Study Desk

And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king; only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves; set thee an ambush for the city behind it.'

And they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say: They flee before us, as at the first; so we will flee before them.

And ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

And the LORD said unto Joshua: 'Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thy hand.' And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which He commanded Joshua.

So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.

And they said unto him: 'From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God; for we have heard the fame of Him, and all that He did in Egypt,

And our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying: Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them: We are your servants; and now make ye a covenant with us.

This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and is become crumbs.

And Joshua called for them, and he spoke unto them, saying: 'Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying: We are very far from you, when ye dwell among us?

Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.'

And they answered Joshua, and said: 'Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, unto this day, in the place which He should choose.

'Come up unto me, and help me, and let us smite Gibeon; for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.'

And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying: 'Slack not thy hands from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the hill-country are gathered together against us.'

And the LORD said unto Joshua: 'Fear them not; for I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand against thee.'

Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly; for he went up from Gilgal all the night.

And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.

but stay not ye; pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities; for the LORD your God hath delivered them into your hand.'