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.
艾城之战
1耶和华对约书亚说：“不要惊慌害怕。只管率领全军去攻打艾城，我已经将艾城的王、他的人民、城池和土地都交在你手里了。 2你怎样对待耶利哥和耶利哥王，也要照样对待艾城和艾城的王。不过你们可以拿城中的财物和牲畜。你要在城后设下伏兵。”
3于是，约书亚率领全军前往艾城。他挑选了三万精兵，派他们在黑夜出发， 4并吩咐他们说：“你们要在城后埋伏，不可离城太远，全体保持戒备。 5我会率领军队正面攻城，当敌人像上次那样出城应战时，我们便逃跑。 6他们必定乘胜追击，我们便引他们离城，因为敌人一定会以为我们又像上次一样临阵逃跑。 7那时，你们便从埋伏的地方冲出来攻占艾城，你们的上帝耶和华一定会把艾城交在你们手里。 8你们攻陷艾城后，要照耶和华的话放火焚城。这是我的命令。” 9于是，约书亚派遣他们出去。他们去埋伏在伯特利和艾城之间，就是艾城的西面。那一夜，约书亚住在民众当中。
10清早，约书亚召集民众，与以色列的众首领率全军前往艾城。 11随他同去的军队都向前推进，来到城外，在城的北面扎营，与艾城相隔一个山谷。 12约书亚选了五千人，让他们埋伏在艾城和伯特利之间，就是艾城的西面。 13于是，城北的主力军队和城西的伏兵都部署好了。当晚，约书亚在山谷里过夜。 14艾城的王见以色列人兵临城下，清早便急忙和全城的人起来出城迎战，在亚拉巴谷附近跟以色列军交锋，他不知道城后有伏兵。 15约书亚带领以色列军诈败，沿着通往旷野的路逃跑。 16艾城的人都被召去追赶以色列人，他们追击约书亚，被诱出城来。 17这样，伯特利和艾城的人倾巢而出，追杀以色列人，他们的城门大开。
18耶和华对约书亚说：“把你手中的矛指向艾城，因为我要将这城交在你手里。”约书亚就把手中的矛指向艾城。 19他一伸手，城后的伏兵立即行动，迅速冲进城去，一举占领艾城，随即放火烧城。 20艾城的人回头发现城内烟气冲天，却无路可逃，因为那些逃往旷野的以色列人已掉头攻击他们。 21约书亚和以色列全军见伏兵已经占领艾城，城中浓烟滚滚，便掉头攻击艾城的人。 22伏兵也出城追击艾城的人。以色列军前后夹攻，把敌人围困在中间全部歼灭，无一漏网。 23他们生擒了艾城的王，将他押到约书亚那里。
24以色列军在田间和旷野用刀杀尽了追赶他们的艾城人后，又进城杀了留在城里的人， 25当天被杀的艾城人男男女女共有一万二千人。 26一直到艾城所有的人都被杀光了，约书亚才收回手中的矛。 27以色列人照耶和华对约书亚的吩咐，只带走了城中的牲畜和财物。 28约书亚烧毁全城，使城永远成为一堆废墟，至今仍一片荒凉。 29约书亚又将艾城王的尸体挂在树上示众。黄昏时，他才吩咐人把尸体取下来扔在城门口，又在尸体上堆了一大堆石头。石堆至今还在。
重申律法
30-31约书亚照耶和华的仆人摩西对以色列人的吩咐，在以巴路山上为以色列的上帝耶和华筑了一座祭坛。这坛是按照摩西律法书的记载，用未经铁器凿过的原石筑的。以色列人就在这坛上把燔祭和平安祭献给耶和华。 32约书亚又在众人面前，将摩西所写的律法刻在石头上。 33所有以色列人与他们的长老、官员和审判官都站在耶和华的约柜两旁，面对着抬约柜的利未祭司，寄居的外族人和本族人都在场。他们一半人站在基利心山前，一半人站在以巴路山前，正如耶和华的仆人摩西从前祝福他们时所吩咐的。 34随后，约书亚按照摩西律法书的记载，向民众宣读一切祝福和咒诅的话。 35他在全体会众，包括妇女、小孩以及住在他们中间的外族人面前，一字不漏地宣读摩西的一切吩咐。
