1   The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be fearful or dismayed; take the whole army and attack Ai. I deliver the king of Ai into your hands, him and his people, his city and his country. 2   Deal with Ai and her king as you dealt with Jericho and her king; but you may keep for yourselves the cattle and any other spoil that you may take. Set an ambush for the city to the west of it.’ 3   So Joshua and all the army prepared for the assault on Ai. He chose thirty thousand fighting men and dispatched them by night, with these orders: 4   ‘Lie in ambush to the west of the city, not far from it, and all of you hold yourselves in readiness. 5   I myself

Israel's entry into the promised land will approach the city with the rest of the army, and when the enemy come out to meet us as they did last time, we shall take to flight before them. 6   Then they will come out and pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, thinking that we have taken to flight as we did last time. 7   While we are in flight, come out from your ambush and occupy the city; the Lord your God will deliver it into your hands. 8   When you have taken it, set it on fire. Thus you will do what the Lord commands. 9   These are your orders.’ So Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and waited between Bethel and Ai to the west of Ai, while Joshua spent the night with the army.

10   Early in the morning Joshua rose, mustered the army and marched against Ai, he himself and the elders of Israel at its head. 11   All the armed forces with him marched on until they came within sight of the city. They encamped north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city; 12   but Joshua took some five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai to the west of the city. ^note 14   When the king of Ai saw them, he and the citizens rose with all speed that morning and marched out to do battle against Israel; ^note he did not know that there was an ambush set for him to the west of the city. 15   Joshua and all the Israelites made as if they were routed by them and fled towards the wilderness, and all the people in the city were called out in pursuit. 16   So they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17   Not a man was left in Ai; ^note they had all gone out in pursuit of the Israelites and during the pursuit had left the city undefended.

18   Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Point towards Ai with the dagger you are holding, for I will deliver the city into your hands.’ So Joshua pointed with his dagger towards Ai. 19   At his signal, the men in ambush rose quickly from their places and, entering the city at a run, took it and promptly set fire to it. 20   The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke from the city already going up to the sky; they were powerless to make their escape in any direction, and the Israelites who had feigned flight towards the wilderness turned on their pursuers. 21   For when Joshua and all the Israelites saw that the ambush had seized the city and that smoke was already going up from it, they turned and fell upon the men of Ai. 22   Those who had come out to meet the Israelites were now hemmed in with Israelites on both sides of them, and the Israelites cut them down until there was not a single survivor, nor had any escaped. 23   The king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua. 24   When the Israelites had cut down to the last man all the citizens of Ai who were in the open country or in the wilderness to which they had pursued them, and the massacre

Israel's entry into the promised land was complete, they all turned back to Ai and put it to the sword. 25   The number who were killed that day, men and women, was twelve thousand, the whole population of Ai. 26   Joshua held out his dagger and did not draw back his hand until he had put to death all who lived in Ai; 27   but the Israelites kept for themselves the cattle and any other spoil that they took, following the word of the Lord spoken to Joshua. 28   So Joshua burnt Ai to the ground, and left it the desolate ruined mound it remains to this day. 29   He hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left him there till sunset; and when the sun had set, he gave the order and they cut him down and flung down his body at the entrance of the city gate. Over the body they raised a great pile of stones, which is there to this day.

30   At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord the God of Israel on Mount Ebal. 31   The altar was of blocks of undressed stone on which no tool of iron had been used, following the commands given to the Israelites by Moses the servant of the Lord, as is described in the book of the law of Moses. At the altar they offered whole-offerings to the Lord, and slaughtered shared-offerings. 32   There in the presence of the Israelites he engraved on blocks ^note of stone a copy of the law of Moses. ^note 33   And all Israel, elders, officers, and judges, took their stand on either side of the Ark, facing the levitical priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord—all Israel, native and alien alike. Half of them stood facing Mount Gerizim and half facing Mount Ebal, to fulfil the command of Moses the servant of the Lord that the blessing should be pronounced first. 34   Then Joshua recited the whole of the blessing and the cursing word by word, as they are written in the book of the law. 35   There was not a single word of all that Moses had commanded which he did not read aloud before the whole congregation of Israel, including the women and dependants and the aliens resident in their company.

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