Parallel Bible results for "joshua 8"

Joshua 8

Good News Translation w/ Apocrypha GNTA

1 The Lord said to Joshua, "Take all the soldiers with you and go on up to Ai. Don't be afraid or discouraged. I will give you victory over the king of Ai; his people, city, and land will be yours.

2 You are to do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, but this time you may keep its goods and livestock for yourselves. Prepare to attack the city by surprise from the rear."

3 So Joshua got ready to go to Ai with all his soldiers. He picked out thirty thousand of his best troops and sent them out at night

4 with these orders: "Hide on the other side of the city, but not too far away from it; be ready to attack.

5 My men and I will approach the city. When the men of Ai come out against us, we will turn and run, just as we did the first time.

6 They will pursue us until we have led them away from the city. They will think that we are running from them, as we did before.

7 Then you will come out of hiding and capture the city. The Lord your God will give it to you.

8 After you have taken the city, set it on fire, just as the Lord has commanded. These are your orders."

9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to their hiding place and waited there, west of Ai, between Ai and Bethel. Joshua spent the night in camp.

10 Early in the morning Joshua got up and called the soldiers together. Then he and the leaders of Israel led them to Ai.

11 The soldiers with him went toward the main entrance to the city and set up camp on the north side, with a valley between themselves and Ai.

12 He took about five thousand men and put them in hiding west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.

13 The soldiers were arranged for battle with the main camp north of the city and the rest of the men to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley.

14 When the king of Ai saw Joshua's men, he acted quickly. He and all his men went out toward the Jordan Valley to fight the Israelites at the same place as before, not knowing that he was about to be attacked from the rear.

15 Joshua and his men pretended that they were retreating, and ran away toward the barren country.

16 All the men in the city had been called together to go after them, and as they pursued Joshua, they kept getting farther away from the city.

17 Every man in Ai went after the Israelites, and the city was left wide open, with no one to defend it.

18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Point your spear at Ai; I am giving it to you." Joshua did as he was told,

19 and as soon as he lifted his hand, the men who had been hiding got up quickly, ran into the city and captured it. They immediately set the city on fire.

20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw the smoke rising to the sky. There was no way for them to escape, because the Israelites who had run toward the barren country now turned around to attack them.

21 When Joshua and his men saw that the others had taken the city and that it was on fire, they turned around and began killing the men of Ai.

22 The Israelites in the city now came down to join the battle. So the men of Ai found themselves completely surrounded by Israelites, and they were all killed. No one got away, and no one lived through it

23 except the king of Ai. He was captured and taken to Joshua.

24 The Israelites killed every one of the enemy in the barren country where they had chased them. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there.

25 Joshua kept his spear pointed at Ai and did not put it down until every person there had been killed. The whole population of Ai was killed that day - twelve thousand men and women.

27 The Israelites kept for themselves the livestock and goods captured in the city, as the Lord had told Joshua.

28 Joshua burned Ai and left it in ruins. It is still like that today.

29 He hanged the king of Ai from a tree and left his body there until evening. At sundown Joshua gave orders for the body to be removed, and it was thrown down at the entrance to the city gate. They covered it with a huge pile of stones, which is still there today.

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

31 He made it according to the instructions that Moses, the Lord's servant, had given the Israelites, as it says in the Law of Moses: "an altar made of stones which have not been cut with iron tools." On it they offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord, and they also presented their fellowship offerings.

32 There, with the Israelites looking on, Joshua made on the stones a copy of the Law which Moses had written.

33 The Israelites, with their leaders, officers, and judges, as well as the foreigners among them, stood on two sides of the Lord's Covenant Box, facing the levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and the other half with their backs to Mount Ebal. The Lord's servant Moses had commanded them to do this when the time came for them to receive the blessing.

34 Joshua then read aloud the whole Law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the book of the Law.

35 Every one of the commandments of Moses was read by Joshua to the whole gathering, which included women and children, as well as the foreigners living among them.

New International Version NIV

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.

2 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 an ambush behind the city.”

3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night

4 with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert.

5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them.

6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them,

7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand.

8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”

9 Then Joshua sent them off, 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 with the people.

10 Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai.

11 The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city.

12 Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

13 So the soldiers took up their positions—with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.

14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city.

15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.

16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city.

17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.

18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand.

19 As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.

20 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers.

21 For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.

22 Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives.

23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it.

25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.

27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the LORD had instructed Joshua.

28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day.

29 He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.

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

31 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 had been used. On it they offered to the LORD burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.

32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses.

33 All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. 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 formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.

34 Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law.

35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.