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 Então o Senhor disse a Josué: Não tenhas medo, nem te desencorajes. Leva o exército todo e avança contra Ai, porque agora hás-de conquistá-la. Entreguei-te o rei de Ai, assim como todo o seu povo, nas tuas mãos. Farás com eles como fizeste a Jericó e ao seu rei, mas desta vez poderão guardar o que tiver sido saqueado, mais o gado, para vocês. Ponham uma emboscada por detrás da cidade.
3 Antes que o grosso do exército se deslocasse para Ai, Josué enviou trinta mil dos seus soldados mais valentes para se emboscarem, mesmo atrás da cidade, preparados para entrarem em acção.
5 É este o plano, explicou-lhes. Quando o exército atacar, os homens de Ai virão combater-nos como fizeram antes, e nós fugiremos. Deixá-los-emos perseguirem-nos até que todos tenham abandonado a povoação; porque hão-de pensar assim, 'Os israelitas estão a fugir de nós, tal como fizeram antes!' Será então a altura de vocês saírem da vossa emboscada e de entrarem na cidade, porque é o Senhor quem vo-la dá. Ponham fogo a tudo; é a ordem do Senhor. São estas as instruções que terão que cumprir.
9 Assim aquele batalhão de soldados especiais partiu de noite e emboscou-se entre Betel e o ocidente de Ai. Mas Josué e o resto do exército permaneceu no acampamento em Jericó. Na manhã seguinte logo muito cedo Josué despertou os seus homens e partiu para Ai, acompanhado dos anciãos de Israel, e parou à entrada do vale que está a norte da cidade. Ainda durante a noite, Josué tinha mandado mais cinco mil homens- além dos outros trinta mil- para se juntarem às tropas emboscadas a oeste da povoação. Ele próprio passara a noite no vale a norte da cidade. P
14 O rei de Ai, vendo os israelitas espalhados nesse vale, saiu logo e atacou-os na planície de Arabá. Não se deu conta de que havia uma emboscada por detrás da povoação. O exército israelita com Josué no comando fugiu em direcção do deserto como se já estivesse a ser derrotado por eles; por isso todos os combatentes da povoação foram chamados a perseguirem-nos, deixando-a dessa forma sem defesa. Não ficou um só soldado em Ai, nem sequer em Betel, e as portas da cidade ficaram abertas de par em par.
18 Então o Senhor disse a Josué: Aponta a tua lança em direcção a Ai porque ta darei. Josué obedeceu. E quando os homens da emboscada viram aquele sinal saltaram dos esconderijos e lançaram-se sobre a cidade, pondo-lhe fogo. A gente de Ai voltou-se e viu o fumo da sua cidade escurecendo o céu, percebendo então que não tinham para onde ir. Josué e os seus soldados ao verem igualmente o fumo do incêndio tiveram a certeza de que os companheiros que tinham ficado emboscados se encontravam já dentro da povoação; então voltaram-se contra os seus perseguidores e começaram a liquidá-los. Os israelitas que estavam em Ai sairam e puseram-se também, da sua banda, a destruí-los, de tal forma que, apanhados entre as duas forças, como numa ratoeira, acabaram todos por morrer; nenhum escapou ou sobreviveu excepto o rei que foi capturado e trazido a Josué.
24 Quando o exército de Israel acabou de matar os homens todos que se encontravam fora da cidade, voltaram para a povoação e mataram a gente que lá tinha ficado dentro.
25 Foi assim que a população de Ai, ao todo doze mil pessoas, caiu naquele dia.
26 Porque Josué manteve a sua lança apontada para Ai até que toda a gente tivesse morrido. Somente o gado e o despojo saqueado não foi destruído, pois desta vez os combatentes de Israel puderam guardar isso para si. Aliás foi mesmo o Senhor quem disse a Josué que eles podiam fazer isso desta vez. Ai tornou-se num montão de ruínas desoladas e assim se manteve até ao dia de hoje.
29 Josué mandou enforcar o rei de Ai numa árvore e lá ficar até ao fim do dia; ao pôr do Sol tiraram o corpo e puseram-no num sítio em frente da porta da povoação, levantando sobre ele um grande montão de pedras, que ainda lá se pode ver hoje.
30 Depois Josué construiu um altar ao Senhor Deus de Israel no monte Ebal, tal como Moisés mandara e está escrito no livro das suas leis: O Senhor diz para lhe levantarem um altar no monte Ebal, feito de pedras inteiras e que nunca tenham sido esculpidas. Então os sacerdotes ofereceram holocaustos e sacrifícios de paz ao Senhor sobre o altar. E na frente de todo o povo de Israel Josué gravou sobre as pedras do altar cada um dos dez mandamentos.
33 Todo o povo de Israel, incluindo os anciãos, os chefes, os juízes e os estrangeiros que viviam com Israel, se dividiu em dois grupos, metade pondo-se junto ao monte de Gerizim e a outra metade ao pé do monte Ebal. Entre os dois grupos puseram-se os sacerdotes com a arca, prontos a pronunciar as suas bênçãos. Tudo isto foi feito de acordo com as instruções dadas muito antes por Moisés.
34 Josué leu-lhes todo o texto, exprimindo as bençãos e as maldições que Moisés escrevera no livro das leis de Deus. Todos os mandamentos que Moisés tinha dado anteriormente foram lidos perante a assembleia inteira, incluindo mulheres, crianças e estrangeiros que viviam com eles.