Book of Common Prayer

8 Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Don’t be afraid or fall into despair! Take all the people who can fight with you, set out, and go up to ‘Ai; because now I have handed over to you the king of ‘Ai, his people, his city and his land. ² Do to ‘Ai and its king as you did to Yericho and its king; but this time, take its spoil and cattle as booty for yourselves. Ambush the city from behind.”

³ So Y’hoshua set out for ‘Ai with all the people who could fight. Y’hoshua chose 30,000 men, the most courageous of his troops, and sent them out by night. ⁴ He instructed them, “You are to lie in wait to ambush the city from behind. Stay close to the city; and all of you, be ready. ⁵ I and all the troops with me will approach the city; and when they come out to attack us, as they did before, we will run away from them. ⁶ They will chase after us until we have drawn them away from the city; because they will say, ‘They’re running away from us, as they did before’; so we’ll run away from them. ⁷ Then you will jump up from your ambush position and take possession of the city, for Adonai your God will hand it over to you. ⁸ When you have captured the city, you are to set it on fire; do according to what Adonai has said. Those are your orders.”

⁹ Y’hoshua sent them out; and they went to the place for the ambush, staying between Beit-El and ‘Ai, to the west of ‘Ai; while Y’hoshua camped that night with the people. ¹⁰ Y’hoshua got up early in the morning, mustered his men and went up to ‘Ai ahead of the people, he and the leaders of Isra’el . ¹¹ All the troops marching with him went up, advanced, arrived in front of the city and camped on the north side of ‘Ai, with a valley between him and ‘Ai. ¹² Then he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Beit-El and ‘Ai, to the west of ‘Ai. ¹³ Thus the people arrayed themselves, with all the army to the north of the city, and their rearguard lying in wait to the west of the city. Y’hoshua spent that night in the valley.

¹⁴ The king of ‘Ai saw this, so the men in the city hurried out early in the morning to battle against Isra’el, he and all his people, at a meeting-place facing the ‘Aravah. But he was unaware that behind the city an ambush had been laid against him. ¹⁵ Y’hoshua and all Isra’el made as if they had been defeated before them and ran off on the road to the desert. ¹⁶ All the people in ‘Ai were summoned together to pursue them, so they chased Y’hoshua and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Not a man was left in ‘Ai or Beit-El who had not gone after Isra’el; pursuing Isra’el, they left the city wide open.

¹⁸ Then Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Point the spear in your hand toward ‘Ai, because I will hand it over to you.” Y’hoshua pointed the spear in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹ The men in ambush jumped up quickly from their place; the moment he stretched out his hand, they ran, entered the city and captured it; and they hurried to set the city on fire. ²⁰ When the men of ‘Ai looked behind them, they saw it — there was the smoke from the city, rising to the sky; and they had no power to flee this way or that — at which point the people who had run off toward the desert turned back on the pursuers. ²¹ When Y’hoshua and all Isra’el saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was going up, they turned back and slaughtered the men of ‘Ai; ²² while the others came out of the city against them too; so that they were surrounded by Isra’el with some on this side and some on that side. They attacked them, allowing none to remain or escape.

14 Now as for a person whose trust is weak, welcome him — but not to get into arguments over opinions. ² One person has the trust that will allow him to eat anything, while another whose trust is weak eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats anything must not look down on the one who abstains; and the abstainer must not pass judgment on the one who eats anything, because God has accepted him — ⁴ who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall; and the fact is that he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵ One person considers some days more holy than others, while someone else regards them as being all alike. What is important is for each to be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ He who observes a day as special does so to honor the Lord. Also he who eats anything, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; likewise the abstainer abstains to honor the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives only in relation to himself, and none of us dies only in relation to himself; ⁸ for if we live, we live in relation to the Lord; and if we die, we die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord — ⁹ indeed, it was for this very reason that the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. ¹⁰ You then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God’s judgment seat; ¹¹ since it is written in the Tanakh,

¹² So then, every one of us will have to give an account of himself to God.

⁴⁷ While Yeshua was still speaking, Y’hudah (one of the Twelve!) came, and with him a large crowd carrying swords and clubs, from the head cohanim and elders of the people. ⁴⁸ The betrayer had arranged to give them a signal: “The man I kiss is the one you want — grab him!” ⁴⁹ He went straight up to Yeshua, said, “Shalom, Rabbi!” and kissed him. ⁵⁰ Yeshua said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they moved forward, laid hold of Yeshua and arrested him.

⁵¹ At that, one of the men with Yeshua reached for his sword, drew it out and struck at the servant of the cohen hagadol, cutting off his ear. ⁵² Yeshua said to him, “Put your sword back where it belongs, for everyone who uses the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³ Don’t you know that I can ask my Father, and he will instantly provide more than a dozen armies of angels to help me? ⁵⁴ But if I did that, how could the passages in the Tanakh be fulfilled that say it has to happen this way?”

⁵⁵ Then Yeshua addressed the crowd: “So you came out to take me with swords and clubs, the way you would the leader of a rebellion? Every day I sat in the Temple court, teaching; and you didn’t seize me then. ⁵⁶ But all this has happened so that what the prophets wrote may be fulfilled.” Then the talmidim all deserted him and ran away.