1 And now the Lord said to Josue, No need for terror and shrinking back. Take thy whole strength of fighting men with thee, and set about the conquest of Hai; king and people, city and territory, I mean to put them all in thy power. 2 City and king must be treated as thou didst treat city and king of Jericho; but here you may take the spoil and the cattle for yourselves. Lay an ambush on the further side of the city, and it is thine.
1 Dixit autem Dominus ad Josue: Ne timeas, neque formides: tolle tecum omnem multitudinem pugnatorum, et consurgens ascende in oppidum Hai. Ecce tradidi in manu tua regem ejus et populum, urbemque et terram. 2 Faciesque urbi Hai, et regi ejus, sicut fecisti Jericho, et regi illius: prædam vero, et omnia animantia diripietis vobis: pone insidias urbi post eam.
3 So Josue and all the fighting men set about the conquest of Hai. At nightfall, he sent out thirty thousand, picked men all of them, 4 with these orders: Lie in ambush on the further side of the city, no long distance away, ready for battle. 5 I myself, commanding the rest of the army, will make a direct assault on it; and when they come out to engage us, we will turn our backs in flight, as we did before, 6 so as to draw them further and further away from the city in pursuit of us, routed (they will think) a second time. 7 Our flight, and their pursuit, is the signal for you to rise from your ambush and storm the city; the Lord your God will make you masters of it. 8 Once in possession, you will set fire to it. Be sure that you carry out these orders faithfully.
3 Surrexitque Josue, et omnis exercitus bellatorum cum eo, ut ascenderent in Hai: et electa triginta millia virorum fortium misit nocte, 4 præcepitque eis, dicens: Ponite insidias post civitatem, nec longius recedatis: et eritis omnes parati. 5 Ego autem, et reliqua multitudo, quæ mecum est, accedemus ex adverso contra urbem. Cumque exierint contra nos, sicut ante fecimus, fugiemus, et terga vertemus, 6 donec persequentes ab urbe longius protrahantur: putabunt enim nos fugere sicut prius. 7 Nobis ergo fugientibus, et illis persequentibus, consurgetis de insidiis, et vastabitis civitatem: tradetque eam Dominus Deus vester in manus vestras. 8 Cumque ceperitis, succendite eam, et sic omnia facietis, ut jussi.
9 So he sent them on their way, and they reached the place where they were to lie in wait, halting to the west of Hai, between it and Bethel. Josue himself spent that night with the main body of his army, 10 and when day dawned he called the muster-roll; then he went to the attack, he and the elders marching in the van, with their body-guard about them. 11 They climbed the heights opposite the city, and halted there to the north of it, with a valley in between. 12 (Josue had now chosen out five thousand of his men for the ambush west of Hai, towards Bethel, 13 and all the rest of them marched to the north, so that only the rearguard of that great host were near the western part of the city. That night Josue moved away, and took up his station half-way across the valley.)[1]
9 Dimisitque eos, et perrexerunt ad locum insidiarum, sederuntque inter Bethel et Hai, ad occidentalem plagam urbis Hai: Josue autem nocte illa in medio mansit populi, 10 surgensque diluculo recensuit socios, et ascendit cum senioribus in fronte exercitus, vallatus auxilio pugnatorum. 11 Cumque venissent et ascendissent ex adverso civitatis, steterunt ad septentrionalem urbis plagam, inter quam et eos erat vallis media. 12 Quinque autem millia viros elegerat, et posuerat in insidiis inter Bethel et Hai ex occidentali parte ejusdem civitatis: 13 omnis vero reliquus exercitus ad aquilonem aciem dirigebat, ita ut novissimi illius multitudinis occidentalem plagam urbis attingerent. Abiit ergo Josue nocte illa, et stetit in vallis medio.
14 The king of Hai, upon seeing this, hastened to the attack while the day was young, marching out with all his forces towards the desert, with no suspicion that there was an ambush in the rear. 15 Josue and the Israelites, in feigned alarm, left their ground and took to flight along the road that leads to the desert. 16 And the enemy, raising a great hue and cry, went in pursuit of them a long distance away from the city. 17 At last there was not a man left either in Hai itself or in Bethel who had not joined in the pursuit of the Israelites; and in sallying out they had left the gates of both towns open. 18 With that, the Lord said to Josue, Lift up the shield on thy arm, pointing towards the city of Hai; it lies in thy power. 19 And when he lifted his shield towards it, the men who lay there in ambush rose up all at once and made for the city, captured it and set it on fire.
14 Quod cum vidisset rex Hai, festinavit mane, et egressus est cum omni exercitu civitatis, direxitque aciem contra desertum, ignorans quod post tergum laterent insidiæ. 15 Josue vero et omnis Israël cesserunt loco, simulantes metum, et fugientes per solitudinis viam. 16 At illi vociferantes pariter, et se mutuo cohortantes, persecuti sunt eos. Cumque recessissent a civitate, 17 et ne unus quidem in urbe Hai et Bethel remansisset qui non persequeretur Israël (sicut eruperant aperta oppida relinquentes), 18 dixit Dominus ad Josue: Leva clypeum, qui in manu tua est, contra urbem Hai, quoniam tibi tradam eam. 19 Cumque elevasset clypeum ex adverso civitatis, insidiæ, quæ latebant, surrexerunt confestim: et pergentes ad civitatem, ceperunt, et succenderunt eam.
20 And now the defenders looked back from their pursuit of Josue, and saw the smoke rising up to heaven. Refuge was none before or behind; at an end, now, the feigned flight and the retreat towards the desert; everywhere the pursuers met with resistance. 21 Josue and the main army had turned back to engage the men of Hai when they saw the city captured and the smoke going up, 22 and now the troops that had taken the city and burnt it came out to meet them, enclosing the enemy in between and cutting him down. Thus, attacking from both sides, they did not let a single man out of all that multitude escape; 23 the king of Hai himself was captured alive and brought to Josue. 24 So died all those who had pursued Israel on the desert road, slain on the field of battle; then the Israelites went back and made an end of the city. 25 In that one day all the citizens of Hai perished, men and women, to the number of twelve thousand; 26 Josue did not lower that arm of his which held up the shield till there were no more left dwelling at Hai. 27 The Israelites divided up the cattle and the spoil, in pursuance of the command Josue had received; 28 the city itself he left to burn, and become a ruin for ever, 29 and the king he left hanging on a gibbet until evening came and the sun set. At Josue’s bidding, they took his body down and laid it at the entrance of the city, covering it with a great heap of stones, which remains there to this day.
20 Viri autem civitatis, qui persequebantur Josue, respicientes et videntes fumum urbis ad cælum usque conscendere, non potuerunt ultra huc illucque diffugere: præsertim cum hi qui simulaverant fugam, et tendebant ad solitudinem, contra persequentes fortissime restitissent. 21 Vidensque Josue et omnis Israël quod capta esset civitas, et fumus urbis ascenderet, reversus percussit viros Hai. 22 Siquidem et illi qui ceperant et succenderant civitatem, egressi ex urbe contra suos, medios hostium ferire cœperunt. Cum ergo ex utraque parte adversarii cæderentur, ita ut nullus de tanta multitudine salvaretur, 23 regem quoque urbis Hai apprehenderunt viventem, et obtulerunt Josue. 24 Igitur omnibus interfectis, qui Israëlem ad deserta tendentem fuerant persecuti, et in eodem loco gladio corruentibus, reversi filii Israël percusserunt civitatem. 25 Erant autem qui in eodem die conciderant a viro usque ad mulierem, duodecim millia hominum, omnes urbis Hai. 26 Josue vero non contraxit manum, quam in sublime porrexerat, tenens clypeum donec interficerentur omnes habitatores Hai. 27 Jumenta autem et prædam civitatis diviserunt sibi filii Israël, sicut præceperat Dominus Josue. 28 Qui succendit urbem, et fecit eam tumulum sempiternum: 29 regem quoque ejus suspendit in patibulo usque ad vesperam et solis occasum. Præcepitque Josue, et deposuerunt cadaver ejus de cruce: projeceruntque in ipso introitu civitatis, congesto super eum magno acervo lapidum, qui permanet usque in præsentem diem.
30 Then Josue built an altar to the Lord God of Israel on mount Hebal, 31 in pursuance of the command given to Israel by God’s servant Moses, when he wrote down the law; an altar of unpolished stones, that no iron tool had touched. On this he offered the Lord burnt-sacrifice, and slew victims by way of welcome-offering. 32 He also inscribed on stone tablets that copy of the law which Moses wrote down in the presence of the people. 33 And now all the people, with their elders, chieftains and judges, stood up in the presence of the priests that bore the ark, with its record of the Lord’s covenant, some on this side, some on that, native Israelites and alien-born alike. In obedience to Moses’ command half of them were on the side of mount Hebal, half on the side of mount Garizim. First Josue blessed the people of Israel,[2] 34 and then he read aloud all the terms of the blessing and the curse, and all else that the book of the law contains. 35 No command Moses gave was passed over, he repeated them all in the presence of Israel there assembled, with their wives and the children and the aliens who dwelt among them.
30 Tunc ædificavit Josue altare Domino Deo Israël in monte Hebal, 31 sicut præceperat Moyses famulus Domini filiis Israël, et scriptum est in volumine legis Moysi: altare vero de lapidibus impolitis, quos ferrum non tetigit: et obtulit super eo holocausta Domino, immolavitque pacificas victimas. 32 Et scripsit super lapides Deuteronomium legis Moysi, quod ille digesserat coram filiis Israël. 33 Omnis autem populus, et majores natu, ducesque ac judices, stabant ex utraque parte arcæ, in conspectu sacerdotum qui portabant arcam fœderis Domini, ut advena, ita et indigena. Media pars eorum juxta montem Garizim, et media juxta montem Hebal, sicut præceperat Moyses famulus Domini. Et primum quidem benedixit populo Israël. 34 Post hæc legit omnia verba benedictionis et maledictionis, et cuncta quæ scripta erant in legis volumine. 35 Nihil ex his quæ Moyses jusserat, reliquit intactum, sed universa replicavit coram omni multitudine Israël, mulieribus ac parvulis, et advenis qui inter eos morabantur.
[1] Some think that these verses 12-13 have been incorrectly transmitted to us; it is very difficult to be sure of their meaning, whether in the Hebrew text or in the Latin version, which here differs considerably. As they stand, they seem to imply that the thirty thousand men referred to in verse 3 joined hands, next day, with Josue’s own troops, and that their numbers were cut down to a sixth. Whether Josue went into the valley by himself, or at the head of troops, does not appear. The figure 5000 is not mentioned in the Septuagint Greek.
[2] In the Hebrew text, this verse ends ‘that the priests might bless the people of Israel’.
