Inspire: Joshua, Judges & Ruth 978-1-4964-7519-0 - Flipbook - Page 20
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When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the
sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction
of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all the other
Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from
the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai. 22 Meanwhile, the Israelites
who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the
men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel
attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped. 23 Only the king of Ai
was taken alive and brought to Joshua.
24 When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the
open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside. 25 So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day—12,000 in all.
26 For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was
completely destroyed. 27 Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not
destroyed, for the Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves, as the Lord had
commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned the town of Ai, and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.
29 Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until
evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and
threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that
can still be seen today.
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The Lord’s Covenant Renewed
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Then Joshua built an altar
to the LORD, the God of Israel,
on Mount Ebal.
He followed the commands that Moses the Lord’s servant had written in the
Book of Instruction: “Make me an altar from stones that are uncut and have not
been shaped with iron tools.” Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings
and peace offerings to the Lord. 32 And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied
onto the stones of the altar the instructions Moses had given them.
33 Then all the Israelites—foreigners and native-born alike—along with the
elders, officers, and judges, were divided into two groups. One group stood in
front of Mount Gerizim, the other in front of Mount Ebal. Each group faced the
other, and between them stood the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Lord’s
Covenant.
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This was all done according to the commands that Moses,
the servant of the LORD,
had previously given for
blessing the people of Israel.
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