Ai Destroyed
1Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2You 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 an ambush behind the city.”
3So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, 7you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. 8When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”
9Then Joshua sent them off, 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 with the people.
10Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai. 11The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13So the soldiers took up their positions—with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
14When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. 16All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. 17Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.
18Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand. 19As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.
20The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. 21For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. 22Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. 23But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. 26For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed8:26 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. all who lived in Ai. 27But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
28So Joshua burned Ai8:28 Ai means the ruin. and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. 29He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.
The Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal
30Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, 31as 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 had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. 33All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. 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 formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.
34Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.
艾城之戰
1耶和華對約書亞說：「不要驚慌害怕。只管率領全軍去攻打艾城，我已經將艾城的王、他的人民、城池和土地都交在你手裡了。 2你怎樣對待耶利哥和耶利哥王，也要照樣對待艾城和艾城的王。不過你們可以拿城中的財物和牲畜。你要在城後設下伏兵。」
3於是，約書亞率領全軍前往艾城。他挑選了三萬精兵，派他們在黑夜出發， 4並吩咐他們說：「你們要在城後埋伏，不可離城太遠，全體保持戒備。 5我會率領軍隊正面攻城，當敵人像上次那樣出城應戰時，我們便逃跑。 6他們必定乘勝追擊，我們便引他們離城，因為敵人一定會以為我們又像上次一樣臨陣逃跑。 7那時，你們便從埋伏的地方衝出來攻佔艾城，你們的上帝耶和華一定會把艾城交在你們手裡。 8你們攻陷艾城後，要照耶和華的話放火焚城。這是我的命令。」 9於是，約書亞派遣他們出去。他們去埋伏在伯特利和艾城之間，就是艾城的西面。那一夜，約書亞住在民眾當中。
10清早，約書亞召集民眾，與以色列的眾首領率全軍前往艾城。 11隨他同去的軍隊都向前推進，來到城外，在城的北面紮營，與艾城相隔一個山谷。 12約書亞選了五千人，讓他們埋伏在艾城和伯特利之間，就是艾城的西面。 13於是，城北的主力軍隊和城西的伏兵都部署好了。當晚，約書亞在山谷裡過夜。 14艾城的王見以色列人兵臨城下，清早便急忙和全城的人起來出城迎戰，在亞拉巴谷附近跟以色列軍交鋒，他不知道城後有伏兵。 15約書亞帶領以色列軍詐敗，沿著通往曠野的路逃跑。 16艾城的人都被召去追趕以色列人，他們追擊約書亞，被誘出城來。 17這樣，伯特利和艾城的人傾巢而出，追殺以色列人，他們的城門大開。
18耶和華對約書亞說：「把你手中的矛指向艾城，因為我要將這城交在你手裡。」約書亞就把手中的矛指向艾城。 19他一伸手，城後的伏兵立即行動，迅速衝進城去，一舉佔領艾城，隨即放火燒城。 20艾城的人回頭發現城內煙氣沖天，卻無路可逃，因為那些逃往曠野的以色列人已掉頭攻擊他們。 21約書亞和以色列全軍見伏兵已經佔領艾城，城中濃煙滾滾，便掉頭攻擊艾城的人。 22伏兵也出城追擊艾城的人。以色列軍前後夾攻，把敵人圍困在中間全部殲滅，無一漏網。 23他們生擒了艾城的王，將他押到約書亞那裡。
24以色列軍在田間和曠野用刀殺盡了追趕他們的艾城人後，又進城殺了留在城裡的人， 25當天被殺的艾城人男男女女共有一萬二千人。 26一直到艾城所有的人都被殺光了，約書亞才收回手中的矛。 27以色列人照耶和華對約書亞的吩咐，只帶走了城中的牲畜和財物。 28約書亞燒毀全城，使城永遠成為一堆廢墟，至今仍一片荒涼。 29約書亞又將艾城王的屍體掛在樹上示眾。黃昏時，他才吩咐人把屍體取下來扔在城門口，又在屍體上堆了一大堆石頭。石堆至今還在。
重申律法
30-31約書亞照耶和華的僕人摩西對以色列人的吩咐，在以巴路山上為以色列的上帝耶和華築了一座祭壇。這壇是按照摩西律法書的記載，用未經鐵器鑿過的原石築的。以色列人就在這壇上把燔祭和平安祭獻給耶和華。 32約書亞又在眾人面前，將摩西所寫的律法刻在石頭上。 33所有以色列人與他們的長老、官員和審判官都站在耶和華的約櫃兩旁，面對著抬約櫃的利未祭司，寄居的外族人和本族人都在場。他們一半人站在基利心山前，一半人站在以巴路山前，正如耶和華的僕人摩西從前祝福他們時所吩咐的。 34隨後，約書亞按照摩西律法書的記載，向民眾宣讀一切祝福和咒詛的話。 35他在全體會眾，包括婦女、小孩以及住在他們中間的外族人面前，一字不漏地宣讀摩西的一切吩咐。
