Joshua
Joshua 8
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Joshua 8 — Scripture text (King James Version)
And the LORD said unto , Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to : see, I have given into thy hand the king of , and his people, and his city, and his land: And thou shalt do to and her king as thou didst unto and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it. So arose, and all the people of war, to go up against : and chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night. And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them. Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you. therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between and , the west side of : but lodged that night among the people. And rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of , before the people to . And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched the north side of : now there was a valley between them and . And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between and , the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, even all the host that was the north of the city, and their liers in wait the west of the city, went that night into the midst of the valley. And it came to pass, when the king of saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city. And and all made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. And all the people that were in were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after , and were drawn away from the city. And there was not a man left in or , that went not out after : and they left the city open, and pursued after . And the LORD said unto , Stretch out the that is in thy hand toward ; for I will give it into thine hand. And stretched out the that he had in his hand toward the city. And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city fire. And when the men of looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. And when and all saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of . And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of , some this side, and some that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. And the king of they took alive, and brought him to . And it came to pass, when had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen the edge of the , until they were consumed, that all the returned unto , and smote it with the edge of the . And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of . For drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the , until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of . Only the cattle and the spoil of that city took for a prey unto themselves, according unto of the LORD which he commanded . And burnt , and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. And the king of he hanged a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, commanded that they should take his carcase down from , and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day. Then built an altar unto the LORD God of in , As the servant of the LORD commanded the children of , as it is written in of , an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of of , which he wrote in the presence of the children of . And all , and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood this side the and that side before the priests the , which bare the of the LORD, as the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against , and half of them over against ; as the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of . And afterward he read all the words of , the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in . There was not a word of all that commanded, which read not before all the congregation of , with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.