約書亞記 8
1 耶和華對約書亞說：「不要懼怕，也不要驚惶。你起來，率領一切兵丁上艾城去，我已經把艾城的王和他的民、他的城，並他的地，都交在你手裏。
The LORD said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.
2 你怎樣待耶利哥和耶利哥的王，也當照樣待艾城和艾城的王。只是城內所奪的財物和牲畜，你們可以取為自己的掠物。你要在城後設下伏兵。」
You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
3 於是，約書亞和一切兵丁都起來，要上艾城去。約書亞選了三萬大能的勇士，夜間打發他們前往，
So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them out by night.
4 吩咐他們說：「你們要在城後埋伏，不可離城太遠，都要各自準備。
He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
5 我與我所帶領的眾民要向城前往。城裏的人像初次出來攻擊我們的時候，我們就在他們面前逃跑，
I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.
6 他們必出來追趕我們，直到我們引誘他們離開城；因為他們必說：『這些人像初次在我們面前逃跑。』所以我們要在他們面前逃跑，
They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee before them,
7 你們就從埋伏的地方起來，奪取那城，因為耶和華－你們的上帝必把城交在你們手裏。
and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 你們奪了城以後，就放火燒城，要照耶和華的話行。這是我吩咐你們的。」
It shall be, when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to the LORD’s word. Behold, I have commanded you.”
9 約書亞打發他們前往，他們就上埋伏的地方去，住在伯特利和艾城的中間，就是在艾城的西邊。這夜約書亞卻在民中住宿。
Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed amongst the people that night.
10 約書亞清早起來，點齊百姓，他和以色列的長老在百姓前面上艾城去。
Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 眾民，就是他所帶領的兵丁，都上去，向前直往，來到城前，在艾城北邊安營。在約書亞和艾城中間有一山谷。
All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up and came near, and came before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.
12 他挑了約有五千人，使他們埋伏在伯特利和艾城的中間，就是在艾城的西邊，
He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13 於是安置了百姓，就是城北的全軍和城西的伏兵。這夜約書亞進入山谷之中。
So they set the people, even all the army who was on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the middle of the valley.
14 艾城的王看見這景況，就和全城的人，清早急忙起來，按所定的時候，出到亞拉巴前，要與以色列人交戰；王卻不知道在城後有伏兵。
When the king of Ai saw it, they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn’t know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
15 約書亞和以色列眾人在他們面前裝敗，往那通曠野的路逃跑。
Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16 城內的眾民都被招聚，追趕他們；艾城人追趕的時候，就被引誘離開城。
All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 艾城和伯特利城沒有一人不出來追趕以色列人的，撇了敞開的城門，去追趕以色列人。
There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.
18 耶和華吩咐約書亞說：「你向艾城伸出手裏的短槍，因為我要將城交在你手裏。」約書亞就向城伸出手裏的短槍。
The LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand towards Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand towards the city.
19 他一伸手，伏兵就從埋伏的地方急忙起來，奪了城，跑進城去，放火焚燒。
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. They hurried and set the city on fire.
20 艾城的人回頭一看，不料，城中煙氣沖天，他們就無力向左向右逃跑。那往曠野逃跑的百姓便轉身攻擊追趕他們的人。
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. The people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.
21 約書亞和以色列眾人見伏兵已經奪了城，城中煙氣飛騰，就轉身回去，擊殺艾城的人。
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 killed the men of Ai.
22 伏兵也出城迎擊艾城人，艾城人就困在以色列人中間，前後都是以色列人。於是以色列人擊殺他們，沒有留下一個，也沒有一個逃脫的，
The others came out of the city against them, so they were in the middle of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23 生擒了艾城的王，將他解到約書亞那裏。
They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24 以色列人在田間和曠野殺盡所追趕一切艾城的居民。艾城人倒在刀下，直到滅盡；以色列眾人就回到艾城，用刀殺了城中的人。
When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.
25 當日殺斃的人，連男帶女共有一萬二千，就是艾城所有的人。
All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the people of Ai.
26 約書亞沒有收回手裏所伸出來的短槍，直到把艾城的一切居民盡行殺滅。
For Joshua didn’t draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 惟獨城中的牲畜和財物，以色列人都取為自己的掠物，是照耶和華所吩咐約書亞的話。
Israel took for themselves only the livestock and the goods of that city, according to the LORD’s word which he commanded Joshua.
28 約書亞將艾城焚燒，使城永為高堆、荒場，直到今日；
So Joshua burnt Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.
29 又將艾城王掛在樹上，直到晚上。日落的時候，約書亞吩咐人把屍首從樹上取下來，丟在城門口，在屍首上堆成一大堆石頭，直存到今日。
He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.
30 那時，約書亞在以巴路山上為耶和華－以色列的上帝築一座壇，
Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
31 是用沒有動過鐵器的整石頭築的，照着耶和華僕人摩西所吩咐以色列人的話，正如摩西律法書上所寫的。眾人在這壇上給耶和華奉獻燔祭和平安祭。
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 uncut stones, on which no one had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 約書亞在那裏，當着以色列人面前，將摩西所寫的律法抄寫在石頭上。
He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ law, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
33 以色列眾人，無論是本地人、是寄居的，和長老、官長，並審判官，都站在約櫃兩旁，在抬耶和華約櫃的祭司利未人面前，一半對着基利心山，一半對着以巴路山，為以色列民祝福，正如耶和華僕人摩西先前所吩咐的。
All Israel, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the LORD’s covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; 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.
34 隨後，約書亞將律法上祝福、咒詛的話，照着律法書上一切所寫的，都宣讀了一遍。
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.
35 摩西所吩咐的一切話，約書亞在以色列全會眾和婦女、孩子，並他們中間寄居的外人面前，沒有一句不宣讀的。
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua didn’t read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who were amongst them.
