Joshua 8

Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid, and do not lose heart. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

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:

NoteAi was a small Canaanite town in the hills a few miles west of Jericho. Like most of Canaan at this time, the land was not one kingdom but dozens of small city-states, each with its own walled town, its own farmland, and its own king, which is why a single town can be spoken of as having a king and a "land." The name Ai means roughly "the ruin" or "the heap."

2You will do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the goods you capture and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city."

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.

NoteAt Jericho everything living and everything of value was "devoted", placed under a ban that meant it could not be kept, sold, or used, but had to be destroyed or handed over to the sanctuary. Taking such goods was treated as theft from God, and in the previous chapter a man named Achan did exactly that and was executed for it. The point of this verse is that the ban is being lifted on the property: the people may keep the livestock and goods this time.

3So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua picked out thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them off at night.

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.

NoteVerse 12 gives five thousand men for the ambush party rather than thirty thousand, and readers have disagreed since antiquity about how the two numbers fit together, whether the smaller group was part of the larger, whether a second ambush was set, or whether the figures come from different tellings. The Hebrew word for "thousand" can also mean a military unit or contingent of unspecified size, which is another way the numbers have been read.

4He gave them these orders: "Listen carefully. You are to hide and wait behind the city. Do not go far from it, and all of you stay ready.

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:

5I and all the men with me will march up to the city. When the men of Ai come out to fight us, as they did the first time, we will run away from them.

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,

Note"The first time" refers to Israel's earlier attack on Ai in the previous chapter, when the men of Ai drove them back and killed about thirty-six of them. The men of Ai are expected to remember that easy victory and repeat their tactics.

6They will chase us until we have pulled them away from the city, because they will say, 'They are running from us, just like last time.' So we will run from 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 you are to jump up from your hiding place and take the city, because the LORD your God will hand it over to you.

7Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

8Once you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See, I have given you your orders."

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.

9So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and waited between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai. But Joshua spent that night with the people.

9Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.

NoteBethel was another town about two miles west of Ai; the ambush party is hiding in the broken ground between the two. Bethel's men join the fighting in verse 17, which suggests the two towns acted together.

10Early the next morning Joshua got up and gathered his men in order. Then he and the elders of Israel marched at the head of the army up to 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.

11All the fighting men with him marched up, came near, and arrived in front of the city. They camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the city.

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.

12Joshua had taken about five thousand men and had them hide and wait between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.

12And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.

13So the men were placed in position: the main camp north of the city, and the hidden group west of the city. That night Joshua went down into the middle of the valley.

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.

14When the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people hurried out early in the morning. The men of the city went out to fight Israel at the agreed place, facing the Arabah valley. He did not know that men were hiding behind the city to attack him.

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.

NoteThe Arabah is the deep rift valley that runs the length of the country, holding the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Ai stands in the hills above its western edge, so the battle line faces down toward it. The Hebrew phrase behind "the agreed place" is uncertain and can also be read as "at the appointed time" or as a place-name; translators differ.

15Joshua and all Israel acted as if they were being beaten, and they ran away toward the wilderness.

15And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.

16All the people in Ai were called together to chase them. They chased Joshua and so were drawn away from the city.

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.

17Not one man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city standing open while they chased Israel.

17And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

18Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Hold out the spear in your hand toward Ai, because I will hand the city over to you." So Joshua held out the spear in his hand toward the city.

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.

NoteThe Hebrew word for the weapon Joshua holds out is not the ordinary word for a spear. It refers to some kind of hand weapon (a javelin, a curved sword, or a scimitar) and its exact meaning is disputed. The gesture is a signal to the men in hiding and, as the verse presents it, a sign of the outcome; a held-out hand or weapon is a standard image of a commander's authority in the field.

19As soon as he held out his hand, the men in hiding jumped up quickly from their place and ran forward. They went into the city, captured it, and quickly set it on fire.

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.

20When the men of Ai looked back, they saw the smoke of the city rising into the sky. They had no way to run in any direction, and the Israelites who had been running toward the wilderness turned around on the men chasing them.

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.

21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the hidden troops had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.

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.

22The men who had taken the city came out against them too, so the men of Ai were caught between Israelites on one side and Israelites on the other. Israel struck them down until no one was left alive and no one got away.

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.

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

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

24Israel finished killing all the people of Ai out in the open country and in the wilderness where they had chased them. When every one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites went back to Ai and killed the people still there.

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.

25The number of those who died that day, men and women together, was twelve thousand, all the people of Ai.

25And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.

26Joshua did not pull back the hand that held out the spear until he had completely destroyed everyone who lived in Ai.

26For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

Note"Completely destroyed" translates the same term used of Jericho in verse 2: to place people or things under an irrevocable ban, so that nothing living is spared and nothing is kept back. Here it applies to the people while, by the LORD's permission, the property is exempt.

27Israel kept only the livestock and the goods from that city for themselves, just as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

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.

28So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent mound of ruins, a wasteland that is still there today.

28And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.

NoteAn abandoned mound of ruins was a familiar sight in this landscape: towns were rebuilt on top of their own rubble for centuries, so a destroyed site left a distinctive flat-topped hill. The Hebrew word used here is the ordinary term for such a mound, and the name Ai itself means "the ruin."

29He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered that the body be taken down from the tree and thrown down at the entrance of the city gate. Over it they piled a large heap of stones, which is still there today.

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.

NoteHanging a body on a tree or post was not the method of execution but the public display of the corpse afterward, a way of advertising the defeat. The law of Moses required such a body to be taken down before nightfall rather than left hanging overnight. The heap of stones over the corpse marks the spot permanently; the same thing was done over Achan in the previous chapter.

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

30Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,

NoteMount Ebal stands beside the town of Shechem, roughly thirty miles north of Ai, a long march from the battle just described, which is one reason readers have long debated whether this ceremony belongs here in the sequence of events. An altar is a raised stone structure on which animals and other offerings were burned.

31He did it just as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded the Israelites, and just as it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of whole, uncut stones, with no iron tool used on them. On it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.

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.

NoteThe rule about uncut stones comes from the law given at Sinai: an altar was to be built of natural stone, untouched by an iron tool, since dressing the stone was thought to profane it. A burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar, with nothing kept back for the worshipers. A peace offering (also called a fellowship offering) was different: part was burned, part went to the priests, and the rest was eaten by the worshipers in a shared meal.

32There, in front of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which Moses had written.

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.

NoteWriting a text on large stones coated with plaster was a known way of publishing a decree or treaty in the ancient Near East, and the law of Moses instructs Israel to do exactly this on entering the land. How much was written is not stated and has been argued over, the whole law, the core commandments, or the blessings and curses read out in the next verses.

33All Israel stood on both sides of the ark, facing the priests, the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD. Their elders, officers, and judges were there, and so were the foreigners living among them as well as those born in Israel. Half the people stood facing Mount Gerizim and half facing Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded earlier, so that the people of Israel would be blessed.

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.

NoteThe ark of the covenant was a wooden chest overlaid with gold, carried on poles, holding the stone tablets of the law; it was the most sacred object Israel possessed and traveled at the center of the nation. The Levites were the tribe set apart to carry it and to handle worship. The "foreigners living among them" translates a term for a resident outsider, someone not born an Israelite who had settled permanently with them, as opposed to a passing traveler; such people had defined legal standing. Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are two facing mountains with a narrow valley between them, forming a natural amphitheatre where a large crowd can be divided in two and still hear.

34After that, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, both the blessings and the curses, exactly as they are written in the book of the law.

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.

NoteThe blessings and curses are the formal lists set out in the law of Moses: the good outcomes promised if Israel keeps the agreement and the disasters that follow if it does not. Ancient treaties between a ruler and his subjects were regularly sealed by reading out such paired lists in public, and this ceremony follows that pattern.

35There was not one word of everything Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read out in front of the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little children, and the foreigners who lived among them.

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.