Ai

And passing on from thence to a mountain, that was on the east side of Bethel, he there pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: he built there also an altar to the Lord, and called upon his name.

And he returned by the way, that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai,

And when Joshua sent men from Jericho against Hai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of the town of Bethel, he said to them: Go up, and view the country: and they fulfilled his command, and viewed Hai.

And returning, they said to him: Let not all the people go up, but let two or three thousand men go, and destroy the city: why should all the people be troubled in vain, against enemies that are very few?

There went up therefore three thousand fighting men: who immediately turned their backs,

And were defeated by the men of the city of Hai, and there fell of them six and thirty men: and the enemies pursued them from the gate as far as Sabarim, and they slew them as they fled by the descent: and the heart of the people was struck with fear, and melted like water.

And the Lord said to Joshua: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise, and go up to the town of Hai: Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land.

And thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils, and all the cattle, you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush for the city behind it.

And Joshua arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant men in the night,

And he sent them away, and they went on to the place of the ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city of Hai. But Joshua staid that night in the midst of the people,

And rising early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and went up with the ancients in the front of the army, environed with the aid of the fighting men.

And when they were come, and were gone up over against the city, they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there was a valley in the midst.

And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city:

And when the king of Hai saw this, he made haste in the morning, and went out with all the army of the city, and set it in battle array, toward the desert, not knowing that there lay an ambush behind his back.

But they shouting together, and encouraging one another, pursued them. And when they were come from the city,

And not one remained in the city of Hai and of Bethel, that did not pursue after Israel, leaving the towns open as they had rushed out,

The Lord said to Joshua: Lift up the shield that is in thy hand, towards the city of Hai, for I will deliver it to thee.

And the men of the city, that pursued after Joshua, looking back, and seeing the smoke of the city rise up to heaven, had no more power to flee this way or that way: especially as they that had counterfeited flight, and were going toward the wilderness, turned back most valiantly against them that pursued.

So Joshua, and all Israel, seeing that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city rose up, returned, and slew the men of Hai.

And they took the king of the city of Hai alive and brought him to Joshua.

So all being slain that had pursued after Israel, in his flight to the wilderness, and falling by the sword in the same place, the children of Israel returned and laid waste the city.

And the number of them that fell that day, both of men and women, was twelve thousand persons, all of the city of Hai.

But Joshua drew not back his hand, which he had stretched out on high, holding the shield, till all the inhabitants of Hai were slain.

And he burnt the city, and made it a heap forever:

And he hung the king thereof on a gibbet, until the evening and the going down of the sun. Then Joshua commanded, and they took down his carcass from the gibbet: and threw it in the very entrance of the city, heaping upon it a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day.