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Josua 8
Hoffnung für Alle
Josua 8
Hoffnung für Alle
Israel erobert Ai
8 1-2 Der Herr sprach zu Josua: »Hab keine Angst und lass dich nicht einschüchtern! Zieh mit dem ganzen Heer nach Ai und leg einen Hinterhalt auf der anderen Seite der Stadt! Du wirst sehen: Ich gebe den König von Ai in deine Gewalt und mit ihm sein Volk, seine Stadt und sein Land. Du sollst mit Ai und seinem König das Gleiche tun wie mit Jericho und seinem König. Dieses Mal dürft ihr jedoch die Beute und das Vieh für euch behalten.«
3 Josua brach mit dem ganzen Heer auf und rückte in die Nähe von Ai vor. Er wählte 30.000 erfahrene Soldaten aus, und in der Nacht befahl er ihnen: 4 »Legt euch auf der Rückseite der Stadt in den Hinterhalt, nicht weit von ihr entfernt. Haltet euch zum Angriff bereit! 5 Mit dem Hauptheer werden wir uns von vorn der Stadt nähern. Die Soldaten von Ai werden dann wie beim letzten Mal die Stadt verlassen, um uns anzugreifen, und wir werden scheinbar vor ihnen fliehen. 6 Sie werden meinen, dass wir erneut vor ihnen davonlaufen, und werden uns verfolgen. Wenn wir sie auf diese Weise herausgelockt haben, 7 brecht ihr aus eurem Hinterhalt hervor und nehmt die Stadt ein. Der Herr, euer Gott, wird euch zum Sieg verhelfen. 8 Nach der Eroberung legt ihr dort Feuer. So hat es der Herr befohlen. Haltet euch an meine Anweisungen!«
9 Dann schickte Josua die Männer los. Sie umgingen die Stadt und legten sich im Westen zwischen Ai und Bethel in den Hinterhalt. Josua verbrachte die Nacht beim Hauptheer. 10 Früh am Morgen ließ Josua seine Truppen antreten. Dann brachen sie in Richtung Ai auf. Josua und die Sippenoberhäupter von Israel führten das Heer an. 11 Sie näherten sich der Stadt von Norden her und hielten auf einer Anhöhe, nur noch durch ein Tal von ihrem Ziel getrennt.
12 Josua hatte weitere 5000 Mann in den Hinterhalt westlich der Stadt gelegt, zwischen Ai und Bethel.[a] 13 So stand das Hauptheer nördlich von Ai und der Hinterhalt im Westen. Es war immer noch dunkel, als Josua sein Heer schließlich in das Tal hinabführte.
14 In aller Frühe entdeckte der König von Ai die Israeliten. Sofort gab er den Befehl zum Angriff und verließ mit seinen Soldaten die Stadt, um auf dem Schlachtfeld in der Ebene gegen Israel zu kämpfen. Er wusste nichts von dem Hinterhalt. 15 Wie Josua angeordnet hatte, ließ sich Israel von den Männern aus Ai zunächst in die Flucht schlagen und floh vor ihnen in Richtung Wüste.
16 Da rief man die in der Stadt verbliebenen Männer zusammen, um gemeinsam den Feind zu verfolgen. Sie jagten Josuas Heer nach und entfernten sich immer weiter von ihrer Stadt. 17 In Ai und in Bethel blieb kein einziger Mann mehr zurück. Alle verfolgten die fliehenden Israeliten. Die Stadt Ai war offen und ohne jeden Schutz.
18 Da sprach der Herr zu Josua: »Heb dein Schwert hoch und richte es gegen Ai! Die Stadt gehört euch.« Josua streckte sein Schwert aus. 19 Das war das verabredete Zeichen für die Truppen im Hinterhalt. Sie brachen aus ihrem Versteck hervor, fielen in die Stadt ein, eroberten sie und steckten alles schnell in Brand.
20 Die Männer von Ai wandten sich um und sahen auf einmal Rauch aus ihrer Stadt aufsteigen. Sie erkannten, dass sie in eine Falle geraten waren. Denn die eben noch fliehenden Israeliten machten nun kehrt und griffen an. 21 Sie hatten den Rauch ebenfalls gesehen und wussten, dass die Stadt erobert war. Nun stürmten Josua und seine Soldaten den Männern von Ai entgegen. 22 Diese waren plötzlich von zwei Seiten eingeschlossen. Denn jetzt kamen auch die israelitischen Soldaten aus der Stadt heran. Es gab kein Entrinnen. Alle Männer von Ai wurden getötet. 23 Nur den König fasste man lebendig und brachte ihn zu Josua.
24 Als die Israeliten ihre Gegner auf dem Schlachtfeld in der Ebene besiegt hatten, drangen sie erneut in die Stadt ein und brachten alle Einwohner mit dem Schwert um. 25 Insgesamt starben an jenem Tag etwa 12.000 Männer und Frauen. 26 Josua ließ seine Hand mit dem Schwert erst sinken, als alle Einwohner Ais tot waren und so Gottes Urteil vollstreckt war. 27 Das Vieh und die übrige Beute nahmen die Israeliten diesmal mit, wie der Herr es Josua erlaubt hatte.
28 Dann ließ Josua die Stadt niederbrennen, so dass nur noch ein Trümmerhaufen von ihr übrig blieb. Bis heute ist sie nicht wieder aufgebaut worden. 29 Den König von Ai erhängte Josua an einem Baum. Am Abend ließ er die Leiche abnehmen, vor das Stadttor werfen und unter einem großen Steinhaufen begraben, den man noch heute dort findet.
Israel erneuert seinen Bund mit dem Herrn
30 Damals errichtete Josua auf dem Berg Ebal einen Altar für den Herrn, den Gott Israels. 31 So hatte es Mose, der Diener des Herrn, den Israeliten in seinem Gesetzbuch befohlen. Es sollten Steine verwendet werden, die man nicht mit dem Meißel bearbeitet hatte. Die Israeliten brachten dem Herrn auf diesem Altar Brand- und Friedensopfer dar.
32 Dann schrieb Josua in Gegenwart des Volkes die Gesetze von Mose auf die Gedenksteine. 33 Die levitischen Priester standen bei der Bundeslade des Herrn. Auf beiden Seiten der Bundeslade hatte sich das ganze Volk versammelt, Israeliten und Ausländer, auch die führenden Männer, Richter und Beamten. Sie alle waren der Bundeslade zugewandt, die eine Hälfte des Volkes stand mit dem Rücken zum Berg Garizim, die andere zum Berg Ebal. Mose hatte befohlen, dies zu tun und das Volk zu segnen, sobald es im Land Kanaan angelangt war.
34 Josua las das ganze Gesetzbuch von Mose vor, auch die Segensverheißungen und Fluchandrohungen. 35 Nicht ein Wort ließ er aus. Die ganze Gemeinschaft der Israeliten, alle Männer, Frauen und Kinder, und auch die Ausländer in ihrer Mitte hörten es Wort für Wort.
Footnotes
- 8,12 Nach einer anderen Auslegung handelt es sich hier um den bereits in den Versen 3‒9 erwähnten Hinterhalt, wobei dann die dort genannte Zahl 30.000 auf einen Abschreibfehler zurückzuführen wäre.
Joshua 8
New International Version
Joshua 8
New International Version
Ai Destroyed
8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid;(A) do not be discouraged.(B) Take the whole army(C) with you, and go up and attack Ai.(D) For I have delivered(E) 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(F) and livestock for yourselves.(G) Set an ambush(H) 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.(I) 8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire.(J) Do what the Lord has commanded.(K) See to it; you have my orders.”
9 Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush(L) 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(M) Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel(N) 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.(O) But he did not know(P) that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back(Q) before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.(R) 16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away(S) 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(T) that is in your hand,(U) for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand.(V) 19 As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly(W) from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.(X)
20 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky,(Y) 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(Z) 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.(AA) 23 But they took the king of Ai alive(AB) 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.(AC) 26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin(AD) until he had destroyed[a](AE) all who lived in Ai.(AF) 27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.(AG)
28 So Joshua burned(AH) Ai[b](AI) and made it a permanent heap of ruins,(AJ) a desolate place to this day.(AK) 29 He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset,(AL) 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(AM) over it, which remains to this day.
The Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal
30 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal(AN) an altar(AO) 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(AP) had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.(AQ) 32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses.(AR) 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(AS) priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born(AT) were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal,(AU) 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.(AV) 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.(AW)
Footnotes
- Joshua 8:26 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
- Joshua 8:28 Ai means the ruin.
Joshua 8
English Standard Version
Joshua 8
English Standard Version
The Fall of Ai
8 And the Lord said to Joshua, (A)“Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, (B)I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. 2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did (C)to Jericho and its king. Only (D)its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”
3 So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. 4 And he commanded them, “Behold, (E)you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. 5 And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us (F)just as before, we shall flee before them. 6 And they will come out after us, until we have (G)drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them. 7 Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand. 8 And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the Lord. (H)See, I have commanded you.” 9 So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And (I)all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. 12 He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley. 14 And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place[a] toward (J)the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. (K)But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel (L)pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. 16 So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they (M)were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, (N)“Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. 20 So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was (O)left none that survived or escaped. 23 But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. 25 And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. 26 But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he (P)stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.[b] 27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the Lord that he (Q)commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a (R)heap of ruins, as it is to this day. 29 (S)And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. (T)And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and (U)raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.
Joshua Renews the Covenant
30 At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, (V)on Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on (W)the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. 33 And all Israel, (X)sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests (Y)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, (Z)just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward (AA)he read all the words of the law, (AB)the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, (AC)and the women, and the little ones, and (AD)the sojourners who lived[c] among them.
Footnotes
- Joshua 8:14 Hebrew appointed time
- Joshua 8:26 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)
- Joshua 8:35 Or traveled
Hoffnung für Alle (HOF)
Hoffnung für Alle® (Hope for All) Copyright © 1983, 1996, 2002 by Biblica, Inc.®
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.