Joshua 8–9

Chapter 8

And the Lord said to Josue: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise, and go up to the town of Hai: Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land.

²And thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils, and all the cattle, you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush for the city behind it.

³And Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant men in the night,

⁴And commanded them, saying: Lay an ambush behind the city: and go not very far from it: and be ye all ready.

⁵But I, and the rest of the multitude which is with me, will approach on the contrary side against the city. And when they shall come out against us, we will flee, and turn our backs, as we did before:

⁶Till they pursuing us be drawn farther from the city: for they will think that we flee as before.

⁷And whilst we are fleeing, and they pursuing, you shall rise out of the ambush, and shall destroy the city: and the Lord your God will deliver it into your hands.

⁸And when you shall have taken it, set it on fire, and you shall do all things so as I have commanded.

⁹And he sent them away, and they went on to the place of the ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city of Hai. But Josue staid that night in the midst of the people,

¹⁰And rising early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and went up with the ancients in the front of the army, environed with the aid of the fighting men.

¹¹And when they were come, and were gone up over against the city, they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there was a valley in the midst.

¹²And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city:

¹³But all the rest of the army went in battle array on the north side, so that the last of that multitude reached to the west side of the city. So Josue went that night, and stood in the midst of the valley.

¹⁴And when the king of Hai saw this, he made haste in the morning, and went out with all the army of the city, and set it in battle array, toward the desert, not knowing that there lay an ambush behind his back.

¹⁵But Josue, and all Israel gave back, making as if they were afraid, and fleeing by the way of the wilderness.

¹⁶But they shouting together, and encouraging one another, pursued them. And when they were come from the city,

¹⁷And not one remained in the city of Hai and of Bethel, that did not pursue after Israel, leaving the towns open as they had rushed out,

¹⁸The Lord said to Josue: Lift up the shield that is in thy hand, towards the city of Hai, for I will deliver it to thee.

¹⁹And when he had lifted up his shield towards the city, the ambush, that lay hid, rose up immediately: and going to the city, took it, and set it on fire.

²⁰And the men of the city, that pursued after Josue, looking back, and seeing the smoke of the city rise up to heaven, had no more power to flee this way or that way: especially as they that had counterfeited flight, and were going toward the wilderness, turned back most valiantly against them that pursued.

²¹So Josue, and all Israel, seeing that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city rose up, returned, and slew the men of Hai.

²²And they also that had taken and set the city on fire, issuing out of the city to meet their own men, began to cut off the enemies who were surrounded by them. So that the enemies being cut off on both sides, not one of so great a multitude was saved.

²³And they took the king of the city of Hai alive and brought him to Josue.

²⁴So all being slain that had pursued after Israel, in his flight to the wilderness, and falling by the sword in the same place, the children of Israel returned and laid waste the city.

²⁵And the number of them that fell that day, both of men and women, was twelve thousand persons, all of the city of Hai.

²⁶But Josue drew not back his hand, which he had stretched out on high, holding the shield, till all the inhabitants of Hai were slain.

²⁷And the children of Israel divided among them, the cattle and the prey of the city, as the Lord had commanded Josue.

²⁸And he burnt the city, and made it a heap forever:

²⁹And he hung the king thereof on a gibbet, until the evening and the going down of the sun. Then Josue commanded, and they took down his carcass from the gibbet: and threw it in the very entrance of the city, heaping upon it a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day.

³⁰Then Josue built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Hebal,

³¹As Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the children of Israel, and it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of unhewn stones, which iron had not touched: and he offered upon it holocausts to the Lord, and immolated victims of peace offerings.

³²And he wrote upon stones, the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had ordered before the children of Israel.

³³And all the people, and the ancients, and the princes, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark, before the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, both the stranger and he that was born among them, half of them by Mount Garizim, and half by Mount Hebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord, had commanded. And first he blessed the people of Israel.

³⁴After this, he read all the words of the blessing and the cursing, and all things that were written in the book of the law.

³⁵He left out nothing of those things which Moses had commanded, but he repeated all before all the people of Israel, with the women and children, and strangers, that dwelt among them.

Chapter 9

Now when these things were heard of, all the kings beyond the Jordan, that dwelt in the mountains, and in the plains, in the places near the sea, and on the coasts of the great sea, they also that dwell by Libanus, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite,

²Gathered themselves together, to fight against Josue and Israel with one mind, and one resolution.

³But they that dwelt in Gabaon, hearing all that Josue had done to Jericho and Hai:

⁴Cunningly devising took for themselves provisions, laying old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles rent and sewed up again,

⁵And very old shoes, which for a show of age were clouted with patches, and old garments upon them: the loaves also, which they carried for provisions by the way, were hard, and broken into pieces:

⁶And they went to Josue, who then abode in the camp at Galgal, and said to him, and to all Israel with him: We are come from a far country, desiring to make peace with you. And the children of Israel answered them, and said:

⁷Perhaps you dwell in the land which falls to our lot; if so, we can make no league with you.

⁸But they said to Josue: We are thy servants. Josue said to them: Who are you? and whence came you?

⁹They answered: From a very far country thy servants are come in the name of the Lord thy God. For we have heard the fame of his power, all the things that he did in Egypt.

¹⁰And to the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the Jordan, Sehon, king of Hesebon, and Og, king of Basan, that was in Astaroth:

¹¹And our ancients, and all the inhabitants of our country, said to us: Take with you victuals for a long way, and go meet them, and say: We are your servants, make ye a league with us.

¹²Behold, these loaves we took hot, when we set out from our houses to come to you, now they are become dry, and broken in pieces by being exceeding old.

¹³These bottles of wine when we filled them were new, now they are rent and burst. These garments we have on, and the shoes we have on our feet, by reason of the very long journey, are worn out, and almost consumed.

¹⁴They took therefore of their victuals, and consulted not the mouth of the Lord.

¹⁵And Josue made peace with them, and entering into a league, promised that they should not be slain: the princes also of the multitude swore to them.

¹⁶Now three days after the league was made, they heard that they dwelt nigh, and they should be among them.

¹⁷And the children of Israel removed the camp, and came into their cities on the third day, the names of which are, Gabaon, and Caphira, and Beroth, and Cariathiarim.

¹⁸And they slew them not, because the princes of the multitude had sworn in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the common people murmured against the princes.

¹⁹And they answered them: We have sworn to them in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, and therefore we may not touch them.

²⁰But this we will do to them: Let their lives be saved, lest the wrath of the Lord be stirred up against us, if we should be forsworn:

²¹But so let them live, as to serve the whole multitude in hewing wood, and bringing in water. As they were speaking these things,

²²Josue called the Gabaonites, and said to them: Why would you impose upon us, saying: We dwell very far off from you, whereas you are in the midst of us?

²³Therefore you shall be under a curse, and your race shall always be hewers of wood, and carriers of water, into the house of my God.

²⁴They answered: It was told us, thy servants, that the Lord thy God had promised his servant Moses, to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants thereof. Therefore we feared exceedingly and provided for our lives, compelled by the dread we had of you, and we took this counsel.

²⁵And now we are in thy hand: deal with us as it seemeth good and right unto thee.

²⁶So Josue did as he had said, and delivered them from the hand of the children of Israel, that they should not be slain.

²⁷And he gave orders in that day, that they should be in the service of all the people, and of the altar…