Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 The LORD said to Joshua, "Don't be afraid or terrified. Take the entire army with you. Start to go up to Ai. Look! I have given the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land into your power.
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And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.
2 Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. But you may take its booty and cattle as plunder. Set your ambush behind the city."
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And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it. ”
3 So Joshua and the whole army got ready to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand brave soldiers. He sent them out by night.
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So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night.
4 He commanded them, "Look. You are to ambush the city from behind. Don't move too far away from the city. Be ready, all of you.
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And he commanded them, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready.
5 I will approach the city with all the people. When they come out against us the same way as before, we will flee from them.
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And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before them.
6 They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city. They will think, They are fleeing from us as before. So we will flee from them.
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And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before. ’ So we will flee before them.
7 But you will rise up from the ambush and take over the city. The LORD your God will give it into your power.
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Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand.
8 As soon as you seize the city, set it on fire. Act according to the LORD's word. Indeed, I have given you an order!"
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And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you. ”
9 Joshua sent them off, and they went to set the ambush. They stayed between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent that night among the people.
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So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Joshua got up early in the morning and mustered the people. Then he and the elders of Israel went up in front of the people to Ai.
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Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 The entire army that was with him went up. They moved in close, in front of the city. Then they camped north of Ai, with the valley between them and Ai.
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And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.
12 He took about five thousand men and positioned them as an ambush between Bethel and Ai to the west of the city.
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He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
13 The people positioned the main camp on the north side of the city and its rear guard on its west side. That night, Joshua went into the middle of the valley.
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So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley.
14 As soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his troops, the men of the city, hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle. They moved out to the battleground on the slopes down toward the Jordan. He didn't know that there was an ambush set against him behind the city.
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And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
15 Then Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten before them. They fled in the direction of the desert.
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And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness.
16 Next, all the troops who were still in the city were called out to chase them. They chased after Joshua and so let themselves be drawn away from the city.
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So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city.
17 No one who hadn't gone out after Israel was left in either Ai or Bethel. They left the city wide open and chased after Israel.
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Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.
18 The LORD said to Joshua, "Point the dagger in your hand toward Ai, because I will give it into your power." So Joshua pointed the dagger in his hand toward the city.
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Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand. ” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
19 The ambush quickly rose from its place. As soon as he reached out his hand, it charged. They entered the city and captured it. They set the city on fire at once.
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And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire.
20 Then the men of Ai turned around. They caught sight of the smoke of the city rising toward the sky. They had no chance to flee one way or the other. The troops who were fleeing toward the desert turned against the pursuit.
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So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers.
21 Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was rising. So they turned and struck down the men of Ai.
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And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.
22 When other Israelites came out of the city to confront them, the men of Ai were caught in the middle. Some Israelites were on one side of them and some on the other. The Israelites struck them down until there was no one left to escape.
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And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped.
23 But they seized the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
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But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.
24 Israel finished killing the entire population of Ai that had chased them out into the open wasteland. All of them were finished off without mercy. Then all Israel went back to Ai and struck it down without mercy.
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When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword.
25 Twelve thousand men and women died that day, all the people of Ai.
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And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai.
26 Joshua didn't pull back the hand that was stretched out holding a dagger until he had wiped out the whole population of Ai as something reserved for God.
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But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.
27 However, Israel did take the cattle and other booty of that city as plunder for themselves, in agreement with the command that the LORD had given Joshua.
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Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the Lord that he commanded Joshua.
28 Then Joshua burned Ai. He made it a permanently deserted mound. That is still the case today.
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So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.
29 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sundown, Joshua gave an order, and they took his body down from the tree. They threw it down at the opening of the city gate. Then they raised over it a great pile of stones that is still there today.
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And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel.
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At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
31 This was exactly what Moses the LORD's servant had commanded the Israelites. It is what is written in the Instruction scroll from Moses: "an altar of crude stones against which no iron tool has swung." On it they offered entirely burned offerings to the LORD and sacrificed well-being offerings.
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just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool. ” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the Instruction from Moses, which Moses had written earlier.
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And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
33 All Israel—with its elders, officers, and judges—were standing on either side of the chest. They were facing the levitical priests who carry the LORD's chest containing the covenant. They included both immigrants and full citizens. Half stood facing Mount Gerizim and half stood facing Mount Ebal. This was exactly what Moses the LORD's servant had initially commanded for the blessing of the Israelite people.
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And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel.
34 Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the Instruction, both blessing and curse, in agreement with everything written in the Instruction scroll.
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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.
35 There wasn't a single word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read aloud in the presence of the entire assembly of Israel. This assembly included the women and small children, along with the immigrants who lived among them.
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There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025