Joshua 8:13   (Read all of Joshua 8)

So the soldiers took up their positions-with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.

Joshua 8:14   (Read all of Joshua 8)

When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city.

Joshua 8:18   (Read all of Joshua 8)

Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city." So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand.

Joshua 8:19   (Read all of Joshua 8)

As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.

Joshua 8:20   (Read all of Joshua 8)

The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers.

Joshua 8:21   (Read all of Joshua 8)

For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.

Joshua 8:22   (Read all of Joshua 8)

Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives.

Joshua 8:24   (Read all of Joshua 8)

When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it.

Joshua 8:28   (Read all of Joshua 8)

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day.

Joshua 8:29   (Read all of Joshua 8)

He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.

Joshua 8:31   (Read all of Joshua 8)

as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses-an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.

Joshua 8:32   (Read all of Joshua 8)

There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses.

Joshua 8:33   (Read all of Joshua 8)

All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.

Joshua 9:1   (Read all of Joshua 9)

Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things-the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites)-

Joshua 9:4   (Read all of Joshua 9)

they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

Joshua 9:5   (Read all of Joshua 9)

They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy.

Joshua 9:6   (Read all of Joshua 9)

Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, "We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us."

Joshua 9:7   (Read all of Joshua 9)

The Israelites said to the Hivites, "But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?"

Joshua 9:8   (Read all of Joshua 9)

"We are your servants," they said to Joshua. But Joshua asked, "Who are you and where do you come from?"

Joshua 9:9   (Read all of Joshua 9)

They answered: "Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the Lord your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt,

Joshua 9:11   (Read all of Joshua 9)

And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, 'Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, "We are your servants; make a treaty with us." '

Joshua 9:12   (Read all of Joshua 9)

This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is.

Joshua 9:13   (Read all of Joshua 9)

And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey."

Joshua 9:14   (Read all of Joshua 9)

The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord.