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。
Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not fear; do not be discouraged. Take with you all the people of war. Go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, 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 will do to Ai and her king as you have done to Jericho and her king, except that you will take the plunder and the cattle for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
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 got up and took all the men of war up to Ai. Then Joshua chose thirty thousand men—strong, courageous men—and he sent them out at 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, “Look, you will lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not 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 men with me will approach the city, and when they come out to attack us, we will run away from them just as before.
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. They will say, 'They are running away from us as they did the last time.' So we will run away from 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。
Then you come up out of your place of hiding, and you will capture the city. Yahweh your God will give 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。」
When you capture the city, you will set it on fire. You will do this when you obey the command given in the word of Yahweh. See, 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 the place of ambush, and they hid between Bethel and Ai to the west of Ai. But Joshua slept that night among the people.
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 got up early in the morning and got his soldiers ready, Joshua and the elders of Israel, and they attacked the people of 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 fighting men who were with him went up and approached the city. They came near the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between them 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 on the west side of the city between Bethel and Ai.
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。
They positioned all the soldiers, the main army on the north side of the city, and the rear guard on the west side of the city. Joshua spent that night in 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。
It came about when the king of Ai saw it, he and his army got up early and rushed out to attack Israel at a certain place that was overlooking the Jordan River valley. He did not know that an ambush was waiting to attack from 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 let themselves be defeated before them, and they fled toward 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 go after them, and they went after Joshua and they 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 and Bethel who had not gone out to pursue Israel. They abandoned the city and left it open as they 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。
Yahweh said to Joshua, “Point that spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will give Ai into your hand.” Joshua held out the spear that was in his hand toward 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 soldiers hiding in ambush quickly rushed out of their place as he reached out with his hand. They ran and entered the city and captured it. They quickly 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。
The men of Ai turned and looked back. They saw the smoke from the city rising into the sky, and they could not escape this way or that. For the Israelite soldiers who had fled into the wilderness now turned back to face those who were pursuing them.
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 the ambush had captured the city with the smoke rising, they turned around 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 other soldiers of Israel, those who had gone in the city, came out to attack them. So the men of Ai were caught between the armies of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. Israel attacked the men of Ai; none of them survived or escaped.
23 生擒了艾城的王，將他解到約書亞那裏。
They kept the king of Ai, whom they captured alive, and they 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。
It came about when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field near the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them, to the very last one, had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai. They attacked 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 those who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, 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。
Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he had reached out while holding his spear, until he had completely destroyed all the people 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 only the livestock and the plunder from the city for themselves, just as Yahweh had commanded Joshua.
28 約書亞將艾城焚燒，使城永為高堆、荒場，直到今日；
Joshua burned Ai and turned it into a heap of ruins forever. It is an abandoned place 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 evening. When the sun was going down, Joshua gave the command and they took the king's body down from the tree and threw it in front of the city gates. There they set up a great heap of stones on top of it. That heap remains there 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 Yahweh, 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。
just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded the people of Israel, as it was written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “An altar from uncut stones, on which no one has wielded an iron tool.” He offered on the altar burnt offerings to Yahweh, and they 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。
There, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses.
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, their elders, officers, and their judges stood on both sides of the ark before the priests and Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh—the foreigner as well as the native born—half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half stood in front of Mount Ebal. They blessed the people of Israel, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded them at first.
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, Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, just as they had been 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 one word from all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read in front of the assembly of Israel, including the women, the little children, and the foreigners who lived among them.
