And the LORDsaiduntoJoshua, Fear not, neither be thoudismayed: take all the people of war withthee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I havegiveninto thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
And thoushalt do to Ai and her king as thoudidstuntoJericho and her king: only the spoilthereof, and the cattlethereof, shall ye take for a preyuntoyourselves: lay thee an ambush for the citybehind it.
And I, and all the peoplethat are with me, willapproachunto the city: and it shallcome to pass, whentheycome out against us, as at the first, that we willfleebeforethem,
(For theywillcome out after us) till we havedrawnthemfrom the city; for theywill say, Theyfleebefore us, as at the first: therefore we willfleebeforethem.
And it shall be, when ye havetaken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORDshall ye do. See, I havecommanded you.
Joshuathereforesentthemforth: and theywent to lie in ambush, and abodebetweenBethel and Ai, on the westside of Ai: but Joshualodgedthatnightamong the people.
And all the people, even the people of war thatwerewith him, went up, and drewnigh, and camebefore the city, and pitched on the northside of Ai: now there was a valleybetweenthem and Ai.
And whenthey had set the people, even all the hostthat was on the north of the city, and theirliers in wait on the west of the city, Joshuawentthatnightinto the midst of the valley.
And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, thattheyhasted and rose up early, and the men of the citywent out againstIsrael to battle, he and all his people, at a timeappointed, before the plain; but he wist not thattherewereliers in ambushagainst him behind the city.
And the LORDsaiduntoJoshua, Stretch out the spearthat is in thy handtoward Ai; for I willgive it intothinehand. And Joshuastretched out the spearthat he had in his handtoward the city.
And the ambusharosequickly out of theirplace, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and theyenteredinto the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
And when the men of Ai lookedbehindthem, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the cityascended up to heaven, and they had no power to fleethis way or that way: and the peoplethatfled to the wildernessturnedbackupon the pursuers.
And whenJoshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the cityascended, thentheyturnedagain, and slew the men of Ai.
And the otherissued out of the cityagainstthem; so theywere in the midst of Israel, some on thisside, and some on thatside: and theysmotethem, so thatthey let none of themremain or escape.
And it came to pass, whenIsrael had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wildernesswhereintheychasedthem, and whentheywere all fallen on the edge of the sword, untiltheywereconsumed, that all the Israelitesreturnedunto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
And the king of Ai he hanged on a treeuntileventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshuacommandedthattheyshouldtake his carcasedownfrom the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raisethereon a greatheap of stones, thatremainethuntothis day.
As Moses the servant of the LORDcommanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of wholestones, overwhich no man hathlift up any iron: and theyofferedthereonburntofferingsunto the LORD, and sacrificedpeaceofferings.
And all Israel, and theirelders, and officers, and theirjudges, stood on thisside the ark and on thatsidebefore the priests the Levites, whichbare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was bornamongthem; half of themoveragainstmountGerizim, and half of themoveragainstmountEbal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commandedbefore, thattheyshouldbless the people of Israel.
There was not a word of all thatMosescommanded, whichJoshuaread not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the littleones, and the strangersthatwereconversantamongthem.