Joshua 8
1 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged [because of what happened at] Ai. Lead all of your soldiers and go there again. I will help you to defeat the king of Ai, his people, and his city, and [enable you to take] his land.
El Señor le dijo a Josué: “¡No tengas miedo ni te desanimes! Toma a todos los combatientes contigo y ataca a Hai, porque te voy a entregar al rey de Hai, a su pueblo, a su ciudad y a su tierra.
2 Your army will do to the people of Ai and their king like what you did to the people of Jericho and their king. But this time [I will permit you to] take all their possessions and keep them for yourselves. But first, tell some of your soldiers to [hide behind] the city [and] prepare to suddenly attack it.”
Harás con Hai y su rey lo mismo que hiciste con Jericó y su rey. Sin embargo, esta vez podrán quedarse con el botín y el ganado. Preparen una emboscada detrás de la ciudad”.
3 So Joshua led all his army toward Ai. He chose 30,000 of his best fighters/warriors and prepared to send them out during the night.
Así que Josué y todo el pueblo se prepararon para atacar a Hai. Escogió a treinta mil de sus mejores combatientes y los envió de noche.
4 He said to them, “Listen carefully. Some of you must hide on the other side of the city. Do not go far from the city. Just be ready [to attack].
Les ordenó: “Pongan una emboscada detrás de la ciudad, no muy lejos. Todos deben estar preparados.
5 I and the men who are with me will march toward the city [in the morning]. The men in the city will come out to fight us, like they did before. Then we will turn around and start to run away from them.
Cuando yo y el resto de los hombres que me acompañan nos acerquemos a la ciudad, los defensores saldrán corriendo a atacarnos como antes, y nosotros huiremos de ellos.
6 They will think that we are running away from them like we did before. So they will chase us away from the city. While we are running away,
Nos perseguirán mientras los alejamos de la ciudad, porque se dirán unos a otros: ‘Están huyendo de nosotros igual que antes’.
7 [those of you who are hiding come out and] rush into the city and capture it. Yahweh your God will enable you to conquer it.
Mientras nosotros huimos de ellos, ustedes se levantarán de sus posiciones de emboscada y tomarán la ciudad, pues el Señor Dios se las entregará.
8 After you capture the city, burn it. Do what Yahweh has commanded us to do. Those are the orders I am giving to you.”
Una vez que hayan capturado la ciudad, préndanle fuego, como lo ha ordenado el Señor. Sigan sus órdenes”.
9 Then Joshua [prepared to] send some of them to [hide and] wait between Ai and Bethel, which was west of Ai. But Joshua stayed with his other soldiers that night.
Josué los envió, y fueron a tender una emboscada entre Betel y el lado occidental de Hai. Pero esa noche Josué se quedó con el pueblo en el campamento.
10 Early the next morning, Joshua gathered his soldiers together. Then he and the other Israeli leaders led them up to Ai.
A la mañana siguiente, Josué se levantó temprano, reunió al pueblo y subió a atacar a Hai, acompañado por los ancianos de Israel.
11 They all set up their tents close to Ai, just to the north of the city, where all the people of the city could see them. There was a valley between them and the city.
Todos los combatientes que estaban con él se acercaron al frente de la ciudad y acamparon allí, en el lado norte, con un valle entre ellos y Hai.
12 Then Joshua chose about 5,000 men and told them to go and hide just west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.
Tomó unos cinco mil hombres y los puso en emboscada entre Betel y Hai, al oeste de la ciudad.
13 So those men did that. The main group of soldiers was north of the city, and the others were hiding west of the city. That night Joshua went down into the valley.
Así que el ejército tomó sus posiciones: el ejército principal al norte de la ciudad, y la emboscada al oeste. Josué fue esa noche al valle.
14 When the king of Ai saw the Israeli army, he and his soldiers got up early the next morning and quickly went out of the city to fight them. They went to a place east of the city, but they did not know that some Israeli soldiers were hiding behind the city.
En cuanto el rey de Hai se percató de la situación, salió de madrugada con todos sus hombres para atacar a los israelitas en el mismo lugar donde lo habían hecho antes, en un lugar que daba al valle del Jordán. Él no sabía de la emboscada que les esperaba al otro lado de la ciudad.
15 Joshua and the Israeli soldiers [who were with him] allowed the army of Ai to push them back. They ran toward the desert.
Josué y los israelitas se dejaron llevar y huyeron en dirección al desierto.
16 The men in Ai were ordered to chase after Joshua and his men. So they left the city and started to pursue the Israelis.
Todos los hombres de la ciudad fueron llamados a salir a perseguirlos, y mientras perseguían a Josué, se alejaron de la ciudad.
17 All the men of Ai and the men of Bethel pursued the Israeli army. They did not leave even one man in Ai to defend it. The [gates of the] city were left wide open.
No quedó un solo hombre en Hai y Betel que no saliera a perseguir a los israelitas. Así dejaron la ciudad indefensa mientras perseguían a los israelitas.
18 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “[Lift up] your spear [and] point it toward Ai, because I am going to enable your soldiers to capture it!” So Joshua pointed [his spear] toward Ai.
Entonces el Señor le dijo a Josué: “Levanta la lanza que tienes en la mano y apunta a Hai, porque te la voy a entregar”. Así que Josué levantó la lanza en su mano y apuntó a la ciudad.
19 When the Israeli men who were hiding saw that, they rushed out from the places where they were hiding and ran into the city. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.
En cuanto vieron esta señal, los hombres que estaban emboscados se levantaron y entraron corriendo en la ciudad. La capturaron y rápidamente le prendieron fuego.
20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city. But they could not escape, because the Israeli troops stopped running away.
Cuando los hombres de Hai miraron hacia atrás, vieron el humo que se elevaba hacia el cielo desde la ciudad. No tenían adonde huir, porque los israelitas que habían estado huyendo hacia el desierto se volvieron ahora contra sus perseguidores.
21 Joshua and his men saw that the men who had been hiding had captured the city and were burning it, and they saw the smoke rising. So they turned around and started to attack the men of Ai.
Cuando Josué y los israelitas vieron que el grupo de la emboscada había capturado la ciudad y que de ella salía humo, se volvieron y atacaron a los hombres de Hai.
22 Meanwhile, the soldiers who had captured the city came out [and attacked them from the rear]. So the men of Ai were caught between the two groups of Israeli soldiers. None of the men of Ai escaped. The Israelis fought until they killed all of them. Only the king of Ai was still alive.
Los hombres de la emboscada también salieron de la ciudad y los atacaron, por lo que quedaron atrapados en la mitad, con los israelitas a ambos lados. Los israelitas los redujeron, y ni un solo hombre sobrevivió o pudo escapar.
23 Then they seized the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
Sólo el rey de Hai fue capturado vivo, y fue llevado ante Josué.
24 While they were fighting, the Israeli army pursued the men of Ai into the fields and into the desert, and killed all of them. Then they went to Ai and killed everyone who was there.
Cuando los israelitas terminaron de matar a los hombres de Hai que los habían perseguido hacia el desierto – unavez que todos habían sido pasados por la espada –, todo el ejército israelita regresó a la ciudad y mató a todos los que vivían allí.
25 They killed 12,000 men and women.
Los muertos de aquel día, contando hombres y mujeres, fueron doce mil, quienes eran todos los habitantes de Hai.
26 Joshua continued to point his spear [LIT] toward Ai, until all the people in Ai had been killed.
Porque Josué había continuado con su lanza hasta que todo el pueblo de Hai había sido destruido.
27 The Israeli soldiers took for themselves the animals and the other things that had belonged to the people of Ai, just like Yahweh had told Joshua that they should do.
Los israelitas sólo se llevaron el ganado y el botín de la ciudad, como el Señor le lo había ordenado a Josué.
28 Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai city and caused it to become a pile of ruins. It is still like that today.
Así que Josué quemó la ciudad de Hai, convirtiéndola definitivamente en un montón de ruinas donde nadie vive hasta el día de hoy.
29 Joshua hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left his corpse hanging there until the evening. At sunset Joshua told his men to take the king’s corpse down from the tree and to throw it on the ground at the city gate. [After they did that], they piled a lot of rocks on top of the corpse, and that pile of rocks is still there.
Mató al rey de Hai y colgó su cuerpo en un árbol hasta la noche. Cuando se puso el sol, Josué ordenó que bajaran el cuerpo. Lo arrojaron frente a la entrada de la puerta de la ciudad y amontonaron sobre él un montón de piedras que todavía está allí.
30 Joshua [told his men to] build on Ebal Mountain an altar for Yahweh, the God [who is worshiped by] the Israeli people.
Luego Josué construyó un altar en el monte Ebal para el Señor, el Dios de Israel.
31 They built it just like Moses, the man who served God [well], had written previously in the laws [that God had given to him]. They made it from stones that had not been cut using iron tools. The Israelis then offered sacrifices to Yahweh that were burned completely on the altar. They also offered sacrifices to restore fellowship with Yahweh.
Hizo lo que Moisés, el siervo del Señor, le había dicho a los israelitas que hicieran, según consta en el libro de la Ley de Moisés: un altar de piedras sin cortar que nadie hubiera trabajado con herramientas de hierro. Sobre el altar hicieron holocaustos y sacrificios de comunión al Señor.
32 As the Israelis watched, Joshua wrote on stones the laws that [Yahweh had given] to Moses previously.
Allí, en presencia de los israelitas, Josué inscribió en las piedras una copia de la Ley de Moisés.
33 The Israeli leaders, the officials, the judges, and other Israelis were there, standing nearby. Many people who were not Israelis were also there. Half of the people stood [on one side of the valley] below Ebal Mountain, and the other half of the people stood [on the other side of the valley] below Gerizim Mountain. The sacred chest was [in the valley] between the two groups. That was what Moses had previously commanded that the people should do when [Yahweh was about to] bless them.
Todos los israelitas, los ancianos, los oficiales y los jueces se colocaron en dos grupos uno frente al otro, con los sacerdotes, los levitas y el Arca del Acuerdo del Señor entre ellos. La mitad de ellos se colocó frente al monte Gerizim, y la otra mitad frente al monte Ebal, tal como Moisés había ordenado, para la bendición del pueblo esta primera vez.
34 Then Joshua read [to the people] all that [Moses] had written previously. That included what Yahweh had taught them and the ways [that he promised] to bless them [if they obeyed his commands], or to curse them [if they disobeyed them].
Entonces Josué leyó en voz alta toda la Ley: todas las bendiciones y maldiciones registradas en el libro de la Ley.
35 All the Israelis gathered together [to listen]—the men, the women, and the children. The (foreigners/people who were not Israelis) who were living among them also listened, while Joshua read all the commands that Moses had written.
Josué leyó cada palabra de las instrucciones de Moisés a toda la asamblea israelita, incluidas las mujeres, los niños y los extranjeros que vivían entre ellos.
