Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

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СКАЧАТЬ thee an ambush for the city behind it.' ³So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them forth by night. ⁴And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready. ⁵And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city; and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. ⁶And they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say: They flee before us, as at the first; so we will flee before them. ⁷And ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And it shall be, when ye have seized upon the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the word of the Lord shall ye do; see, I have commanded you.' ⁹And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the ambushment, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.

      ¹⁰And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ¹¹And all the people, even the men 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 him and Ai. ¹²And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai. ¹³So the people set themselves in array, even all the host that was on the north of the city, their rear lying in wait on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the vale. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hastened and rose up early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, in front of the Arabah; but he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. ¹⁶And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them; and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

      ¹⁸And the Lord said unto Joshua: 'Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thy hand.' And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it; and they hastened and set the city on fire. ²⁰And 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. ²¹And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned back, and slew the men of Ai. ²²And the other came forth 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. ²³And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

      ²⁴And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, even in the wilderness wherein they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. ²⁶For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which He commanded Joshua. ²⁸So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day. ²⁹And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the eventide; and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his carcass down from the tree, and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised thereon a great heap of stones, unto this day.

      ³⁰Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal, ³¹as 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 unhewn stones, upon which no man had lifted up any iron; and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace-offerings. ³²And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote before the children of Israel. ³³And 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, that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger as the home-born; half of them in front of mount Gerizim and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. ³⁴And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. ³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that walked among them.

      9And it came to pass, when all the kings that were beyond the Jordan, in the hill-country, and in the Lowland, and on all the shore of the Great Sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof, ²that they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

      ³But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, ⁴they also did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine skins, worn and rent and patched up; ⁵and worn shoes and clouted upon their feet, and worn garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and was become crumbs. ⁶And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel: 'We are come from a far country; now therefore make ye a covenant with us.' ⁷And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites: 'Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you?' ⁸And they said unto Joshua: 'We are thy servants.' And Joshua said unto them: 'Who are ye? and from whence come ye?' ⁹And they said unto him: 'From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God; for we have heard the fame of Him, and all that He did in Egypt, ¹⁰and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. ¹¹And our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying: Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them: We are your servants; and now make ye a covenant with us. ¹²This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and is become crumbs. ¹³And these wine-skins, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they are rent. And these our garments and our shoes are worn by reason of the very long journey.' ¹⁴And the men took of their provision, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁵And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the princes of the congregation swore unto them.

      ¹⁶And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them. ¹⁷And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord, the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. ¹⁹But all the princes said unto all the congregation: 'We have sworn unto them by the Lord, the God of Israel; now therefore we may not touch them. ²⁰This we will do to them, and let them live; lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we swore unto them.' ²¹And the princes said concerning them: 'Let them live'; so they became hewers СКАЧАТЬ