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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//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 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></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="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</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 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">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">The Capture and Destruction of Ai</h3><p class="par"><span class="v6_8_1"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.1" class="v6_8_1">1</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> said to Joshua, “Take all the soldiers with you and go on up to Ai. Don't be afraid or discouraged. I will give you victory over the king of Ai; his people, city, and land will be yours. </span><span class="v6_8_2"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.2" class="v6_8_2">2</span>You are to do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, but this time you may keep its goods and livestock for yourselves. Prepare to attack the city by surprise from the rear.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_8_3"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.3" class="v6_8_3">3</span>So Joshua got ready to go to Ai with all his soldiers. He picked out thirty thousand of his best troops and sent them out at night </span><span class="v6_8_4"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.4" class="v6_8_4">4</span>with these orders: “Hide on the other side of the city, but not too far away from it; be ready to attack. </span><span class="v6_8_5"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.5" class="v6_8_5">5</span>My men and I will approach the city. When the men of Ai come out against us, we will turn and run, just as we did the first time. </span><span class="v6_8_6"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.6" class="v6_8_6">6</span>They will pursue us until we have led them away from the city. They will think that we are running from them, as we did before. </span><span class="v6_8_7"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.7" class="v6_8_7">7</span>Then you will come out of hiding and capture the city. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God will give it to you. </span><span class="v6_8_8"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.8" class="v6_8_8">8</span>After you have taken the city, set it on fire, just as the <span class="nd">Lord</span> has commanded. These are your orders.” </span><span class="v6_8_9"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.9" class="v6_8_9">9</span>So Joshua sent them out, and they went to their hiding place and waited there, west of Ai, between Ai and Bethel. Joshua spent the night in camp.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_8_10"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.10" class="v6_8_10">10</span>Early in the morning Joshua got up and called the soldiers together. Then he and the leaders of Israel led them to Ai. </span><span class="v6_8_11"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.11" class="v6_8_11">11</span>The soldiers with him went toward the main entrance to the city and set up camp on the north side, with a valley between themselves and Ai. </span><span class="v6_8_12"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.12" class="v6_8_12">12</span>He took about five thousand men and put them in hiding west of the city, between Ai and Bethel. </span><span class="v6_8_13"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.13" class="v6_8_13">13</span>The soldiers were arranged for battle with the main camp north of the city and the rest of the men to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley. </span><span class="v6_8_14"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.14" class="v6_8_14">14</span>When the king of Ai saw Joshua's men, he acted quickly. He and all his men went out toward the Jordan Valley to fight the Israelites at the same place as before, not knowing that he was about to be attacked from the rear. </span><span class="v6_8_15"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.15" class="v6_8_15">15</span>Joshua and his men pretended that they were retreating, and ran away toward the barren country. </span><span class="v6_8_16"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.16" class="v6_8_16">16</span>All the men in the city had been called together to go after them, and as they pursued Joshua, they kept getting farther away from the city. </span><span class="v6_8_17"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.17" class="v6_8_17">17</span>Every man in Ai<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.8.17!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> went after the Israelites, and the city was left wide open, with no one to defend it.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_8_18"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.18" class="v6_8_18">18</span>Then the <span class="nd">Lord</span> said to Joshua, “Point your spear at Ai; I am giving it to you.” Joshua did as he was told, </span><span class="v6_8_19"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.19" class="v6_8_19">19</span>and as soon as he lifted his hand, the men who had been hiding got up quickly, ran into the city and captured it. They immediately set the city on fire. </span><span class="v6_8_20"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.20" class="v6_8_20">20</span>When the men of Ai looked back, they saw the smoke rising to the sky. There was no way for them to escape, because the Israelites who had run toward the barren country now turned around to attack them. </span><span class="v6_8_21"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.21" class="v6_8_21">21</span>When Joshua and his men saw that the others had taken the city and that it was on fire, they turned around and began killing the men of Ai. </span><span class="v6_8_22"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.22" class="v6_8_22">22</span>The Israelites in the city now came down to join the battle. So the men of Ai found themselves completely surrounded by Israelites, and they were all killed. No one got away, and no one lived through it </span><span class="v6_8_23"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.23" class="v6_8_23">23</span>except the king of Ai. He was captured and taken to Joshua.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_8_24"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.24" class="v6_8_24">24</span>The Israelites killed every one of the enemy in the barren country where they had chased them. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there. </span><span class="v6_8_25"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.25-Josh.8.26" class="v6_8_25">25-26</span>Joshua kept his spear pointed at Ai and did not put it down until every person there had been killed. The whole population of Ai was killed that day—twelve thousand men and women. </span><span class="v6_8_27"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.27" class="v6_8_27">27</span>The Israelites kept for themselves the livestock and goods captured in the city, as the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had told Joshua. </span><span class="v6_8_28"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.28" class="v6_8_28">28</span>Joshua burned Ai and left it in ruins. It is still like that today. </span><span class="v6_8_29"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.29" class="v6_8_29">29</span>He hanged the king of Ai from a tree and left his body there until evening. At sundown Joshua gave orders for the body to be removed, and it was thrown down at the entrance to the city gate. They covered it with a huge pile of stones, which is still there today.</span></p><h3 class="s">The Law Is Read at Mount Ebal</h3><p class="par"><span class="v6_8_30"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.30" class="v6_8_30">30</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.8.30!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, the God of Israel. </span><span class="v6_8_31"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.31" class="v6_8_31">31</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.8.31!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> He made it according to the instructions that Moses, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s servant, had given the Israelites, as it says in the Law of Moses: “an altar made of stones which have not been cut with iron tools.” On it they offered burnt sacrifices to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, and they also presented their fellowship offerings. </span><span class="v6_8_32"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.32" class="v6_8_32">32</span>There, with the Israelites looking on, Joshua made on the stones<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.8.32!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> a copy of the Law which Moses had written. </span><span class="v6_8_33"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.33" class="v6_8_33">33</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.8.33!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The Israelites, with their leaders, officers, and judges, as well as the foreigners among them, stood on two sides of the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s Covenant Box, facing the levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and the other half with their backs to Mount Ebal. The <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s servant Moses had commanded them to do this when the time came for them to receive the blessing. </span><span class="v6_8_34"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.34" class="v6_8_34">34</span>Joshua then read aloud the whole Law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the book of the Law. </span><span class="v6_8_35"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.8.35" class="v6_8_35">35</span>Every one of the commandments of Moses was read by Joshua to the whole gathering, which included women and children, as well as the foreigners living among them.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">8.17: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One ancient translation </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Ai; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Ai and Bethel.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">8.32: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the stones; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">stones.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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