1And Jehovah said unto Joshua , Fear not , neither be thou dismayed : take all the people of war with thee , and arise , go up to Ai ; see , I have given into thy hand the king of Ai , and his people , and his city , and his land; 2and thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king : only the spoil thereof , and the cattle thereof , shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: set thee an ambush for the city behind it . 3So Joshua arose , and all the people of war , to go up to Ai : and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men , the mighty men of valor , and sent them forth by night . 4And he commanded them , saying, Behold , ye shall lie in ambush against the city , behind the city ; go not very far from the city , but be ye all ready : 5and I , and all the people that are with me , will approach unto the city . And it shall come to pass , when they come out against us , as at the first , that we will flee before them ; 6and they will come out after us , till we have drawn them away from the city ; for they will say, They flee before us , as at the first : so we will flee before them ; 7and ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city : for Jehovah your God will deliver it into your hand . 8And it shall be , when ye have seized upon the city , that ye shall set the city on fire ; according to the word of Jehovah shall ye do : see , I have commanded you . 9And Joshua sent them forth ; and they went to the ambushment , and abode between Beth-el and Ai , on the west side of Ai : but Joshua lodged that night among the people .
The Capture of Ai
10And Joshua arose up early in the morning , and mustered the people , and went up , he and the elders of Israel , before the people to Ai . 11And all the people , even the men of war that were with him , went up , and drew nigh , and came before the city , and encamped on the north side of Ai : now there was a valley between him and Ai . 12And he took about five thousand men , and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai , on the west side of the city . 13So they set the people , even all the host that was on the north of the city , and their liers-in-wait that were on the west of the city ; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley . 14And it came to pass , when the king of Ai saw it , that they hasted and rose up early , and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle , he and all his people , at the time appointed , before the Arabah ; but he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city . 15And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them , and fled by the way of the wilderness . 16And all the people that were in the city were called together to pursue after them : and they pursued after Joshua , and were drawn away from the city . 17And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el , that went not out after Israel : and they left the city open , and pursued after Israel . 18And Jehovah said unto Joshua , Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai ; for I will give it into thy hand . And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city . 19And the ambush arose quickly out of their place , and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand , and entered into the city , and took it ; and they hasted and set the city on fire . 20And when the men of Ai looked behind them , they saw , and , behold , the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven , and they had no power to flee this way or that way : and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers . 21And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city , and that the smoke of the city ascended , then they turned again , and slew the men of Ai . 22And the others came forth out of the city against them ; so they were in the midst of Israel , some on this side , and some on that side : and they smote them , so that they let none of them remain or escape . 23And the king of Ai they took alive , and brought him to Joshua . 24And it came to pass , when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field , in the wilderness wherein they pursued them , and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword , until they were consumed , that all Israel returned unto Ai , and smote it with the edge of the sword . 25And all that fell that day , both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai . 26For Joshua drew not back his hand , wherewith he stretched out the javelin , until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai . 27Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey unto themselves , according unto the word of Jehovah which he commanded Joshua . 28So Joshua burnt Ai , and made it a heap for ever , even a desolation , unto this day . 29And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the eventide : and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded , and they took his body down from the tree , and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city , and raised thereon a great heap of stones, unto this day .
The Renewal of the Covenant
30Then Joshua built an altar unto Jehovah , the God of Israel , in mount Ebal , 31as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded the children of Israel , as it is written in the book of the law of Moses , an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man had lifted up any iron : and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto Jehovah , and sacrificed peace-offerings. 32And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses , which he wrote , in the presence of the children of Israel . 33And all Israel , and their elders and officers , and their judges , stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites , that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah , as well the sojourner as the home-born; half of them in front of mount Gerizim , and half of them in front of mount Ebal ; as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded at the first , that they should bless the people of Israel . 34And 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 . 35There was not a word of all that Moses commanded , which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel , and the women, and the little ones , and the sojourners that were among them .