Joshua 8
1 The Lord said to Joshua, “Don't be afraid or downhearted! Take all the fighting men with you and attack Ai, for I'm handing over to you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.
Et le Seigneur dit à Josué: N'aie point de crainte, point de faiblesse; prends avec toi tous les gens de guerre, et monte en Haï: voilà que j'ai livré à tes mains le roi d'Haï et son territoire.
2 You will do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. However, this time you may keep for yourselves the plunder and the livestock. Set up an ambush behind the town.”
Tu feras à Haï ce que tu as fait à Jéricho et à son roi; mais tu prendras pour toi tout le bétail; dresse d'abord une embuscade derrière la ville.
3 So Joshua and all the people got ready to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night.
Josué se leva donc et avec lui tous les gens de guerre, afin de marcher sur Haï. Or, Josué choisit trente mille hommes dans la force de l'âge, et il les fit partir pendant la nuit.
4 He ordered them, “You lie in ambush behind the town, not far away. All of you need to be ready.
Et il leur donna des ordres, disant: Placez-vous en embuscade derrière la ville. Ne vous en éloignez pas beaucoup, et tenez-vous prêts.
5 When I and the rest of the men with me approach the town, the defenders will run out to attack us just like before, and we'll run away from them.
Moi, cependant, et tous ceux qui m'accompagnent, nous nous approcherons des remparts, et il adviendra que quand les habitants d'Haï sortiront à notre rencontre, comme ils l'ont fait récemment, nous fuirons devant eux.
6 They'll chase after us as we draw them away from the town, because they'll say to each other, ‘They're running away from us just like before.’
Et lorsqu'ils se seront lancés à notre poursuite, nous les attirerons loin de la ville, et ils diront: Ces gens-là fuient devant nous de la même manière que précédemment.
7 While we're running away from them, you will get up from your ambush positions and take the town for the Lord God will hand it over to you.
Alors, levez-vous, quittez votre embuscade, et entrez dans la ville.
8 Once you've captured the town, set it on fire, as the Lord has instructed. Now follow your orders.”
Faites comme je viens de dire: c'est l'ordre que je vous donne.
9 Joshua sent them out, and they went to lie in ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But that night Joshua stayed with the people in the camp.
Et Josué les congédia; ils gagnèrent le lieu de l'embuscade, et ils se placèrent entre Béthel et Haï, à l'occident de cette ville.
10 Early the next morning Joshua got up early and gathered the people and went up to attack Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.
Ensuite, Josué s'étant levé de grand matin, inspecta le peuple; et lui- même, avec les anciens, monta en Haï devant tout le peuple.
11 All the fighting men who were with him approached the front of the town, and camped there on the north side, with a valley between them and Ai.
Tous les gens de guerre marchèrent à sa suite, et arrivèrent devant la ville du côté de l'orient.
12 He took about five thousand men and had them lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the town.
Cependant, l'embuscade était à l'Occident de la ville.
13 So the army took up their positions—the main army to the north of the town, and the ambush to the west. Joshua went that night to the valley.
14 As soon as the king of Ai saw the situation, he and all his men rushed out early in the morning to attack the Israelites where they had before, at a place overlooking the Jordan valley. He didn't know about the ambush waiting on the other side of the town.
Et dès que le roi d'Haï aperçut Josué et les siens, il se hâta de sortir directement à leur rencontre pour les combattre; car il ne savait pas qu'une embuscade était dressée de l'autre côté de la ville.
15 Joshua and the Israelites allowed themselves to be driven back, and ran away in the direction of the wilderness.
Josué et Israël le virent, et ils reculèrent devant lui.
16 All the men of the town were called out to chase after them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn father from the town.
Et les hommes d'Haï poursuivirent les fils d'Israël, et ils s'éloignèrent de la ville.
17 There wasn't a man left in Ai and Bethel who didn't go out to chase the Israelites. They left the town wide open as they pursued the Israelites.
Nul n'était resté dans Haï; tous poursuivaient les fils d'Israël; ils avaient laissé la ville ouverte, et ils s'attachaient aux pas d'Israël.
18 Then the Lord told Joshua, “Hold up the spear in your hand and point it at Ai, because I'm giving it to you.” So Joshua held up the spear in his hand and pointed it at the town.
Alors, le Seigneur dit à Josué: Etends la main et le javelot, que tu tiens, vers la ville; car je te l'ai livrée. Et les hommes de l'embuscade vont quitter promptement leur place. Et Josué étendit la main et le javelot vers la ville;
19 As soon as they saw this signal the men lying in ambush got up and rushed into the town. They captured it, and quickly set it on fire.
A ce moment les hommes de l'embuscade sortirent promptement de leur place; ils partirent, ils entrèrent dans la ville, la prirent et se hâtèrent de la livrer aux flammes.
20 When the men of Ai looked back they saw the smoke rising up into the sky from the town. They had nowhere to run to, because the Israelites who had been running away towards the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.
Et les hommes d'Haï, ayant regardé ce qui se passait derrière eux, virent la fumée qui s'élevait de la ville jusqu'au ciel, et ils n'eurent plus de refuge ni d'une part ni de l'autre.
21 For when Joshua and the Israelites saw that the ambush group had captured the town, and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.
Dès que Josué et tout le peuple eurent reconnu que les hommes de l'embuscade avaient pris la ville, et que la fumée de l'incendie s'élevait jusqu'au ciel, ils firent volte-face et frappèrent les hommes d'Hai.
22 The men from the ambush also came from the town and attacked them, so they were caught on the middle, with the Israelites on both sides. The Israelites cut them down—not a single man survived or got away.
Et l'embuscade sortit de la ville à la rencontre de ceux-ci, qui se trouvèrent enveloppés par tous les guerriers du camp, les uns devant eux, les autres sur leurs derrières; ils furent accablés au point que nul ne put fuir; nul ne survécut.
23 Only the king of Ai was captured alive, and he was brought before Joshua.
Toutefois, l'on prit vivant le roi d'Haï et on le mena devant Josué.
24 When the Israelites had finished killing the men of Ai who had chased them towards the wilderness—once they had all been cut down by the sword—the whole Israelite army returned to the town and killed everyone living there.
Quand les fils d'Israël eurent achevé de tuer tous ceux de Haï qui étaient en plaine, ou qu'ils avaient trouvés sur les pentes de la colline, car ils les poursuivirent tant qu'il en resta, Josué retourna sur la ville et la passa au fil de l'épée.
25 Those who were killed that day numbered twelve thousand, men and women—all the inhabitants of Ai.
Ce jour-là, douze mille âmes succombèrent, hommes et femmes; tous les habitants de Haï furent tués.
26 For Joshua had continued to hold up his spear until all the people of Ai had been destroyed.
27 Only the livestock and plunder were taken from the town by the Israelites, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
Il ne resta que le butin, réservé aux fils d'Israël, selon l'ordre du Seigneur que leur avait transmit Josué.
28 So Joshua burned the town of Ai, making it permanently into a heap of ruins where no one lives to this very day.
Et Josué acheva d'incendier la ville; il en fit un tombeau inhabitable à jamais, et resté tel jusqu'à nos jours.
29 He killed the king of Ai and hung his body on a tree until evening. When the sun went down Joshua ordered the body taken down. They threw it down in front of the entrance to the town gate and piled a heap of rocks over it which is still there today.
Et il suspendit à une croix le roi d'Haï, qu'il y laissa jusqu'au soir. Au coucher du soleil, Josué fit détacher son cadavre, que l'on jeta dans une fosse; puis, on mit sur lui un monceau de pierres qui subsiste encore de nos jours.
30 Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for the Lord, the God of Israel.
31 He did what Moses, the servant of the Lord, had told the Israelites to do, as recorded in the book of the Law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones which no one has worked with iron tools. On the altar they made burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord.
32 There in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses.
33 All the Israelites, the elders, the officers, and the judges stood in two groups facing each other with the priests, the Levites, and the Ark of the Lord's Agreement between them. (Included were the foreigners as well as the native born.) Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim, and half in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses had ordered, for the blessing of the people this first time.
34 Then Joshua read out the whole Law—all the blessings and curses recorded in the book of the Law.
35 Joshua read out every word of Moses' instruction to the whole Israelite assembly, including the women, the children, and the foreigners who lived among them.
