav uven-ha'ay

All the combat troops that were with him advanced near the city and encamped to the north of Ai, with a hollow between them and Ai.—

vayyiqqakh kakhameshet alafim ish vayyasem otam orev ben bet-el uven ha'ay miyyam la'ir

He selected about five thousand men and stationed them as an ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.

vayyasimu ha'am et-kol-hammakhaneh asher mitsefon la'ir ve'et-aqevo miyyam la'ir vayyelekh yehoshua ballaylah hahu betokh ha'emeq

Thus the main body of the army was disposed on the north of the city, but the far end of it was on the west. (This was after Joshua had spent the night in the valley.)—

vayehi kirot melekh-ha'ay vayemaharu vayyashkimu vayyetse'u anshe-ha'ir liqrat-yisra'el lammilkhamah hu vekhol-ammo lammo'ed lifne ha'aravah vehu lo yada ki-orev lo me'akhare ha'ir

When the king of Ai saw them, he and all his troops, the townsmen, rushed out in the early morning to the meeting place, facing the Arabah, to engage the Israelites in battle; for he was unaware that a force was lying in ambush behind the city.

vayyinnage'u yehoshua vekhol-yisra'el lifnehem vayyanusu derekh hammidbar

Joshua and all Israel fled in the direction of the wilderness, as though routed by them.

vayyizza'aqu kol-ha'am asher (vyr) [ba'ay] lirdof akharehem vayyirdefu akhare yehoshua vayyinnatequ min-ha'ir

All the troops in the city gathered to pursue them; pursuing Joshua, they were drawn out of the city.

velo-nishar ish ba'ay uvet el asher lo-yatse'u akhare yisra'el vayya'azvu et-ha'ir petukhah vayyirdefu akhare yisra'el

Not a man was left in Ai or in Bethel who did not go out after Israel; they left the city open while they pursued Israel.

vayyomer Adonai el-yehoshua neteh bakkidon asher-beyadekha el-ha'ay ki veyadekha ettenennah vayyet yehoshua bakkidon asher-beyado el-ha'ir

GOD then said to Joshua, “Hold out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will deliver it into your hands.” So Joshua held out the javelin in his hand toward the city.

veha'orev qam meherah mimmeqomo vayyarutsu kintot yado vayyavo'u ha'ir vayyilkeduha vayemaharu vayyatsitu et-ha'ir ba'esh

As soon as he held out his hand, the ambush came rushing out of their station. They entered the city and captured it; and they swiftly set fire to the city.

vayyifnu anshe ha'ay akharehem vayyiru vehinneh alah ashan ha'ir hashamaymah velo-hayah vahem yadayim lanus hennah vahennah veha'am hannas hammidbar nehpakh el-harodef

The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising to the sky; they had no room for flight in any direction. The people who had been fleeing to the wilderness now became the pursuers.

vihoshua vekhol-yisra'el ra'u ki-lakhad ha'orev et-ha'ir vekhi alah ashan ha'ir vayyashuvu vayyakku et-anshe ha'ay

For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that smoke was rising from the city, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.

ve'elleh yatse'u min-ha'ir liqratam vayyihyu leyisra'el battavekh elleh mizzeh ve'elleh mizzeh vayyakku otam ad-bilti hishir-lo sarid ufalit

Now the other [Israelites] were coming out of the city against them, so that they were between two bodies of Israelites, one on each side of them. They were slaughtered, so that no one escaped or got away.

ve'et-melekh ha'ay tafesu khay vayyaqrivu oto el-yehoshua

The king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

vayehi kekhallot yisra'el laharog et-kol-yosheve ha'ay bassadeh bammidbar asher redafum bo vayyippelu khullam lefi-kherev ad-tummam vayyashuvu khol-yisra'el ha'ay vayyakku otah lefi-kharev

When Israel had killed all the inhabitants of Ai who had pursued them into the open wilderness, and all of them, to the last man, had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites turned back to Ai and put it to the sword.

vayehi khol-hannofelim bayyom hahu me'ish ve'ad-isha shenem asar alef kol anshe ha'ay

The total of those who fell that day, men and women, the entire population of Ai, came to twelve thousand.

vihoshua lo-heshiv yado asher natah bakkidon ad asher hekherim et kol-yosheve ha'ay

Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he held out his javelin until all the inhabitants of Ai had been exterminated.

raq habbehemah ushelal ha'ir hahi bazezu lahem yisra'el kidvar Adonai asher tsivvah et-yehoshua

However, the Israelites took the cattle and the spoil of the city as their booty, in accordance with the instructions that GOD had given to Joshua.

vayyisrof yehoshua et-ha'ay vayesimeha tel-olam shemamah ad hayyom hazzeh

Then Joshua burned down Ai, and turned it into a mound of ruins for all time, a desolation to this day.

ve'et-melekh ha'ay talah al-ha'ets ad-et ha'arev ukhevo hashemesh tsivvah yehoshua vayyoridu et-nivlato min-ha'ets vayyashlikhu otah el-petakh sha'ar ha'ir vayyaqimu alayw gal-avanim gadol ad hayyom hazzeh

And the king of Ai was impaled on a stake until the evening. At sunset, Joshua had the corpse taken down from the stake and it was left lying at the entrance to the city gate. They raised a great heap of stones over it, which is there to this day.

az yivneh yehoshua mizbeakh la-Adonai elohe yisra'el behar eval

At that time Joshua built an altar to the ETERNAL, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

ka'asher tsivvah mosheh eved-Adonai et-bene yisra'el kakkatuv besefer torat mosheh mizbakh avanim shelemot asher lo-henif alehen barzel vayya'alu alayw olot la-Adonai vayyizbekhu shelamim

as Moses, the servant of GOD, had commanded the Israelites—as is written in the Book of the Teaching of Moses—an altar of unhewn stone upon which no iron had been wielded. They offered on it burnt offerings to GOD, and brought sacrifices of well-being.

vayyikhtov-sham al-ha'avanim et mishneh torat mosheh asher katav lifne bene yisra'el

And there, on the stones, he inscribed a copy of the Teaching that Moses had written for the Israelites.

vekhol-yisra'el uzeqenayw veshoterim veshofetayw omedim mizzeh umizzeh la'aron neged hakkohanim haleviyyim nose'e aron berit-Adonai kagger ka'ezrakh khetsyo el-mul har-gerizim vehakhetsyo el-mul har-eval ka'asher tsivvah mosheh eved-Adonai levarekh et-ha'am yisra'el barishonah

All Israel—stranger and citizen alike—with their elders, officials, and magistrates, stood on either side of the Ark, facing the levitical priests who carried the Ark of GOD’s Covenant. Half of them faced Mount Gerizim and half of them faced Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of GOD had commanded them of old, in order to bless the people of Israel.

ve'akhare-khen qara et-kol-divre hattorah habberakhah vehaqqelalah kekhol-hakkatuv besefer hattorah

After that, he read all the words of the Teaching, the blessing and the curse, just as is written in the Book of the Teaching.

lo-hayah davar mikkol asher-tsivvah mosheh asher lo-qara yehoshua neged kol-qehal yisra'el vehannashim vehattaf vehagger haholekh beqirbam

There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, including the women and children and the strangers who accompanied them.