1 Then the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear and do not be troubled: take with you all the fighting-men and go up against Ai: for I have given into your hands the king of Ai and his people and his town and his land:2 And you are to do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king: but their goods and their cattle you may take for yourselves: let a secret force be stationed to make a surprise attack on the town from the back.3 So Joshua and the fighting-men got ready to go up against Ai; and Joshua took thirty thousand men of war, and sent them out by night.4 And he gave them their orders, saying, Go and take up your position secretly at the back of the town: do not go very far away, and let all of you be ready:5 And I and all the people with me will come near the town, and when they come out against us as they did before, we will go in flight from them;6 And they will come out after us, till we have got them away from the town; for they will say, They have gone in flight from us as before; so we will go in flight before them;7 Then you will get up from your secret position and take the town, for the Lord your God will give it up into your hands.8 And when you have taken the town, put fire to it, as the Lord has said: see, I have given you your orders.9 So Joshua sent them out: and they took up a secret position between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua kept with the people that night.10 And early in the morning Joshua got up, and put the people in order, and he and the chiefs of Israel went up before the people to Ai.11 And all the fighting-men who were with him went up and came near the town, and took up a position on the north side of Ai facing the town, with a valley between him and the town.12 And taking about five thousand men, he put them in position for a surprise attack on the west side of Ai, between Beth-el and Ai.13 So all the people were in their places, the army on the north side of the town and the secret force on the west; and that night Joshua went down into the valley.14 Now when the king of Ai saw it, he got up quickly and went out to war against Israel, he and all his people, to the slope going down to the valley; but he had no idea that a secret force was waiting at the back of the town.15 Then Joshua and all Israel, acting as if they were overcome before them, went in flight by way of the waste land.16 And all the people in Ai came together to go after them; and they went after Joshua, moving away from the town.17 There was not a man in Ai and Beth-el who did not go out after Israel; and the town was open and unwatched while they went after Israel.18 And the Lord said to Joshua, Let your spear be stretched out against Ai; for I will give it into your hands. So Joshua took up his spear, stretching it out in the direction of the town.19 Then the secret force came quickly from their place, and running forward when they saw his hand stretched out, went into the town and took it, and put fire to it straight away.20 Then the men of Ai, looking back, saw the smoke of the town going up to heaven, and were unable to go this way or that: and the people who had gone in flight to the waste land were turned back on those who were coming after them.21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the town had been taken by the surprise attack, and that the smoke of the town had gone up, turning round they overcame the men of Ai.22 Then the other force came out of the town against them, so that they were being attacked on this side and on that: and Israel overcame them and let not one of them get away with his life.23 But the king of Ai they made prisoner, and took him to Joshua.24 Then, after the destruction of all the people of Ai in the field and in the waste land where they went after them, and when all the people had been put to death without mercy, all Israel went back to Ai, and put to death all who were in it without mercy.25 On that day twelve thousand were put to death, men and women, all the people of Ai.26 For Joshua did not take back his hand with the outstretched spear till the destruction of the people of Ai was complete.27 But the cattle and the goods from that town, Israel took for themselves, as the Lord had given orders to Joshua.28 So Joshua gave Ai to the flames, and made it a waste mass of stones for ever, as it is to this day.29 And he put the king of Ai to death, hanging him on a tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave them orders to take his body down from the tree, and put it in the public place of the town, covering it with a great mass of stones, which is there to this day.30 Then Joshua put up an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,31 In the way ordered by Moses, the servant of the Lord, as it is recorded in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, untouched by any iron instrument: and on it they made burned offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord.32 And he made there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, writing it before the eyes of the children of Israel.33 And all Israel, those who were Israelites by birth, as well as the men from other lands living with them, and their responsible men and their overseers and judges, took their places round the ark, in front of the priests, the Levites, whose work it was to take up the ark of the Lord's agreement; half of them were stationed in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, in agreement with the orders for the blessing of the children of Israel which Moses, the servant of the Lord, had given.34 And after, he gave them all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, as it is all recorded in the book of the law;35 Reading to all the meeting of Israel, with the women and the children and the men from other lands who were living among them, every word of the orders which Moses had given.

1 Dixit autem Dominus ad Josue : Ne timeas, neque formides : tolle tecum omnem multitudinem pugnatorum, et consurgens ascende in oppidum Hai. Ecce tradidi in manu tua regem ejus et populum, urbemque et terram. 2 Faciesque urbi Hai, et regi ejus, sicut fecisti Jericho, et regi illius : prdam vero, et omnia animantia diripietis vobis : pone insidias urbi post eam. 3 Surrexitque Josue, et omnis exercitus bellatorum cum eo, ut ascenderent in Hai : et electa triginta millia virorum fortium misit nocte, 4 prcepitque eis, dicens : Ponite insidias post civitatem, nec longius recedatis : et eritis omnes parati. 5 Ego autem, et reliqua multitudo, qu mecum est, accedemus ex adverso contra urbem. Cumque exierint contra nos, sicut ante fecimus, fugiemus, et terga vertemus, 6 donec persequentes ab urbe longius protrahantur : putabunt enim nos fugere sicut prius. 7 Nobis ergo fugientibus, et illis persequentibus, consurgetis de insidiis, et vastabitis civitatem : tradetque eam Dominus Deus vester in manus vestras. 8 Cumque ceperitis, succendite eam, et sic omnia facietis, ut jussi.9 Dimisitque eos, et perrexerunt ad locum insidiarum, sederuntque inter Bethel et Hai, ad occidentalem plagam urbis Hai : Josue autem nocte illa in medio mansit populi, 10 surgensque diluculo recensuit socios, et ascendit cum senioribus in fronte exercitus, vallatus auxilio pugnatorum. 11 Cumque venissent et ascendissent ex adverso civitatis, steterunt ad septentrionalem urbis plagam, inter quam et eos erat vallis media. 12 Quinque autem millia viros elegerat, et posuerat in insidiis inter Bethel et Hai ex occidentali parte ejusdem civitatis : 13 omnis vero reliquus exercitus ad aquilonem aciem dirigebat, ita ut novissimi illius multitudinis occidentalem plagam urbis attingerent. Abiit ergo Josue nocte illa, et stetit in vallis medio.14 Quod cum vidisset rex Hai, festinavit mane, et egressus est cum omni exercitu civitatis, direxitque aciem contra desertum, ignorans quod post tergum laterent insidi. 15 Josue vero et omnis Isral cesserunt loco, simulantes metum, et fugientes per solitudinis viam. 16 At illi vociferantes pariter, et se mutuo cohortantes, persecuti sunt eos. Cumque recessissent a civitate, 17 et ne unus quidem in urbe Hai et Bethel remansisset qui non persequeretur Isral (sicut eruperant aperta oppida relinquentes), 18 dixit Dominus ad Josue : Leva clypeum, qui in manu tua est, contra urbem Hai, quoniam tibi tradam eam. 19 Cumque elevasset clypeum ex adverso civitatis, insidi, qu latebant, surrexerunt confestim : et pergentes ad civitatem, ceperunt, et succenderunt eam. 20 Viri autem civitatis, qui persequebantur Josue, respicientes et videntes fumum urbis ad clum usque conscendere, non potuerunt ultra huc illucque diffugere : prsertim cum hi qui simulaverant fugam, et tendebant ad solitudinem, contra persequentes fortissime restitissent. 21 Vidensque Josue et omnis Isral quod capta esset civitas, et fumus urbis ascenderet, reversus percussit viros Hai. 22 Siquidem et illi qui ceperant et succenderant civitatem, egressi ex urbe contra suos, medios hostium ferire cperunt. Cum ergo ex utraque parte adversarii cderentur, ita ut nullus de tanta multitudine salvaretur, 23 regem quoque urbis Hai apprehenderunt viventem, et obtulerunt Josue.24 Igitur omnibus interfectis, qui Isralem ad deserta tendentem fuerant persecuti, et in eodem loco gladio corruentibus, reversi filii Isral percusserunt civitatem. 25 Erant autem qui in eodem die conciderant a viro usque ad mulierem, duodecim millia hominum, omnes urbis Hai. 26 Josue vero non contraxit manum, quam in sublime porrexerat, tenens clypeum donec interficerentur omnes habitatores Hai. 27 Jumenta autem et prdam civitatis diviserunt sibi filii Isral, sicut prceperat Dominus Josue. 28 Qui succendit urbem, et fecit eam tumulum sempiternum : 29 regem quoque ejus suspendit in patibulo usque ad vesperam et solis occasum. Prcepitque Josue, et deposuerunt cadaver ejus de cruce : projeceruntque in ipso introitu civitatis, congesto super eum magno acervo lapidum, qui permanet usque in prsentem diem.30 Tunc dificavit Josue altare Domino Deo Isral in monte Hebal, 31 sicut prceperat Moyses famulus Domini filiis Isral, et scriptum est in volumine legis Moysi : altare vero de lapidibus impolitis, quos ferrum non tetigit : et obtulit super eo holocausta Domino, immolavitque pacificas victimas. 32 Et scripsit super lapides Deuteronomium legis Moysi, quod ille digesserat coram filiis Isral. 33 Omnis autem populus, et majores natu, ducesque ac judices, stabant ex utraque parte arc, in conspectu sacerdotum qui portabant arcam fderis Domini, ut advena, ita et indigena. Media pars eorum juxta montem Garizim, et media juxta montem Hebal, sicut prceperat Moyses famulus Domini. Et primum quidem benedixit populo Isral. 34 Post hc legit omnia verba benedictionis et maledictionis, et cuncta qu scripta erant in legis volumine. 35 Nihil ex his qu Moyses jusserat, reliquit intactum, sed universa replicavit coram omni multitudine Isral, mulieribus ac parvulis, et advenis qui inter eos morabantur.