Joshua 8 – NIV & BPH

New International Version

Joshua 8:1-35

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.

Bibelen på hverdagsdansk

Josvabogen 8:1-35

Aj erobres

1Herren sagde nu til Josva: „Vær ikke modløs og bange! Tag hele hæren med dig og indtag Aj. Jeg vil give jer sejr over byens konge og alle hans mænd. Jeg vil give jer byen og det tilhørende landområde. 2I skal gøre med dem, som I gjorde med kongen og indbyggerne i Jeriko, men denne gang må I selv beholde krigsbyttet og kvæget. I skal lægge baghold vest for byen.”

3-4Så gjorde Josva og Israels hær sig klar til at angribe Aj. Josva udvalgte 30.000 krigere og gav dem følgende besked: „I skal lægge jer i baghold vest for byen og være klar til at angribe. 5Når jeg og resten af hæren angriber Aj, kommer alle mændene ud af byen for at kæmpe ligesom sidst. Når vi så trækker os tilbage, 6tænker de: ‚Israelitterne flygter fra os ligesom før.’ Men vi lader dem forfølge os, indtil de alle er kommet ud af byen. 7Så springer I frem fra bagholdet og indtager byen. Herren vil give jer sejr, 8og I skal sætte ild til byen, sådan som han har befalet. Det er en ordre!”

9Med disse ord sendte Josva mændene af sted, og de gik i ly af natten hen vest for byen mellem Aj og Betel, hvor de lagde sig i skjul. Men Josva blev den nat hos resten af hæren. 10Tidligt næste morgen samlede Josva sine mænd og marcherede sammen med de israelitiske ledere mod Aj. 11De slog lejr nord for byen, på den anden side af en dal. 12Om natten sendte Josva endnu 5000 mand af sted, der skulle slutte sig til bagholdet vest for byen, 13men selv gik Josva ned i dalen.

14Ajs konge kunne se israelitternes lejr på den anden side af dalen, og tidligt den næste morgen rykkede han ud og angreb dem på et plateau med udsigt over Jordandalen uden at vide, at resten af hæren lå i baghold vest for byen. 15Da Josvas hærafdeling lod sig slå på flugt og flygtede østpå mod ørkenen, 16fik alle byens mænd ordre til at sætte efter dem. På den måde blev de lokket væk fra byen. 17Der var ikke en eneste mand tilbage i Aj,8,17 Den hebraiske tekst tilføjer „og Betel”, men disse ord findes ikke i den græske oversættelse, LXX (Septuaginta). for alle var med til at forfølge israelitterne, så byen lå vidt åben og forsvarsløs.

18Da sagde Herren til Josva: „Ræk dit spyd ud mod Aj, for jeg vil give dig byen.” Josva gjorde, som Herren havde sagt, 19og da mændene, der lå i baghold, så signalet, sprang de frem fra deres skjul og løb ind mod byen. Den blev hurtigt indtaget og stod snart i lys lue. 20-21Da mændene fra Aj så sig tilbage og opdagede de store røgskyer over byen, var de klar over, at de var lokket i en fælde. Også Josva og de flygtende israelitter så røgen og vidste derfor, at bagholdsangrebet var lykkedes. Israelitterne vendte nu om og angreb deres forfølgere. 22Samtidig kom israelitterne fra bagholdet ud fra byen og angreb fjendens bagtrop. Ajs hær var gået i fælden, og alle blev hugget ned, 23bortset fra kongen, der blev taget til fange og ført frem for Josva.

24Da Israels hær havde gjort det af med Ajs hær, vendte de tilbage og dræbte dem, der var efterladt i byen. 25Sådan blev hele Ajs befolkning, 12.000 i alt, udryddet på en enkelt dag. 26Først da den sidste indbygger var slået ihjel, sænkede Josva spyddet. 27Det eneste, der blev skånet, var kvæget og krigsbyttet, som israelitterne på Herrens befaling beholdt. 28Aj blev forvandlet til en ruinhob, hvilket den er den dag i dag.

29Ajs konge blev hængt op på en pæl, men ved solnedgang tog Josva liget ned og slængte det foran byens port, hvorefter man dængede sten ovenpå, og den stendynge ligger der endnu.

Josva bygger et alter og minder folket om Moselovens bud

30Senere byggede Josva på Ebals bjerg et alter for Herren, Israels Gud, 31efter de forskrifter, der står i Moseloven: „Byg mit alter af kampesten, der ikke er tilhuggede eller forarbejdede med jernredskaber.” Og præsterne ofrede brændofre og takofre til Herren. 32Mens Israelitterne så til, skrev Josva lovens bud på alterets sten.

33Hele folket, deres ledere, administratorer og dommere samt de fremmede iblandt dem, blev derpå delt i to grupper. Den ene gruppe stillede sig ved foden af Garizims bjerg, og den anden gruppe ved foden af Ebals bjerg. De to grupper stod altså over for hinanden, og præsterne, som bar pagtens ark, stillede sig midt imellem dem. Det skete alt sammen, sådan som Moses havde forordnet, at Israels folk skulle velsignes. 34Josva oplæste nu alle velsignelserne og forbandelserne, som Moses havde nedskrevet i lovbogen. 35Hver eneste af Moses’ befalinger blev læst op for denne forsamling af mænd, kvinder, børn og de fremmede, som boede iblandt israelitterne.