Parallel Bible results for "joshua 8"

Joshua 8

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.

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.