Parallel Bible results for "joshua 8"

Joshua 8

The Complete Jewish Bible CJB

1 ADONAI said to Y'hoshua, "Don't be afraid or fall into despair! Take all the people who can fight with you, set out, and go up to 'Ai; because now I have handed over to you the king of 'Ai, his people, his city and his land.

2 Do to 'Ai and its king as you did to Yericho and its king; but this time, take its spoil and cattle as booty for yourselves. Ambush the city from behind."

3 So Y'hoshua set out for 'Ai with all the people who could fight. Y'hoshua chose 30,000 men, the most courageous of his troops, and sent them out by night.

4 He instructed them, "You are to lie in wait to ambush the city from behind. Stay close to the city; and all of you, be ready.

5 I and all the troops with me will approach the city; and when they come out to attack us, as they did before, we will run away from them.

6 They will chase after us until we have drawn them away from the city; because they will say, 'They're running away from us, as they did before'; so we'll run away from them.

7 Then you will jump up from your ambush position and take possession of the city, for ADONAI your God will hand it over to you.

8 When you have captured the city, you are to set it on fire; do according to what ADONAI has said. Those are your orders."

9 Y'hoshua sent them out; and they went to the place for the ambush, staying between Beit-El and 'Ai, to the west of 'Ai; while Y'hoshua camped that night with the people.

10 Y'hoshua got up early in the morning, mustered his men and went up to 'Ai ahead of the people, he and the leaders of Isra'el .

11 All the troops marching with him went up, advanced, arrived in front of the city and camped on the north side of 'Ai, with a valley between him and 'Ai.

12 Then he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Beit-El and 'Ai, to the west of 'Ai.

13 Thus the people arrayed themselves, with all the army to the north of the city, and their rearguard lying in wait to the west of the city. Y'hoshua spent that night in the valley.

14 The king of 'Ai saw this, so the men in the city hurried out early in the morning to battle against Isra'el, he and all his people, at a meeting-place facing the 'Aravah. But he was unaware that behind the city an ambush had been laid against him.

15 Y'hoshua and all Isra'el made as if they had been defeated before them and ran off on the road to the desert.

16 All the people in 'Ai were summoned together to pursue them, so they chased Y'hoshua and were drawn away from the city.

17 Not a man was left in 'Ai or Beit-El who had not gone after Isra'el; pursuing Isra'el, they left the city wide open.

18 Then ADONAI said to Y'hoshua, "Point the spear in your hand toward 'Ai, because I will hand it over to you." Y'hoshua pointed the spear in his hand toward the city.

19 The men in ambush jumped up quickly from their place; the moment he stretched out his hand, they ran, entered the city and captured it; and they hurried to set the city on fire.

20 When the men of 'Ai looked behind them, they saw it - there was the smoke from the city, rising to the sky; and they had no power to flee this way or that - at which point the people who had run off toward the desert turned back on the pursuers.

21 When Y'hoshua and all Isra'el saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was going up, they turned back and slaughtered the men of 'Ai;

22 while the others came out of the city against them too; so that they were surrounded by Isra'el with some on this side and some on that side. They attacked them, allowing none to remain or escape.

23 But they took the king of 'Ai alive and brought him to Y'hoshua.

24 When Isra'el had finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of 'Ai in the countryside, in the desert where they had pursued them, and they had all fallen, consumed by the sword, then all Isra'el returned to 'Ai and defeated it with the sword.

25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day, everyone in 'Ai.

26 For Y'hoshua did not withdraw his hand, which he had used to point the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of 'Ai.

27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city did Isra'el take as booty for themselves, in keeping with the order ADONAI had given Y'hoshua.

28 So Y'hoshua burned down 'Ai and turned it into a tel forever, so that it remains a ruin to this day.

29 The king of 'Ai he hanged on a tree until evening; at sundown Y'hoshua gave an order, so they took his carcass down from the tree, threw it at the entrance of the city gate and piled on it a big heap of stones, which is there to this day.

30 Then Y'hoshua built an altar to ADONAI, the God of Isra'el, on Mount 'Eival,

31 as Moshe the servant of ADONAI had ordered the people of Isra'el to do (this is written in the book of the Torah of Moshe), an altar of uncut stones that no one had touched with an iron tool. On it they offered burnt offerings to ADONAI and sacrificed peace offerings.

32 He wrote there on the stones a copy of the Torah of Moshe, inscribing it in the presence of the people of Isra'el.

33 Then all Isra'el, including their leaders, officials and judges, stood on either side of the ark in front of the cohanim, who were L'vi'im and who carried the ark for the covenant of ADONAI. The foreigners were there along with the citizens. Half of the people were in front of Mount G'rizim and half of them in front of Mount 'Eival, as Moshe the servant of ADONAI had ordered them earlier in connection with blessing the people of Isra'el.

34 After this, he read all the words of the Torah, the blessing and the curse, according to everything written in the book of the Torah.

35 There was not a word of everything Moshe had ordered that Y'hoshua did not read before all Isra'el assembled, including the women, the little ones and the foreigners living with them.

New Living Translation NLT

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.

2 You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town.”

3 So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night

4 with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action.

5 When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them.

6 We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then, while we are running from them,

7 you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the LORD your God will give it to you.

8 Set the town on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders.”

9 So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.

10 Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.

11 All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town.

12 That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town.

13 So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.

14 When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town.

15 Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten.

16 Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town.

17 There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open.

18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.” Joshua did as he was commanded.

19 As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.

20 When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.

21 When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai.

22 Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped.

23 Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

24 When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside.

25 So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day—12,000 in all.

26 For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed.

27 Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

28 So Joshua burned the town of Ai, and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.

29 Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today.

30 Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.

31 He followed the commands that Moses the LORD ’s servant had written in the Book of Instruction: “Make me an altar from stones that are uncut and have not been shaped with iron tools.” Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD .

32 And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altar the instructions Moses had given them.

33 Then all the Israelites—foreigners and native-born alike—along with the elders, officers, and judges, were divided into two groups. One group stood in front of Mount Gerizim, the other in front of Mount Ebal. Each group faced the other, and between them stood the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the LORD ’s Covenant. This was all done according to the commands that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had previously given for blessing the people of Israel.

34 Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction.

35 Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them.