Yeshua
Chapter 8

Yeshua encouraged

8:1 And the LORD said to Yeshua, Fear not, neither be you dismayed take all the people of war with ya'll , and arise, go up to Ai see,
I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land
8:2 And you will do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ya'll take for a prey to yourselves lay ya'll an ambush for the city behind it.

Capture of Ai

8:3 So Yeshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai and Yeshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valor, and sent them away by night.
8:4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ya'll shall lie in wait against the city, [even] behind the city go not very far from the city, but be ya'll all ready
8:5 And I, and all the people that [are] with me, will approach to the city and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
8:6 (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city ; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first therefore we will flee before them.
8:7 Then ya'll shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8:8 And it shall be, when ya'll have taken the city, [that] ya'll shall set the city on fire according to the commandment of the LORD shall ya'll do. See, I have commanded you.
8:9 Yeshua therefore sent them forth and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai but Yeshua lodged that night among the people.
8:10 And Yeshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
8:11 And all the people, [even the people] of war that [were] with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai now [there was] a valley between them and Ai.
8:12 And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
8:13 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, Yeshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
8:14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw [it], that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain ; but he will not that [there were] liers in ambush against him behind the city.
8:15 And Yeshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
8:16 And all the people that [were] in Ai were called together to pursue after them and they pursued after
Yeshua, and were drawn away from the city.
8:17 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.
8:18 And the LORD said to Yeshua, Stretch out the spear that [is] in your hand toward Ai ; for I will give it into your hand. And Yeshua stretched out the spear that [he had] in his hand toward the city.
8:19 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.
8:20 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.
8:21 And when Yeshua 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.
8:22 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 struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
8:23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Yeshua.
8:24 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 to Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword.
8:25 And [so] it was, [that] all that fell that day, both of men and women, [were] twelve thousand, [even] all the men of Ai.
8:26 For Yeshua drew not his hand back, by which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
8:27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey to themselves, according to the word of the LORD which he commanded Yeshua.
8:28 And Yeshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, [even] a desolation to this day.
8:29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide and as soon as the sun was down, Yeshua commanded that they should take his carcass 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 remained] to this day.

Yeshua's Altar

8:30 Then Yeshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
8:31 As Moses the servant of the LORD 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 has lift up [any] iron and they offered thereon burnt offerings to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
8:32 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.
8:33 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 LORD, 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 LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.
8:34 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.
8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Yeshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were knowledgeable (about all that Moses commanded) among them.

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