Joshua 8:24-35

Joshua’s men killed all the inhabitants of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them. They all fell by the sword. Then the Israelites turned to attack Ai and killed those who were still there. Joshua kept his spear pointed at Ai until the destruction was complete. Ai’s entire population, twelve thousand men and women, fell that day. However, the Israelites took the livestock and the goods captured in the city as YAHWEH had instructed Joshua. Then Joshua burned Ai to the ground and reduced it to a mound of ruins for all time. It remains desolate to this day. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until sunset. Then at sunset, Joshua had the corpse taken down and left it lying in front of where the city gates once stood. They raised a large pile of stones over his corpse, where it remains to this day. Afterward, Joshua built near Mount Ebal a stone altar to YAHWEH, the God of Israel. He made it according to the teaching in the law of Moses, YAHWEH’s servant. Moses had commanded them to build an altar using stones that had not been cut with iron tools. On it they offered to YAHWEH burnt sacrifices and fellowship offerings. And with the Israelites looking on, Joshua inscribed on stones the law which Moses had written. All Israel, including their elders, officials, and judges, stood on either side of the ark. Both native-born citizens and immigrants alike faced the ark of the covenant of YAHWEH and the Levitical priests who carried it. In front of half of them stood Mount Gerizim, and in front of the other half stood Mount Ebal, as YAHWEH’s servant Moses commanded at first to bless the people of Israel. Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, exactly as it was written in the scroll of the law. Joshua read aloud every word that Moses had commanded, and all the assembly of Israel heard it, including the women, the children, and the foreigners who accompanied them.

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