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.
Forsothe the Lord seide to Josue, Nether drede thou `withoutforth, `nether drede thou withynne; take with thee al the multitude of fiyteris, and rise thou, and stie in to the citee of Hay; lo, Y haue bitake in thin hond the king therof, and the puple, and the citee, and the lond.
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.”
And thou schalt do to the citee of Hay, and to the king therof, as thou didist to Gerico, and to the king therof; sotheli ye schulen take to you the prey, and alle lyuynge beestis; sette thou `aspies, ethir buyschementis, to the citee bihynde it.
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.
And Josue roos, and al the oost of fiyteris with hym, to stie in to Hay; and bi nyyte he sente thretti chosen thousynde of stronge men;
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].
and comaundide to hem, and seide, Sette ye buyschementis bihynde the citee, and go ye not ferthere; and alle ye schulen be redi;
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.
forsothe Y, and the tothir multitude which is with me, schulen come on the contrarie side ayens the citee; and whanne thei schulen go out ayens vs, as we diden bifore, we schulen fle, and turne the backis,
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,
til thei pursuen, and ben drawun away ferthir fro the citee; for thei schulen gesse, that we schulen fle as bifore.
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.
Therfor while we schulen fle, and thei pursue, ye schulen ryse fro the buyschementis, and schulen waste the citee; and youre Lord God schal bitake it in to youre hondis.
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.”
And whanne ye han take it, `brenne ye it; `so ye schulen do alle thingis, as Y comaundide.
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.
And Josue lefte hem, and thei yeden to the place of buyschementis, and saten bitwixe Bethel and Hay, at the west coost of the citee of Hay. Forsothe Josue dwellide `in that nyyt in the myddis of the puple.
10 Early the next morning, Joshua gathered his soldiers together. Then he and the other Israeli leaders led them up to Ai.
And he roos eerli, and noumbride felowis, and stiede with the eldere in the frount of the oost, and was cumpassid with the helpe of fiyteris.
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.
And whanne thei hadden come, and hadden stied ayens the citee, thei stoden at the north coost of the citee, bitwixe which citee and hem the valei was in the myddis.
12 Then Joshua chose about 5,000 men and told them to go and hide just west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.
`Sotheli he hadde chose fyue thousynde men, and hadde sette in buyschementis bitwixe Bethauen and Hay, in the west part of the same citee.
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.
Sotheli al the tothir oost dresside scheltroun to the north, so that the laste men of the multitude touchiden the west coost of the citee. Therfor Josue yede in that nyyt, and stood in the myddis of the valei;
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.
and whanne the kyng of Hai had seyn that, he hastide eerli, and yede out with al the oost of the citee, and he dresside scheltrun ayens the deseert; and wiste not that buyschementis weren hid bihinde the bak.
15 Joshua and the Israeli soldiers [who were with him] allowed the army of Ai to push them back. They ran toward the desert.
Forsothe Josue and al the multitude `of Israel yauen place, feynynge drede, and fleynge bi the weie of wildirnesse; and thei crieden togidere,
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.
and excitiden hem silf togidere, and pursueden hem. And whanne thei hadden go awey fro the citee,
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.
and sothely not oon hadde left in the citee of Hai and Bethauen, that `pursuede not Israel, and thei leften the citees opyn, as thei hadden broke out,
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.
the Lord seide to Josue, `Reise thou the scheeld which is in thin hond, ayens the citee of Hay; for Y schal yyue it to thee.
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.
And whanne he hadde reisid the scheld ayens the citee, buyschementis, that weren hid, riseden anoon; and thei yeden to the citee, and token, and brenten it.
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.
Forsothe the men of the citee, that pursueden Josue, bihelden, and siyen the smoke of the citee stie `til to heuene; and thei myyten no more fle hidur and thidur; most sithen thei that hadden feyned fliyt, and yeden to wildirnesse, withstoden stronglieste `ayens the pursueris.
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.
And Josue siy, and al Israel, that the citee was takun, and the smoke of the citee stiede; and he turnede ayen, and smoot the men of Hay.
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.
Sotheli also thei that hadden take and brent the citee, yeden out of the cytee ayens her men, and bigunnen to smyte the myddil men of enemyes; and whanne aduersaries weren slayn `on euer ethir part, so that no man of so greet multitude was sauyd,
23 Then they seized the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
thei tokun also the kyng of Hay lyuynge, and brouyten to Josue.
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.
Therfor, whanne alle men weren slayn, that pursueden Israel goynge to deseert, and felden bi swerd in the same place, the sones of Israel turneden ayen, and smytiden the citee.
25 They killed 12,000 men and women.
Forsothe thei that `felden doun in the same dai, fro man `til to womman, weren twelue thousynde of men, alle men of the citee of Hay.
26 Joshua continued to point his spear [LIT] toward Ai, until all the people in Ai had been killed.
Sotheli Josue withdrow not the hond, which he hadde dressid an hiy holdynge `the scheld, til alle the dwelleris of Hay weren slayn.
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.
Forsothe the sones of Israel departiden to hem silf the werk beestis, and the preye of the citee, as the Lord comaundide to Josue;
28 Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai city and caused it to become a pile of ruins. It is still like that today.
which brente the citee, and made it an euerlastynge biriel.
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.
And he hangide the king therof in a iebat, `til to the euentid and the goynge doun of the sunne. And Josue comaundide, and thei puttiden doun his deed bodi fro the cros; and thei `castiden forth him in thilke entryng of the citee, and gaderiden on hym a greet heep of stoonus, which heep dwellith `til in to present dai.
30 Joshua [told his men to] build on Ebal Mountain an altar for Yahweh, the God [who is worshiped by] the Israeli people.
Thanne Josue bildide an auter to the Lord God of Israel in the hil of Hebal,
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.
as Moises, the `seruaunt of the Lord, comaundide to the sones of Israel, and it is writun in the book of Moises lawe, an auter of stoonys vnpolischid, whiche yrun touchide not. And he offride theron brent sacrifice to the Lord, and he offride pesible sacrifices;
32 As the Israelis watched, Joshua wrote on stones the laws that [Yahweh had given] to Moses previously.
and he wroot on the stoonys the Deutronomye of Moises lawe, `which he hadde declarid bifor the sones of Israel.
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.
Sotheli al the puple, and the grettere men in birthe, and the duykis, and iugis stoden on `euer either side of the arke, in the siyt of preestis and dekenes, that baren the arke of boond of pees of the Lord; as a comeling, so and a man borun in the lond; the mydil part of hem stood bisidis the hil Garasym, and the myddil part stood bisidis the hil Hebal, as Moises, the `seruaunt of the Lord, comaundide. And first `sotheli he blesside the puple of Israel.
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].
Aftir these thingis he redde alle the wordis of blessyng and of cursyng, and alle thingis that weren writun in the book of lawe.
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.
He lefte no thing vntouchid of these thingis that Moises comaundide; but he declaride alle thingis bifor al the multitude of Israel, to wymmen, and litle children, and to comelyngis that dwelliden among hem.
