Joshua 8

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

1 耶和华对约书亚说：“不要惊慌害怕。只管率领全军去攻打艾城，我已经将艾城的王、他的人民、城池和土地都交在你手里了。

2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”

2 你怎样对待耶利哥和耶利哥王，也要照样对待艾城和艾城的王。不过你们可以拿城中的财物和牲畜。你要在城后设下伏兵。”

3 So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night

3 于是，约书亚率领全军前往艾城。他挑选了三万精兵，派他们在黑夜出发，

4 with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.

4 并吩咐他们说：“你们要在城后埋伏，不可离城太远，全体保持戒备。

5 Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

5 我会率领军队正面攻城，当敌人像上次那样出城应战时，我们便逃跑。

6 They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,

6 他们必定乘胜追击，我们便引他们离城，因为敌人一定会以为我们又像上次一样临阵逃跑。

7 you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

7 那时，你们便从埋伏的地方冲出来攻占艾城，你们的上帝耶和华一定会把艾城交在你们手里。

8 And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”

8 你们攻陷艾城后，要照耶和华的话放火焚城。这是我的命令。”

9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.

9 于是，约书亚派遣他们出去。他们去埋伏在伯特利和艾城之间，就是艾城的西面。那一夜，约书亚住在民众当中。

10 Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.

10 清早，约书亚召集民众，与以色列的众首领率全军前往艾城。

11 Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.

11 随他同去的军队都向前推进，来到城外，在城的北面扎营，与艾城相隔一个山谷。

12 Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

12 约书亚选了五千人，让他们埋伏在艾城和伯特利之间，就是艾城的西面。

13 So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

13 于是，城北的主力军队和城西的伏兵都部署好了。当晚，约书亚在山谷里过夜。

14 When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.

14 艾城的王见以色列人兵临城下，清早便急忙和全城的人起来出城迎战，在亚拉巴谷附近跟以色列军交锋，他不知道城后有伏兵。

15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.

15 约书亚带领以色列军诈败，沿着通往旷野的路逃跑。

16 Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

16 艾城的人都被召去追赶以色列人，他们追击约书亚，被诱出城来。

17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.

17 这样，伯特利和艾城的人倾巢而出，追杀以色列人，他们的城门大开。

18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,

18 耶和华对约书亚说：“把你手中的矛指向艾城，因为我要将这城交在你手里。”约书亚就把手中的矛指向艾城。

19 and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

19 他一伸手，城后的伏兵立即行动，迅速冲进城去，一举占领艾城，随即放火烧城。

20 When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.

20 艾城的人回头发现城内烟气冲天，却无路可逃，因为那些逃往旷野的以色列人已掉头攻击他们。

21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

21 约书亚和以色列全军见伏兵已经占领艾城，城中浓烟滚滚，便掉头攻击艾城的人。

22 Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.

22 伏兵也出城追击艾城的人。以色列军前后夹攻，把敌人围困在中间全部歼灭，无一漏网。

23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

23 他们生擒了艾城的王，将他押到约书亚那里。

24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.

24 以色列军在田间和旷野用刀杀尽了追赶他们的艾城人后，又进城杀了留在城里的人，

25 A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.

25 当天被杀的艾城人男男女女共有一万二千人。

26 Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.

26 一直到艾城所有的人都被杀光了，约书亚才收回手中的矛。

27 Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

27 以色列人照耶和华对约书亚的吩咐，只带走了城中的牲畜和财物。

28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

28 约书亚烧毁全城，使城永远成为一堆废墟，至今仍一片荒凉。

29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.

29 约书亚又将艾城王的尸体挂在树上示众。黄昏时，他才吩咐人把尸体取下来扔在城门口，又在尸体上堆了一大堆石头。石堆至今还在。

30 At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,

30–31 约书亚照耶和华的仆人摩西对以色列人的吩咐，在以巴路山上为以色列的上帝耶和华筑了一座祭坛。这坛是按照摩西律法书的记载，用未经铁器凿过的原石筑的。以色列人就在这坛上把燔祭和平安祭献给耶和华。

31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

32 And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

32 约书亚又在众人面前，将摩西所写的律法刻在石头上。

33 All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

33 所有以色列人与他们的长老、官员和审判官都站在耶和华的约柜两旁，面对着抬约柜的利未祭司，寄居的外族人和本族人都在场。他们一半人站在基利心山前，一半人站在以巴路山前，正如耶和华的仆人摩西从前祝福他们时所吩咐的。

34 Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.

34 随后，约书亚按照摩西律法书的记载，向民众宣读一切祝福和咒诅的话。

35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.

35 他在全体会众，包括妇女、小孩以及住在他们中间的外族人面前，一字不漏地宣读摩西的一切吩咐。