15. Joshua and the main body of the Israelites fled toward the wilderness, pretending defeat,
16. until the last of the soldiers in the city had been called out to pursue them. Since they were drawn away from the city, with everyone pursuing Joshua,
17. not a soldier remained in Ai or Bethel. They abandoned the city, leaving it open, as they pursued Israel.
18. Then the Lord directed Joshua: Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will deliver it into your power. Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city,
19. and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose from their post, rushed in, captured the city, and immediately set it on fire.
20. By the time the army of Ai looked back, the smoke from the city was going up to the heavens. Escape in any direction was impossible, because the Israelites retreating toward the wilderness now turned on their pursuers;
21. for when Joshua and the main body of Israelites saw that the city had been taken by ambush and was going up in smoke, they struck back at the forces of Ai.
22. Since those in the city came out to intercept them, Ai’s army was hemmed in by Israelites on both sides, who cut them down without any fugitives or survivors
23. except the king, whom they took alive and brought to Joshua.
24. When Israel finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open, who had pursued them into the wilderness, and all of them to the last man fell by the sword, then all Israel returned and put to the sword those inside the city.
25. There fell that day a total of twelve thousand men and women, the entire population of Ai.
26. Joshua kept the javelin in his hand stretched out until he had carried out the ban on all the inhabitants of Ai.
27. However, the Israelites took for themselves as plunder the livestock and the spoil of that city, according to the command of the Lord issued to Joshua.
28. Then Joshua destroyed Ai by fire, reducing it to an everlasting mound of ruins, as it remains today.
29. He had the king of Ai hanged on a tree until evening; then at sunset Joshua ordered the body removed from the tree and cast at the entrance of the city gate, where a great heap of stones was piled up over it, which remains to the present day.
30. Later, on Mount Ebal, Joshua built to the Lord, the God of Israel, an altar
31. of unhewn stones on which no iron tool had been used, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the Israelites, as recorded in the book of the law. On this altar they sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord and made communion sacrifices.
32. There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed upon the stones a copy of the law written by Moses.
33. And all Israel, resident alien and native alike, with their elders, officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark facing the levitical priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Half of them were facing Mount Gerizim and half Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had first commanded for the blessing of the people of Israel.