Joshua 8

Great(i) 1 And the Lorde sayde vnto Iosua: feare not, nether be thou faynt harted. Take all the men of warre wyth the and vp, and gett the to Hai, Beholde, I haue geuen into thy hande, the kyng of Hai, and his people, hys cytie and hys lande. 2 And thou shalt do to Hai & her kyng, as thou dydest vnto Iericho and her kyng, Neuerthelesse the spoyle and catell therof, shall ye take vnto youre selues: And laye a watch vnto the towne, on the backsyde therof. 3 And so Iosua arose, and all the men of warre, to go vp agaynst Hai. And Iosua chose oute thyrtie thousande stronge men of warre, & sent them a waye by nyght. 4 And he commaunded them, sayinge: beholde, ye shall lye awayte vnto the towne on the backesyde therof. Go not very farre from the cytie, but be all readye. 5 And I and all the people that are with me, will approche vnto the cytie. And when they come out agaynst vs, as they did at the first tyme then will we flee before them. 6 For they will come oute after vs & we will bring them out of the cytie. For they will saye: they flee before vs, as at the first tyme: 7 & we will flee before them. In the meane tyme shall ye ryse vp from lying awayte, & destroye the cytie: For the Lorde youre God will deliuer it into youre hande. 8 And whan ye haue taken the cytie, ye shall set it on fire. Accordinge to the commaundement of the Lord shal ye do: beholde, I haue charged you. 9 Iosua therfore sent them forth, & they went to lye awayte, & abode betwene Bethel and Hai, on the west syde of the cite of Hai. But Iosua lodged that nyght amonge the people. 10 And Iosua rose vp erlye in the mornynge, and nombred the people, & went vp, he & the elders of Israel before the people agaynst Hai. 11 And all the men of warre that were with him, went vp and drue nye, and came agaynst the cytie, and pitched on the north syde of Hai, & there was a valeye betwene them and Hai. 12 And he toke vpon a fyue thousande men, and put them to lye awayte, betwene Bethel & Hai, on the westsyde of the cytie. 13 And they put the people (euen all the hoste that were on the northsyde) agaynst the cytie, and the lyers awayte on the west. And Iosua walked the same nyght in the myddes of the valeye. 14 And it fortuned, that when the kyng of Hai sawe it they hasted and rose vp earlye, and the men of the cytie went oute agaynst Israell to battell, he & all his people, at a tyme apoynted, euen before the playne, and wist not that there were lyers awayte on the backsyde of the cytie. 15 And Iosua & all Israel fayned them selues to be put to the worsse before them, & fled towarde the wildernesse. 16 And all the people of the towne were called together, to folowe after them. And they folowed after Iosua & were drawen a waye from the cytie: 17 And there was not a man left in Hai & in Bethel, that went not out after Israell. And they left the cytie open, & folowed after Israell. 18 And the Lorde sayde vnto Iosua: stretch out the spere that is in thine hand, towarde Hai, for I will geue it into thy hand. And Iosua stretched out the spere that he had in his hande, towarde the citie. 19 And the lyers awayte rose quicklye oute of their place, & ranne assone as Iosua had stretched oute his hande, and they entred into the citie and toke it, & hasted, & sett the cite on fire. 20 And when the men of Hai loked backe after them, they sawe the smoke of the citie assende vp to heauen. And they had no leysure to flee ether thys waye or that, & the people that fledd to the wyldernesse, turned backe agayne vpon the folowers. 21 And when Iosua & all Israel sawe that the lyers awayte had taken the citie, & that the smoke of it ascended, they turned agayne and layed on the men of Hai. 22 And the other yssued oute of the citie agaynst them. And so were they in the middes of Israel: for these were on the one syde of them, & the reste on the other syde. And they layed vpon them, so that they lett none of them skape, nor remayne. 23 And the kyng of Hai they toke alyue, & brought hym to Iosua. 24 And when Israell had made an ende of slaying all the enhabiters of Hai in the felde of the wyldernesse, where they chased them, & when they were all fallen on the edge of the swerde, vntyll they were wasted, all the Israelites returned vnto Hai, & smote it in the edge of the swerde, 25 And all that fell that daye, both of men & wemen, were twelue thousande, euen all the men of Hai. 26 For Iosua plucked not hys hand backe agayne, which he stretched oute vpon the spere, vntyll he had vtterlye destroyed all the enhabitatoures of Hai. 27 Only the catell and the spoyle of the citie, Israel toke vnto them selues, according vnto the worde of the Lorde, which he commaunded Iosua. 28 And Iosua sett Hai on fyre, and made it an heape for euer, and a wyldernesse, euen vnto thys daye. 29 And the kyng of Hai he hanged on tree, vntyll euen. And assone as the sonne was downe, Iosua commaunded that they shulde take the carkas doune of the tree, and caste it at the entering of the gate of the citie, and laye theron a great heape of stones, that remayneth vnto this daye. 30 Then Iosua bylt an altare vnto the Lorde God of Israell, in mount Eball, 31 as Moses the seruaunt of the Lorde commaunded the children of Israell, and as it is written in the boke of the lawe of Moses: an altare of whole stones, ouer which noman hath lyft any tole of yron. And they sacrifyced theron burnt sacrifyces vnto the Lorde, and offered peace offrynges. 32 And he wrote there vpon the stones, a rehearsall of the lawe of Moses, and wrote it in the presence of the chyldren of Israell. 33 And all Israell and the elders therof, and their officiers & Iudges stode, parte on this syde the arcke, & parte on that syde, before the Preastes, that were Leuites, which bare the arcke of the apoyntement of the Lorde: as well the straunger, as they that were borne amonge them: halfe on them on the forefronte of the mounte Garizim, and halfe of them on the forefronte of mount Eball: as Moses the seruaunt of the Lorde had commaunded before, that they shulde blesse the people Israell. 34 Afterward he red all the wordes of the lawe, the blessinges and cursynges, according to all that is wrytten in the boke of the lawe: 35 And there was not one worde of all that Moses commaunded, which Iosua read not before all the congregacyon of Israell: The wemen and chyldren, (and the straungers that were come) stondyng amonge them.