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.
1 Then said Yahweh unto JoshuaDo not fear nor be dismayed, take with thee all the army, and arise, go up to Ai,see! I have given into thy hand, the king of Ai and his people, and his city, and his land;
2 so shalt thou do unto Ai and to her king, as thou didst unto Jericho unto her king, save only, the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof, shall ye take as your own prey,set thee an ambush for the city, behind it.
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai,and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them forth by night.
4 And he commanded them, sayingSee! ye, shall be lying in ambush against the city, behind the city, do not go very far from the city,so shall ye all be ready.
5 But, I, and all the people who are with me, will draw near unto the city,and it shall be, when they come out to meet us, as at the first, then will we flee before them;
6 so will they come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, Fleeing before us, as at the first! therefore will we flee before them.
7 Then, ye, shall rise up out of the ambush, and take possession of the city,and Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And it shall be, when ye have seized the city, then shall ye burn the city with fire, according to the word of Yahweh, shall ye do,see! I have commanded you.
9 So Joshua sent them forth, and they went into ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west of Ai,but Joshua lodged that night in the midst of the people.
10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and mustered the people,and went uphe and the elders of Israel, before the people, to Ai.
11 And, all the people of war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came in, right before the city,and pitched on the north of Ai, with, a valley, between them and Ai.
12 And he took about five thousand men,and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west of the city.
13 And, when the people had set all the host that was on the north of the city, with the rear thereof on the west of the city, then went Joshua, during the night, into the midst of the valley.
14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted, and rose up early, and the men of the city came out to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people, at an appointed time, before the waste plain,he not knowing that there was an ambush lying in wait for him, behind the city.
15 So then Joshua and all Israel suffered themselves to be smitten before them,and fled, by the way of the wilderness;
16 and all the people who were in the city were called out to pursue them,and they pursued Joshua, and so were drawn out away from the city.
17 And there remained not a man, in Ai or Bethel, who had not gone out after Israel,and they left the city, open, and pursued Israel.
18 Then said Yahweh unto JoshuaStretch out with the javelin which is in thy hand, towards Ai, for, into thy hand, will I deliver it. So Joshua stretched out with the javelin which was in his hand, towards the city.
19 And, the ambush, rose up quickly, out of their place, and ran, when he stretched out his hand, and entered the city, and captured it,and hasted, and set the city on fire.
20 And the men of Ai turned behind them, and looked, and lo! the smoke of the city had risen up towards the heavens, and there was in them no strength, to flee this way or that way,moreover, the people that were fleeing to the wilderness, turned back upon the pursuers.
21 Yea, when, Joshua and all Israel, saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city had risen up, then returned they, and smote the men of Ai.
22 And, the others, came forth out of the city to meet them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side,and they smote them, until there was left them none to remain or to escape.
23 And, the king of Ai, they caught alive,and brought him near unto Joshua.
24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness whither they had pursued them, and all of them had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, then all Israel returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25 And so it was, that all who fell that day, both of men and of women, were twelve thousand,all people of Ai.
26 Now, Joshua, drew not back his hand which he had stretched out with the javelin,until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Nevertheless, the cattle and the spoil of that city, Israel took as their own prey,according to the word of Yahweh, which he commanded Joshua.
28 So then Joshua burned Ai,and made of it an age-abiding heapa desolation, until this day.
29 And, the king of Ai, hanged he on a tree until eventide,but, at the going in of the sun, Joshua gave command and they took down his dead body from the tree, and cast it in at the opening of the gate of the city, and raised up over it a great heap of stones
30 Than, built Joshua, an altar, unto Yahweh, God of Israel,in Mount Ebal:
31 as Moses, the servant of Yahweh, commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, whereon had not been wielded any tool of iron,and they caused to go up thereon, ascending-sacrifices unto Yahweh, and sacrificed peace-offerings.
32 Then wrote he there, upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote, in the presence of the sons of Israel.
33 And, all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, were standing on this side and on that side of the ark, before the priests the Levites, who were bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, as well the sojourner as the home-born, half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal,as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded to bless the sons of Israel, first of all.
34 And, after that, read he all the words of the law, the blessing and the cursing,according to all that was written in the scroll of the law.
35 Them was not a word of all that Moses commanded,which Joshua read not before all the convocation of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the sojourner who was going on in their midst.