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And the LORDsaid unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
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And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the citybehind it.
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So Joshuaarose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose outthirtythousandmightymen of valour, and sent them away by night.
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And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not veryfar from the city, but be ye all ready:
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And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come outagainst us, as at the first, that we will fleebefore them,
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(For they will come outafter us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They fleebefore us, as at the first: therefore we will fleebefore them.
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Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
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And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshualodged that nightamong the people.
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And Joshua rose upearly in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
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And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai.
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And he took about fivethousandmen, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
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And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshuawent that night into the midst of the valley.
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And it came to pass, when the king of Aisaw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went outagainstIsrael to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambushagainst him behind the city.
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And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beatenbefore them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
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And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursueafter them: and they pursuedafterJoshua, and were drawn away from the city.
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And there was not a manleft in Ai or Bethel, that went not outafterIsrael: and they left the cityopen, and pursuedafterIsrael.
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And the LORDsaid 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.
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And the ambusharosequicklyout 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.
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And when the men of Ailookedbehind 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.
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And when Joshua and all Israelsaw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the cityascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
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And the other issued out of the cityagainst 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.
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And the king of Ai they tookalive, and brought him to Joshua.
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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 Israelitesreturned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
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And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelvethousand, even all the men of Ai.
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For Joshuadrew not his handback, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
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Only the cattle and the spoil of that cityIsrael took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commandedJoshua.
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And JoshuaburntAi, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
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And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshuacommanded that they should take his carcasedown from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a greatheap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
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Then Joshuabuilt an altar unto the LORDGod of Israel in mountEbal,
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As Moses the servant of the LORDcommanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of wholestones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
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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.
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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 LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them overagainstmountGerizim, and half of them overagainstmountEbal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commandedbefore, that they should bless the people of Israel.
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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.
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There was not a word of all that Mosescommanded, which Joshuaread not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversantamong them.