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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Joshua 8 MSB</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/joshua/8.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap//joshua/8-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">MSB</a> > Joshua 8</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/msb/menu.htm" width="100%" height="48" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../joshua/7.htm" title="Joshua 7">◄</a> Joshua 8 <a href="../joshua/9.htm" title="Joshua 9">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">Majority Standard Bible</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/bsb/heb/joshua/8.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><A name="2"></a><p class="hdg">The Conquest of Ai<p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. <A name="3"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.” <A name="4"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night <A name="5"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready. <A name="6"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them. <A name="7"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them, <A name="8"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. <A name="9"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.” <A name="10"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people. <A name="11"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai. <A name="12"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city. <A name="13"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. <A name="14"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley. <A name="15"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city. <A name="16"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. <A name="17"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city. <A name="18"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel. <A name="19"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">a</a></span> toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai, <A name="20"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire. <A name="21"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers. <A name="22"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai. <A name="23"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained. <A name="24"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. <A name="25"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well. <A name="26"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. <A name="27"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">b</a></span> all who lived in Ai. <A name="28"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua. <A name="29"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>So Joshua burned Ai<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">c</a></span> and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day. <A name="30"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>He hung the king of Ai on a tree<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">d</a></span> until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. <A name="31"></a><p class="hdg">Joshua Renews the Covenant<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../deuteronomy/27.htm">Deuteronomy 27:1–10</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel, <A name="32"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>just 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 has been used.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">e</a></span> And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings. <A name="33"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. <A name="34"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. 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 commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel. <A name="35"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. <span class="reftext"><a href="/joshua/8-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.</p><A name="fn"></a><div id="fnlink"><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:</b><br><br><span class="fnverse">18</span> <span class="footnotesbot">a</span> Or <i>javelin</i><span class="thin"> </span>; twice in this verse, and also in verse 26<br><span class="fnverse">26</span> <span class="footnotesbot">b</span> Forms of the Hebrew <i>cherem</i><span class="thin"> </span> refer to the giving over of things or persons to the LORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.<br><span class="fnverse">28</span> <span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <i>Ai</i><span class="thin"> </span> means <i>ruin</i><span class="thin"> </span>.<br><span class="fnverse">29</span> <span class="footnotesbot">d</span> Or <i>He impaled the king of Ai on a pole</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><span class="fnverse">31</span> <span class="footnotesbot">e</span> <a href="../exodus/20.htm#25">Exodus 20:25</a>; <a href="../deuteronomy/27.htm#5">Deuteronomy 27:5</a><br><br /></div><br /></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Holy Bible, Majority Standard Bible, MSB is produced in cooperation with <a href=//biblehub.com>Bible Hub</a>, <a href=//discoverybible.com>Discovery Bible</a>, <a href=//openbible.com>OpenBible.com</a>, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been <a href=https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/> dedicated to the public domain</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The MSB is the Byzantine Majority Text version of the BSB, including the BSB OT plus the NT translated according to the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Majority Text (<a href="https://byzantinetext.com/">byzantinetext.com</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The MSB includes footnotes for translatable variants from the modern Critical Texts (CT) such as the Nestle Aland GNT, SBL GNT, and Editio Critica Maior.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Major variants between the Majority Text (MT) and Textus Receptus (TR) are also noted. For a few passages not included in the MT, the TR translation is denoted with [[brackets]] and also footnoted.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>This text is a first version draft and is open to public comment and translation recommendations. please send all corrections and recommendations to the Berean Bible Translation Committee through the contact page at <a href="http://berean.bible">Berean.Bible</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../joshua/7.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Joshua 7"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Joshua 7" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../joshua/9.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Joshua 9"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Joshua 9" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><div align="center"><script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></div></td></tr></table></div></div></div> <br /><br /> <div align="center"> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>