Joshua 8:1-35

Matthew(i) 1 And the Lorde sayde vnto Iosua: feare not, nor dread? but take al the men of warre wyth the, and vp and get the to Ai. Beholde I haue geuen into thy hande, the kynge of Ai, and hys people, hys cytye and hys lande. 2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her kynge, as thou dydest vnto Ierico and her kyng. Neuerthelesse the spoyle & catell therof, ye shall take vnto youre selues. But laye a watche vnto the toune on the backsyde therof. 3 And then Iosua arose, and al the men of warre, to go vp vnto Ai. And Iosua chose out thyrty thousand men of warre, and sent them by nyght. 4 And he commaunded them saiyng: Se that ye lye awayte vnto the toune on the backsyde therof. Go not very farre from the cytye, and se that ye be al readye. 5 And I and al the people that are wyth me, wil approche vnto the cytye. And when they come oute agaynst vs, as at the fyrste tyme, then will we flee before them. 6 And they wyll come out after vs, vntyl we haue plucked them awaye from the cytye. For they wyll saye, they flee vs, as at the fyrste tyme, 7 for we wyll flee before them. Then shall ye ryse vp from lying awayte & destroye the cyty: For the Lorde youre God wyll delyuer it into youre handes. 8 Assone therfore as ye haue taken the cytye, se that ye set it on fyre. Accordinge to the commaundement of the Lord se that ye do, behold, I haue charged you. 9 And Iosua sent them forth, and they went to lye awayte, and laye betwene Bethel and Ai, on the west syde of Ai. But Iosua lodged that nyght amonge the people. 10 And he rose vp erlye in the mornynge and nombred the people and went vp, both he and the elders of Israel before the people, vnto Ai. 11 And all the men of warre that were wyth hym, went vp and drue nye, and came before the cytye, and pytched on the north syde of Ai, a valeye beynge betwene them and Ai. 12 And he toke vpon a fyue thousande men and put them to lye a wayte, betwene Bethel, and Ai, on the westsyde of the cytye. 13 And he put the people euen al the hoste, on the northsyde of the cytye, and the lyers awayte on the weste. And Iosua went the same nyght into the myddesof the valeye. 14 And when the kyng of Ai sawe that they hasted & rose vp erlye, then the people of the cytye went out agaynst Israel, to battel, both the Kynge & all hys people, at a tyme apointed, euen before the playne, and wyst not that there were lyers awayte on the backsyde of the cytye. 15 And Iosua and Israell were put to the worsse before them, and flede towarde the wyldernesse. 16 And al the people of the toune cryed to folow after them. And they folowed after Iosua tyll they were drawen awaye from the cytye: 17 So that there was not a man leaft in Ai, or in Bethel, that went not out after Israel. And they leaft the cytye open and folowed after Israel. 18 Then the Lorde sayd vnto Iosua, stretche out the bouckelar that is in thine hande towarde Ai, for I haue geuen the it. And Iosua stretched out the bouckelar that was in hys hande, toward the cyty. 19 And the lyers awaite rose quycklye out of theyr places, and ranne, assone as Iosua had stretched out his hande, and they entred into the cyty, and toke it, and hasted and set it on fyre. 20 And when the men of Ai loked backe after them and sawe, Beholde, the smoke of the cytye ascended vp to heauen. And they had no place to flee either this waye or that, for the people that fleed to the wyldernesse turned backe againe vpon the folowers. 21 And when Iosua and al Israel sawe that the lyars awayte had taken the cyty and that the smoke of it ascended, They turned agayne and layed on the men of Ai. 22 And the other yssued out of the cytye agaynst them. And so were they in the myddes of Israell, these beinge on the one syde of them, and the reste on the other. And they layed vpon them, so that they let none eyther remayne or skape. 23 And the Kinge of Ai they toke a lyue and brought hym to Iosua. 24 And when Israel had made an ende of slaying all the inhabyters of Ai in the feldes, and in the wyldernesse, by whych they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the Edge of the swerde, vntyll they were wasted. Then all Israel returned vnto Ai and smote it wyth the edge of the swerd. 25 And al that fell that daye, both of men and women, were twelue thousand, euen all the men of Ai. 26 For Iosua plucked not hys hande backe agayne, whyche he stretched out wyth the bouckelar, vntyll they had vtterlye destroeyd all the inhabitoures of Ai. 27 Onelye the catell and the spoyle of the sayde cytye, Israell toke vnto them selues accordynge vnto the worde of the Lorde, whyche he commaunded Iosua. 28 And Iosua set Ai on fyre and made it an heape for euer and a wyldernesse, euen vnto this daye. 29 And the kynge of Ai he hanged on tree, vntill euen. And assone as the sonne was doune, Iosua commaunded and they toke the carkas doune of the tree, and caste it in the enteringe of the gate of the cytye, and cast theron a great heape of stones, that remayneth vnto thys daye. 30 Then Iosua buylt an altare vnto the Lorde God of Israel, in mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the seruaunt of the Lorde commaunded the chyldren of Israell, accordinge as it is wrytten in the boke of the law of Moses, an altare of rough stone, ouer whiche no tole of yeron was lyft. And they sacryfyced theron burntsacryfyce, and offered peace offringe 32 And he wrote there vpon the stones the Seconde lawe of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the chyldren of Israel. 33 And al Israel and the elders therof, and their officers, and Iudges stode, parte on this syde the arke, and parte on that syde, before the priestes: that were Leuites, which bare the arcke of the appointment of the Lord, as wel the straunger, as they that were borne amonge them, halfe on them on the forefronte of the Mount of Garizim, and halfe of them on the forefronte of mount Eball, as Moses the seruaunte of the Lorde commaunded, fyrste to blesse the people Israell. 34 And after that he reade al the wordes of the lawe, both the blessinge and cursynge, accordinge to all that is wrytten in the boke of the lawe, 35 so that there was not one worde of all that Moses commaunded, whyche Iosua reade not, before all the congregacyon of Israell, wyth women and chyldren, and the straungers that were amonge them.