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after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17
And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel,
that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18
And the L
ORD
said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that
is
in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine
hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that
he had
in his hand toward the city.
19
And the ambush
arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they
entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
20
And when the men of Ai
looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they
had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back
upon the pursuers.
21
And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and
that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
22
And the
other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and
some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23
And the
king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to 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 wherein they chased them,
and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the
Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25
And
so
it was,
that
all that
fell that day, both of men and women,
were
twelve thousand,
even
all the men of Ai.
26
For Joshua
drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the
inhabitants of Ai.
27
Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves,
according unto the word of the L
ORD
which he commanded Joshua.
28
And Joshua burnt Ai, and
made it an heap for ever,
even
a desolation unto this day.
29
And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree
until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his
carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a
great heap of stones,
that remaineth
unto this day.
30
Then Joshua built an altar unto the L
ORD
God of Israel in mount Ebal,
31
As Moses the servant
of the L
ORD
commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an
altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up
any
iron: and they offered thereon burnt
offerings unto the L
ORD
, and sacrificed peace offerings.
32
And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence
of the children of Israel.
33
And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on
this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant
of the L
ORD
, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount
Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the L
ORD
had commanded
before, that they should bless the people of Israel.
34
And afterward he read all the words of the
law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
35
There was
not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of
Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
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