1And the LORD 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: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it. 3So Joshua arose , and all the people of war , to go up against Ai : and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour , and sent them away by night . 4And he commanded them, saying , Behold , ye shall lie in wait against the city , even 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, 6(For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city ; for they will say , They flee before us, as at the first : therefore we will flee before them. 7Then ye shall rise up from the ambush , and seize upon the city : for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand . 8And it shall be, when ye have taken the city , that ye shall set the city on fire : according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do . See , I have commanded you. 9Joshua therefore sent them forth : and they went to lie in ambush , 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 rose up early in the morning , and numbered the people , and went up , he and the elders of Israel , before the people to Ai . 11And all the people , even the people of war that were with him, went up , and drew nigh , and came before the city , and pitched on the north side of Ai : now there was a valley between them and Ai . 12And he took about five thousand men , and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai , on the west side of the city . 13And when they had set the people , even all the host that was on the north of the city , and their liers in wait on the west of the city , 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 a time appointed , before the plain ; but he wist not that there were liers in 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 Ai 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 the LORD said unto Joshua , Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai ; for I will give it into thine hand . And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had 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 they entered into the city , and took it, and 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 other issued 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 chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword , until they were consumed , that all the Israelites returned unto Ai , and smote it with the edge of the sword . 25And so it was, that all that fell that day , both of men and women , were twelve thousand , even all the men of Ai . 26For Joshua drew not his hand back , wherewith he stretched out the spear , until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai . 27Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua . 28And Joshua burnt Ai , and made it an heap for ever , even a desolation unto this day . 29And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide : and as soon as the sun was down , Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree , and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city , and raise thereon a great heap of stones , that remaineth unto this day .
The Renewal of the Covenant
30Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal , 31As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel , as it is written in the book of the law of Moses , an altar of whole stones , over which no man hath lift up any iron : and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD , 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 the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites , which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD , as well the stranger , as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim , and half of them over against mount Ebal ; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before , that they should bless the people of Israel . 34And afterward he read all the words of the law , the blessings and cursings , 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 congregation of Israel , with the women , and the little ones , and the strangers that were conversant among them.