8:1 耶和華對約書亞說：「不要懼怕，也不要驚惶。你起來，率領一切兵丁上艾城去，我已經把艾城的王和他的民、他的城，並他的地，都交在你手裡。
8:2 你怎樣待耶利哥和耶利哥的王，也當照樣待艾城和艾城的王。只是城內所奪的財物和牲畜，你們可以取為自己的掠物。你要在城後設下伏兵。」
8:3 於是，約書亞和一切兵丁都起來，要上艾城去。約書亞選了三萬大能的勇士，夜間打發他們前往，
8:4 吩咐他們說：「你們要在城後埋伏，不可離城太遠，都要各自準備。
8:5 我與我所帶領的眾民要向城前往。城裡的人像初次出來攻擊我們的時候，我們就在他們面前逃跑，
8:6 他們必出來追趕我們，直到我們引誘他們離開城；因為他們必說：『這些人像初次在我們面前逃跑。』所以我們要在他們面前逃跑，
8:7 你們就從埋伏的地方起來，奪取那城，因為耶和華─你們的上帝必把城交在你們手裡。
8:8 你們奪了城以後，就放火燒城，要照耶和華的話行。這是我吩咐你們的。」
8:9 約書亞打發他們前往，他們就上埋伏的地方去，住在伯特利和艾城的中間，就是在艾城的西邊。這夜約書亞卻在民中住宿。
8:10 約書亞清早起來，點齊百姓，他和以色列的長老在百姓前面上艾城去。
8:11 眾民，就是他所帶領的兵丁，都上去，向前直往，來到城前，在艾城北邊安營。在約書亞和艾城中間有一山谷。
8:12 他挑了約有五千人，使他們埋伏在伯特利和艾城的中間，就是在艾城的西邊，
8:13 於是安置了百姓，就是城北的全軍和城西的伏兵。這夜約書亞進入山谷之中。
8:14 艾城的王看見這景況，就和全城的人，清早急忙起來，按所定的時候，出到亞拉巴前，要與以色列人交戰；王卻不知道在城後有伏兵。
8:15 約書亞和以色列眾人在他們面前裝敗，往那通曠野的路逃跑。
8:16 城內的眾民都被招聚，追趕他們；艾城人追趕的時候，就被引誘離開城。
8:17 艾城和伯特利城沒有一人不出來追趕以色列人的，撇了敞開的城門，去追趕以色列人。
8:18 耶和華吩咐約書亞說：「你向艾城伸出手裡的短槍，因為我要將城交在你手裡。」約書亞就向城伸出手裡的短槍。
8:19 他一伸手，伏兵就從埋伏的地方急忙起來，奪了城，跑進城去，放火焚燒。
8:20 艾城的人回頭一看，不料，城中煙氣沖天，他們就無力向左向右逃跑。那往曠野逃跑的百姓便轉身攻擊追趕他們的人。
8:21 約書亞和以色列眾人見伏兵已經奪了城，城中煙氣飛騰，就轉身回去，擊殺艾城的人。
8:22 伏兵也出城迎擊艾城人，艾城人就困在以色列人中間，前後都是以色列人。於是以色列人擊殺他們，沒有留下一個，也沒有一個逃脫的，
8:23 生擒了艾城的王，將他解到約書亞那裡。
8:24 以色列人在田間和曠野殺盡所追趕一切艾城的居民。艾城人倒在刀下，直到滅盡；以色列眾人就回到艾城，用刀殺了城中的人。
8:25 當日殺斃的人，連男帶女共有一萬二千，就是艾城所有的人。
8:26 約書亞沒有收回手裡所伸出來的短槍，直到把艾城的一切居民盡行殺滅。
8:27 惟獨城中的牲畜和財物，以色列人都取為自己的掠物，是照耶和華所吩咐約書亞的話。
8:28 約書亞將艾城焚燒，使城永為高堆、荒場，直到今日；
8:29 又將艾城王掛在樹上，直到晚上。日落的時候，約書亞吩咐人把屍首從樹上取下來，丟在城門口，在屍首上堆成一大堆石頭，直存到今日。
8:30 那時，約書亞在以巴路山上為耶和華─以色列的上帝築一座壇，
8:31 是用沒有動過鐵器的整石頭築的，照著耶和華僕人摩西所吩咐以色列人的話，正如摩西律法書上所寫的。眾人在這壇上給耶和華奉獻燔祭和平安祭。
8:32 約書亞在那裡，當著以色列人面前，將摩西所寫的律法抄寫在石頭上。
8:33 以色列眾人，無論是本地人、是寄居的，和長老、官長，並審判官，都站在約櫃兩旁，在抬耶和華約櫃的祭司利未人面前，一半對著基利心山，一半對著以巴路山，為以色列民祝福，正如耶和華僕人摩西先前所吩咐的。
8:34 隨後，約書亞將律法上祝福、咒詛的話，照著律法書上一切所寫的，都宣讀了一遍。
8:35 摩西所吩咐的一切話，約書亞在以色列全會眾和婦女、孩子，並他們中間寄居的外人面前，沒有一句不宣讀的。
Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai.
For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and
his land. 2 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 an ambush behind the city.”
3 So
Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of
his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these
orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go
very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5 I and all those
with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they
did before, we will flee from them. 6 They will pursue us until
we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running
away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, 7 you
are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. 8 When
you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”
9 Then
Joshua sent them off, 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 with the
people.
10 Early
the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel
marched before them to Ai. 11 The entire force that was with
him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up
camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12 Joshua
had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai,
to the west of the city. 13 So the soldiers took up their
positions—with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the
west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
14 When
the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in
the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah.
But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua
and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward
the wilderness. 16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue
them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. 17 Not
a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city
open and went in pursuit of Israel.
18 Then
the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out
toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver
the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand.
19 As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly
from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it
and quickly set it on fire.
20 The
men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but
they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been
fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. 21 For
when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that
smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. 22 Those
in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught
in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving
them neither survivors nor fugitives. 23 But they took the king
of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 When
Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the
wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put
to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in
it. 25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the
people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that
held out his javelin until he had destroyed[a] all who
lived in Ai. 27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the
livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord
had instructed Joshua.
28 So
Joshua burned Ai[b] and made it
a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. 29 He
impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening.
At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down
at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over
it, which remains to this day.
30 Then
Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord,
the God of Israel, 31 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 had been used. On it they offered to the
Lord burnt offerings and
sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32 There, in the presence of
the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. 33 All
the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both
sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among
them and the native-born were there. 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 formerly commanded when he gave
instructions to bless the people of Israel.
34 Afterward,
Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is
written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all
that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of
Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among
them.
**********
再次與艾城交戰，一方面在上次戰敗有所檢討，另一方面有上帝的同在，所以沒有再吃敗仗，大獲勝利！
而勝利之後以色列人就聚集向上帝獻祭，約書亞在以巴路山上為耶和華─以色列的上帝築一座壇，正如聖經所說：「是用沒有動過鐵器的整石頭築的，照著耶和華僕人摩西所吩咐以色列人的話，正如摩西律法書上所寫的。眾人在這壇上給耶和華奉獻燔祭和平安祭。約書亞在那裡，當著以色列人面前，將摩西所寫的律法抄寫在石頭上。」
不僅如此，還做以下的事情：「為以色列民祝福，正如耶和華僕人摩西先前所吩咐的。隨後，約書亞將律法上祝福、咒詛的話，照著律法書上一切所寫的，都宣讀了一遍。摩西所吩咐的一切話，約書亞在以色列全會眾和婦女、孩子，並他們中間寄居的外人面前，沒有一句不宣讀的。」
可見向會眾宣讀律法書，也就是上帝的話，是十分重要！在今日的教會，更是應該要如此，不是將聖經放在禮拜堂做象徵看中上帝的話用，更是要宣讀讓上帝的話刻在會眾的心版上，然後靠聖靈的引導來實踐，才是有意義的，才是上帝所喜悅的！
