Parallel Bible results for "joshua 8"

Joshua 8

The Message Bible MSG

1 God said to Joshua, "Don't be timid and don't so much as hesitate. Take all your soldiers with you and go back to Ai. I have turned the king of Ai over to you - his people, his city, and his land.

2 "Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may plunder its stuff and cattle to your heart's content. Set an ambush behind the city."

3 Joshua and all his soldiers got ready to march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, tough, seasoned fighters, and sent them off at night

4 with these orders: "Look sharp now. Lie in ambush behind the city. Get as close as you can. Stay alert.

5 I and the troops with me will approach the city head-on. When they come out to meet us just as before, we'll turn and run.

6 They'll come after us, leaving the city. As we are off and running, they'll say, 'They're running away just like the first time.'

7 That's your signal to spring from your ambush and take the city. God, your God, will hand it to you on a platter.

8 Once you have the city, burn it down. God says it, you do it. Go to it. I've given you your orders."

9 Joshua sent them off. They set their ambush and waited between Bethel and Ai, just west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people.

10 Joshua was up early in the morning and mustered his army. He and the leaders of Israel led the troops to Ai.

11 The whole army, fighting men all, marched right up within sight of the city and set camp on the north side of Ai. There was a valley between them and Ai.

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

13 They were all deployed, the main army to the north of the city and the ambush to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley.

14 So it happened that when the king of Ai saw all this, the men of the city lost no time; they were out of there at the crack of dawn to join Israel in battle, the king and his troops, at a field en route to the Arabah. The king didn't know of the ambush set against him behind the city.

15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be chased; they ran toward the wilderness.

16 Everybody in the city was called to the chase. They pursued Joshua and were led away from the city.

17 There wasn't a soul left in Ai or Bethel who wasn't out there chasing after Israel. The city was left empty and undefended as they were chasing Israel down.

18 Then God spoke to Joshua: "Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai - I'm giving it to you." Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward Ai.

19 At the signal the men in ambush sprang to their feet, ran to the city, took it, and quickly had it up in flames.

20 The men of Ai looked back and, oh! saw the city going up in smoke. They found themselves trapped with nowhere to run.

21 The army on the run toward the wilderness did an about-face - Joshua and all Israel, seeing that the ambush had taken the city, saw it going up in smoke, turned and attacked the men of Ai.

22 Then the men in the ambush poured out of the city. The men of Ai were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides - a real massacre. And not a single survivor.

23 Except for the king of Ai; they took him alive and brought him to Joshua.

24 When it was all over, Israel had killed everyone in Ai, whether in the fields or in the wilderness where they had chased them. When the killing was complete, the Israelites returned to Ai and completed the devastation.

25 The death toll that day came to 12,000 men and women - everyone in Ai.

26 Joshua didn't lower his outstretched javelin until the sacred destruction of Ai and all its people was completed.

27 Israel did get to take the livestock and loot left in the city; God's instructions to Joshua allowed for that.

28 Joshua burned Ai to the ground. A "heap" of nothing forever, a "no-place" - go see for yourself.

29 He hanged the king of Ai from a tree. At evening, with the sun going down, Joshua ordered the corpse cut down. They dumped it at the entrance to the city and piled it high with stones - you can go see that also.

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

31 He built it following the instructions of Moses the servant of God to the People of Israel and written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses, an altar of whole stones that hadn't been chiseled or shaped by an iron tool. On it they offered to God Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrificed Peace-Offerings.

32 He also wrote out a copy of The Revelation of Moses on the stones. He wrote it with the People of Israel looking on.

33 All Israel was there, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, standing on opposite sides of the Chest, facing the Levitical priests who carry God's Covenant Chest. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and half with their backs to Mount Ebal to bless the People of Israel, just as Moses the servant of God had instructed earlier.

34 After that, he read out everything written in The Revelation, the Blessing and the Curse, everything in the Book of The Revelation.

35 There wasn't a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua didn't read to the entire congregation - men, women, children, and foreigners who had been with them on the journey.

New Century Version NCV

1 Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Don't be afraid or give up. Lead all your fighting men to Ai. I will help you defeat the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

2 You will do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may take all the wealth and keep it for yourselves. Now tell some of your soldiers to set up an ambush behind the city."

3 So Joshua led his whole army toward Ai. Then he chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night.

4 Joshua gave them these orders: "Listen carefully. You must set up an ambush behind the city. Don't go far from it, but continue to watch and be ready.

5 I and the men who are with me will march toward the city, and the men in the city will come out to fight us, just as they did before. Then we will turn and run away from them.

6 They will chase us away from the city, thinking we are running away from them as we did before. When we run away,

7 come out from your ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give you the power to win.

8 After you take the city, burn it. See to it! You have your orders."

9 Then Joshua sent them to wait in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua stayed the night with his people.

10 Early the next morning Joshua gathered his men together. He and the older leaders of Israel led them up to Ai.

11 All of the soldiers who were with Joshua marched up to Ai and stopped in front of the city and made camp north of it. There was a valley between them and the city.

12 Then Joshua chose about five thousand men and set them in ambush in the area west of the city between Bethel and Ai.

13 So the people took their positions; the main camp was north of the city, and the other men were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into the valley.

14 Now when the king of Ai saw the army of Israel, he and his people got up early the next morning and hurried out to fight them. They went out to a place east of the city, but the king did not know soldiers were waiting in ambush behind the city.

15 Joshua and all the men of Israel let the army of Ai push them back. Then they ran toward the desert.

16 The men in Ai were called to chase Joshua and his men, so they left the city and went after them.

17 All the men of Ai and Bethel chased the army of Israel. The city was left open; not a man stayed to protect it.

18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Hold your spear toward Ai, because I will give you that city." So Joshua held his spear toward the city of Ai.

19 When the Israelites who were in ambush saw this, they quickly came out of their hiding place and hurried toward the city. They entered the city, took control of it, and quickly set it on fire.

20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city. At the same time the Israelites stopped running and turned against the men of Ai, who could not escape in any direction.

21 When Joshua and all his men saw that the army had taken control of the city and saw the smoke rising from it, they stopped running and turned to fight the men of Ai.

22 The men who were in ambush also came out of the city to help with the fight. So the men of Ai were caught between the armies of Israel. None of the enemy escaped. The Israelites fought until not one of the men of Ai was left alive, except

23 the king of Ai, and they brought him to Joshua.

24 During the fighting the army of Israel chased the men of Ai into the fields and desert and killed all of them. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there.

25 All the people of Ai died that day, twelve thousand men and women.

26 Joshua had held his spear toward Ai, as a sign to destroy the city, and did not draw it back until all the people of Ai were destroyed.

27 The people of Israel kept for themselves the animals and the other things the people of Ai had owned, as the Lord had commanded Joshua to do.

28 Then Joshua burned the city of Ai and made it a pile of ruins. And it is still like that today.

29 Joshua hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset Joshua told his men to take the king's body down from the tree and to throw it down at the city gate. Then they covered it with a pile of rocks, which is still there today.

30 Joshua built an altar for the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, as

31 Moses, the Lord's servant, had commanded. Joshua built the altar as it was explained in the Book of the Teachings of Moses. It was made from uncut stones; no tool was ever used on them. On that altar the Israelites offered burnt offerings to the Lord and fellowship offerings.

32 There Joshua wrote the teachings of Moses on stones for all the people of Israel to see.

33 The older leaders, officers, judges, and all the Israelites were there; Israelites and non-Israelites were all standing around the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord in front of the priests, the Levites who had carried the Ark. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Ebal, and half stood in front of Mount Gerizim. This was the way the Lord's servant Moses had earlier commanded the people to be blessed.

34 Then Joshua read all the words of the teachings, the blessings and the curses, exactly as they were written in the Book of the Teachings.

35 All the Israelites were gathered together -- men, women, and children -- along with the non-Israelites who lived among them. Joshua read every command that Moses had given.