The Father Hands Ai to Israel
8 1 Then our Father told Joshua, "Don't be afraid or lose courage. Take all the fighting men with you and go up to Ai. I have handed you the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land." 2 "Do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king — keep the plunder and livestock. Set an ambush behind the city."
3 Joshua and all the fighting men set out for Ai. He chose 30,000 mighty warriors and sent them out by night. 4 He commanded them, "Wait in ambush behind the city — not too far off. All of you, stay alert." 5 I and all my people will approach the city. When they come out against us as before, we will flee before them. 6 They will come out after us until we draw them away from the city, for they'll say, 'They're fleeing before us as before.' Then we'll flee from them. 7 Rise from ambush, seize the city, for your Father will hand it to you. 8 When you take the city, set it on fire. Do as our Father commanded. Look—I have commanded you.
9 Joshua sent them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai, but he stayed that night among the people. 10 Joshua rose early, mustered the people, and with Israel's elders led them up to Ai. 11 All his fighting men set out, approached the city, and camped north of Ai, with a valley between them and Ai. 12 He took about five thousand men and set an ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city. 13 So they stationed the people—the whole camp north of the city, its rear guard west of it—and that night Joshua went into the valley's middle. 14 When the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city rose early and rushed out to meet Israel in battle, at the appointed spot facing the Arabah—he and all his people. He did not know an ambush waited behind the city. a a v14 The Arabah is the deep Jordan Valley depression running south from the Sea of Galilee toward the Dead Sea. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back and fled toward the wilderness. 16 All the people in the city were called out to pursue them; they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 No man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel; they left the city open and pursued Israel.
18 Then our Father said to Joshua, "Stretch the javelin in your hand toward Ai—I will hand it to you." So Joshua stretched the javelin in his hand toward the city.
19 The instant he raised his hand, the ambush rose from position, ran into the city, seized it, and quickly set it on fire. 20 The men of Ai turned and saw the city's smoke rising to the sky, with no way to flee, since those fleeing to the wilderness had turned back on their pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that its smoke rose, they turned back and struck down Ai's men. 22 The rest came out of the city to meet them, trapping Ai's men between Israel on both sides. Israel struck them until none survived or escaped. 23 But the king of Ai they took alive and brought to Joshua.
24 When Israel finished killing all Ai's residents in the open field and the wilderness where they had chased them, and all had fallen by the sword until none remained, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the sword. 25 All who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. 26 Joshua kept his javelin raised until he had devoted to destruction all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Israel kept only the livestock and plunder of that city, as our Father commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day. 29 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered his body taken down and thrown at the city gate's entrance, and a great heap of stones raised over it—still there today.
Israel Renews the Father's Covenant
30 Then Joshua built an altar to our Father, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses, our Father's servant, had commanded Israel's people — as written in the Book of the Law of Moses — an altar of uncut stones, untouched by iron. On it they offered burnt offerings to our Father and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 There, before the Israelites, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which Moses had written. 33 All Israel—foreigner and native-born alike—with elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark, facing the Levitical priests carrying the ark of our Father's covenant. Half faced Mount Gerizim, half faced Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of our Father had earlier commanded, to bless the people of Israel. 34 Then he read all the words of the law—blessing and curse—exactly as written in the Book of the Law. 35 Joshua read every word Moses had commanded—leaving nothing out—before the whole assembly of Israel: women, children, and the foreigners living among them.
