约书亚记 8
1 耶和华对约书亚说：“不要惧怕，也不要惊惶。你起来，率领一切兵丁上艾城去，我已经把艾城的王和他的民、他的城，并他的地，都交在你手里。
Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged [because of what happened at] Ai. Lead all of your soldiers and go there again. I will help you to defeat the king of Ai, his people, and his city, and [enable you to take] his land.
2 你怎样待耶利哥和耶利哥的王，也当照样待艾城和艾城的王。只是城内所夺的财物和牲畜，你们可以取为自己的掠物。你要在城后设下伏兵。”
Your army will do to the people of Ai and their king like what you did to the people of Jericho and their king. But this time [I will permit you to] take all their possessions and keep them for yourselves. But first, tell some of your soldiers to [hide behind] the city [and] prepare to suddenly attack it.”
3 于是，约书亚和一切兵丁都起来，要上艾城去。约书亚选了三万大能的勇士，夜间打发他们前往，
So Joshua led all his army toward Ai. He chose 30,000 of his best fighters/warriors and prepared to send them out during the night.
4 吩咐他们说：“你们要在城后埋伏，不可离城太远，都要各自准备。
He said to them, “Listen carefully. Some of you must hide on the other side of the city. Do not go far from the city. Just be ready [to attack].
5 我与我所带领的众民要向城前往。城里的人像初次出来攻击我们的时候，我们就在他们面前逃跑，
I and the men who are with me will march toward the city [in the morning]. The men in the city will come out to fight us, like they did before. Then we will turn around and start to run away from them.
6 他们必出来追赶我们，直到我们引诱他们离开城；因为他们必说：‘这些人像初次在我们面前逃跑。’所以我们要在他们面前逃跑，
They will think that we are running away from them like we did before. So they will chase us away from the city. While we are running away,
7 你们就从埋伏的地方起来，夺取那城，因为耶和华—你们的 神必把城交在你们手里。
[those of you who are hiding come out and] rush into the city and capture it. Yahweh your God will enable you to conquer it.
8 你们夺了城以后，就放火烧城，要照耶和华的话行。这是我吩咐你们的。”
After you capture the city, burn it. Do what Yahweh has commanded us to do. Those are the orders I am giving to you.”
9 约书亚打发他们前往，他们就上埋伏的地方去，住在伯特利和艾城的中间，就是在艾城的西边。这夜约书亚却在民中住宿。
Then Joshua [prepared to] send some of them to [hide and] wait between Ai and Bethel, which was west of Ai. But Joshua stayed with his other soldiers that night.
10 约书亚清早起来，点齐百姓，他和以色列的长老在百姓前面上艾城去。
Early the next morning, Joshua gathered his soldiers together. Then he and the other Israeli leaders led them up to Ai.
11 众民，就是他所带领的兵丁，都上去，向前直往，来到城前，在艾城北边安营。在约书亚和艾城中间有一山谷。
They all set up their tents close to Ai, just to the north of the city, where all the people of the city could see them. There was a valley between them and the city.
12 他挑了约有五千人，使他们埋伏在伯特利和艾城的中间，就是在艾城的西边，
Then Joshua chose about 5,000 men and told them to go and hide just west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.
13 于是安置了百姓，就是城北的全军和城西的伏兵。这夜约书亚进入山谷之中。
So those men did that. The main group of soldiers was north of the city, and the others were hiding west of the city. That night Joshua went down into the valley.
14 艾城的王看见这景况，就和全城的人，清早急忙起来，按所定的时候，出到亚拉巴前，要与以色列人交战；王却不知道在城后有伏兵。
When the king of Ai saw the Israeli army, he and his soldiers got up early the next morning and quickly went out of the city to fight them. They went to a place east of the city, but they did not know that some Israeli soldiers were hiding behind the city.
15 约书亚和以色列众人在他们面前装败，往那通旷野的路逃跑。
Joshua and the Israeli soldiers [who were with him] allowed the army of Ai to push them back. They ran toward the desert.
16 城内的众民都被招聚，追赶他们；艾城人追赶的时候，就被引诱离开城。
The men in Ai were ordered to chase after Joshua and his men. So they left the city and started to pursue the Israelis.
17 艾城和伯特利城没有一人不出来追赶以色列人的，撇了敞开的城门，去追赶以色列人。
All the men of Ai and the men of Bethel pursued the Israeli army. They did not leave even one man in Ai to defend it. The [gates of the] city were left wide open.
18 耶和华吩咐约书亚说：“你向艾城伸出手里的短枪，因为我要将城交在你手里。”约书亚就向城伸出手里的短枪。
Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “[Lift up] your spear [and] point it toward Ai, because I am going to enable your soldiers to capture it!” So Joshua pointed [his spear] toward Ai.
19 他一伸手，伏兵就从埋伏的地方急忙起来，夺了城，跑进城去，放火焚烧。
When the Israeli men who were hiding saw that, they rushed out from the places where they were hiding and ran into the city. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.
20 艾城的人回头一看，不料，城中烟气冲天，他们就无力向左向右逃跑。那往旷野逃跑的百姓便转身攻击追赶他们的人。
When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city. But they could not escape, because the Israeli troops stopped running away.
21 约书亚和以色列众人见伏兵已经夺了城，城中烟气飞腾，就转身回去，击杀艾城的人。
Joshua and his men saw that the men who had been hiding had captured the city and were burning it, and they saw the smoke rising. So they turned around and started to attack the men of Ai.
22 伏兵也出城迎击艾城人，艾城人就困在以色列人中间，前后都是以色列人。于是以色列人击杀他们，没有留下一个，也没有一个逃脱的，
Meanwhile, the soldiers who had captured the city came out [and attacked them from the rear]. So the men of Ai were caught between the two groups of Israeli soldiers. None of the men of Ai escaped. The Israelis fought until they killed all of them. Only the king of Ai was still alive.
23 生擒了艾城的王，将他解到约书亚那里。
Then they seized the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
24 以色列人在田间和旷野杀尽所追赶一切艾城的居民。艾城人倒在刀下，直到灭尽；以色列众人就回到艾城，用刀杀了城中的人。
While they were fighting, the Israeli army pursued the men of Ai into the fields and into the desert, and killed all of them. Then they went to Ai and killed everyone who was there.
25 当日杀毙的人，连男带女共有一万二千，就是艾城所有的人。
They killed 12,000 men and women.
26 约书亚没有收回手里所伸出来的短枪，直到把艾城的一切居民尽行杀灭。
Joshua continued to point his spear [LIT] toward Ai, until all the people in Ai had been killed.
27 惟独城中的牲畜和财物，以色列人都取为自己的掠物，是照耶和华所吩咐约书亚的话。
The Israeli soldiers took for themselves the animals and the other things that had belonged to the people of Ai, just like Yahweh had told Joshua that they should do.
28 约书亚将艾城焚烧，使城永为高堆、荒场，直到今日；
Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai city and caused it to become a pile of ruins. It is still like that today.
29 又将艾城王挂在树上，直到晚上。日落的时候，约书亚吩咐人把尸首从树上取下来，丢在城门口，在尸首上堆成一大堆石头，直存到今日。
Joshua hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left his corpse hanging there until the evening. At sunset Joshua told his men to take the king’s corpse down from the tree and to throw it on the ground at the city gate. [After they did that], they piled a lot of rocks on top of the corpse, and that pile of rocks is still there.
30 那时，约书亚在以巴路山上为耶和华—以色列的 神筑一座坛，
Joshua [told his men to] build on Ebal Mountain an altar for Yahweh, the God [who is worshiped by] the Israeli people.
31 是用没有动过铁器的整石头筑的，照着耶和华仆人摩西所吩咐以色列人的话，正如摩西律法书上所写的。众人在这坛上给耶和华奉献燔祭和平安祭。
They built it just like Moses, the man who served God [well], had written previously in the laws [that God had given to him]. They made it from stones that had not been cut using iron tools. The Israelis then offered sacrifices to Yahweh that were burned completely on the altar. They also offered sacrifices to restore fellowship with Yahweh.
32 约书亚在那里，当着以色列人面前，将摩西所写的律法抄写在石头上。
As the Israelis watched, Joshua wrote on stones the laws that [Yahweh had given] to Moses previously.
33 以色列众人，无论是本地人、是寄居的，和长老、官长，并审判官，都站在约柜两旁，在抬耶和华约柜的祭司利未人面前，一半对着基利心山，一半对着以巴路山，为以色列民祝福，正如耶和华仆人摩西先前所吩咐的。
The Israeli leaders, the officials, the judges, and other Israelis were there, standing nearby. Many people who were not Israelis were also there. Half of the people stood [on one side of the valley] below Ebal Mountain, and the other half of the people stood [on the other side of the valley] below Gerizim Mountain. The sacred chest was [in the valley] between the two groups. That was what Moses had previously commanded that the people should do when [Yahweh was about to] bless them.
34 随后，约书亚将律法上祝福、咒诅的话，照着律法书上一切所写的，都宣读了一遍。
Then Joshua read [to the people] all that [Moses] had written previously. That included what Yahweh had taught them and the ways [that he promised] to bless them [if they obeyed his commands], or to curse them [if they disobeyed them].
35 摩西所吩咐的一切话，约书亚在以色列全会众和妇女、孩子，并他们中间寄居的外人面前，没有一句不宣读的。
All the Israelis gathered together [to listen]—the men, the women, and the children. The (foreigners/people who were not Israelis) who were living among them also listened, while Joshua read all the commands that Moses had written.
