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    Joshua · 35 verses

    Joshua 8

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    Joshua held his battle lance towards Ai without lowering it, through the smoke, the pursuit, the counterattack, and the final slaughter, until the whole city had been devoted to destruction.

    The city caught between two firesvv. 1–29

    The LORD sends Joshua against Ai with the whole army, this time permitting Israel to keep its plunder and livestock, and Joshua arranges the sort of retreat that makes an enemy feel wonderfully clever. One force lies in ambush between Bethel and Ai while the main army approaches from the north. The king of Ai comes out early, and every man of Ai and Bethel follows the fleeing Israelites, leaving the city wide open. Then Joshua raises his battle lance. The ambush enters Ai, captures it, and sets it on fire; the smoke turns the pursuit into a trap. The men of Ai are struck down between the two Israelite forces, their king is brought alive to Joshua, and the city is put to the sword. Twelve thousand men and women fall. Israel takes the cattle and plunder, Ai becomes a permanent heap of ruins, and the king's body is taken down at sunset, thrown at the city gate, and covered with stones—a remarkably full itinerary for one corpse.

    An altar, and every wordvv. 30–35

    After the fighting, Joshua builds an altar on Mount Ebal from uncut stones, offers burnt offerings and peace offerings, and writes a copy of the law of Moses on the stones. Israel gathers around the ark, with the Levitical priests carrying it, half before Mount Gerizim and half before Mount Ebal. Joshua then reads the blessings and curses aloud. The final emphasis is delightfully exhaustive: no word commanded by Moses is omitted, and the audience includes women, little ones, and foreigners living among them. After a city burned to a heap, the chapter insists on a complete reading.

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Josh 8:1Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

    2. Josh 8:2And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”

    3. Josh 8:3So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night

    4. Josh 8:4with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.

    5. Josh 8:5Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

    6. Josh 8:6They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,

    7. Josh 8:7you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

    8. Josh 8:8And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”

    9. Josh 8:9So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.

    10. Josh 8:10Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.

    11. Josh 8:11Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.

    12. Josh 8:12Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

    13. Josh 8:13So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

    14. Josh 8:14When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.

    15. Josh 8:15Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.

    16. Josh 8:16Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

    17. Josh 8:17Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.

    18. Josh 8:18Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,

    19. Josh 8:19and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

    20. Josh 8:20When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.

    21. Josh 8:21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

    22. Josh 8:22Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.

    23. Josh 8:23But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

    24. Josh 8:24When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.

    25. Josh 8:25A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.

    26. Josh 8:26Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.

    27. Josh 8:27Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

    28. Josh 8:28So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

    29. Josh 8:29He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.

    30. Josh 8:30At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,

    31. Josh 8:31just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

    32. Josh 8:32And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

    33. Josh 8:33All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

    34. Josh 8:34Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.

    35. Josh 8:35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 238 passages were voted onto 32 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 1Joshua 1:9Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
    • 31Deuteronomy 27:5–7Moreover, you are to build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You must not use any iron tool on them.
    • 1Deuteronomy 1:21See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
    • 1Deuteronomy 7:18But do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:
    • 1Deuteronomy 31:8The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
    • 31Exodus 20:24–25You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
    • 33Deuteronomy 11:29When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
    • 1Joshua 6:2And the LORD said to Joshua, “Behold, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty men of valor.
    • 2Deuteronomy 20:14But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.
    • 26Exodus 17:11–12As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed.
    • 35Deuteronomy 31:12Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law.
    • 18Joshua 8:26Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.
    • 22Deuteronomy 7:2and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
    • 27Joshua 8:2And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”
    • 28Deuteronomy 13:16And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.
    • 30Deuteronomy 27:4–6And when you have crossed the Jordan, you are to set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I am commanding you today, and you are to coat them with plaster.

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