Joshua 8:2

KJV1611 – Modern English

And you shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, only the spoil and the cattle shall you take for a prey for yourselves; lay an ambush for the city behind it.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְעָשִׂ֨יתָ לָעַ֜י וּלְמַלְכָּ֗הּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשִׂ֤יתָ לִּֽירִיחוֹ֙ וּלְמַלְכָּ֔הּ רַק־שְׁלָלָ֥הּ וּבְהֶמְתָּ֖הּ תָּבֹ֣זּוּ לָכֶ֑ם שִׂים־לְךָ֥ אֹרֵ֛ב לָעִ֖יר מֵאַחֲרֶֽיהָ׃

Transliteration

wə-ʿāśîtā lā-ʿay û-lə-malkāh kaʾăšer ʿāśîtā lî-rîḥô û-lə-malkāh raq-šəlālāh û-bəhemtāh tābōzzû lākem śîm-ləkā ʾōrēb lā-ʿîr mēʾaḥăreyhā

Grammar Details

• *wə-ʿāśîtā*: waw consecutive + qal perfect, 2nd masculine singular - and you shall do
• *lā-ʿay*: preposition + proper noun - to Ai
• *û-lə-malkāh*: conjunction + preposition + noun + 3rd feminine singular suffix - and to its king
• *kaʾăšer*: conjunction - as/just as
• *ʿāśîtā*: qal perfect, 2nd masculine singular - you did
• *lî-rîḥô*: preposition + proper noun - to Jericho
• *raq*: adverb - only/except
• *šəlālāh*: noun + 3rd feminine singular suffix - its spoil
• *û-bəhemtāh*: conjunction + noun + 3rd feminine singular suffix - and its cattle
• *tābōzzû*: qal imperfect, 2nd masculine plural - you shall take as plunder
• *lākem*: preposition + 2nd masculine plural suffix - for yourselves
• *śîm*: qal imperative, masculine singular - set/place
• *ləkā*: preposition + 2nd masculine singular suffix - for yourself
• *ʾōrēb*: noun, masculine singular - ambush
• *lā-ʿîr*: preposition + noun, feminine singular - against the city
• *mēʾaḥăreyhā*: preposition + noun + 3rd feminine singular suffix - from behind it

Word Meanings

• *ʿāśîtā*: you did/made/performed
• *šəlālāh*: its spoil/plunder/booty
• *tābōzzû*: you shall plunder/take as spoil
• *ʾōrēb*: ambush/ambushers/those lying in wait
• *mēʾaḥăreyhā*: behind it/from its rear

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  "Do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. However, you may take its spoil and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city, behind it."

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: set thee an ambush for the city behind it.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  And thou shalt do with Hai and the kynge of it, as thou dyddest with Iericho and the kynge therof, sauynge that ye shal deale amoge you their spoyle & catell: but set thou a preuy watch behynde the cite.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  And thou shalt doe to Ai and to the King thereof, as thou didst vnto Iericho and to the King thereof: neuerthelesse the spoyle thereof and the cattell thereof shall ye take vnto you for a praye: thou shalt lye in wait against the citie on the backside thereof.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  And thou shalt do to Ai and her kyng, as thou dyddest vnto Iericho and her king. Neuerthelesse, the spoyle & cattell thereof, shall ye take vnto your selues: Thou shalt lye in wayte agaynst the citie, on the backside thereof.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king: only the spoil of it, and the cattle of it, shall you take for a prey to yourselves: set you an ambush for the city behind it.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  and thou hast done to Ai and to her king as thou hast done to Jericho and to her king; only, its spoil and its cattle ye spoil for yourselves; set for thee an ambush for the city at its rear.'

• American Standard Version (1901)

  And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: set thee an ambush for the city behind it.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: set thee an ambush for the city behind it.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  And you are to do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king: but their goods and their cattle you may take for yourselves: let a secret force be stationed to make a surprise attack on the town from the back.

• World English Bible (2000)

  You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except its spoil and its livestock, you shall take for a plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it."

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!”

Referenced Verses

• Deut 20:14 : 14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil of it, you shall take for yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you.
• Josh 6:21 : 21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
• Prov 13:22 : 22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the just.
• 2 Chr 20:22 : 22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.
• Job 27:16-17 : 16 Though he heaps up silver as the dust, and prepares clothing as the clay; 17 He may prepare it, but the just shall wear it, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
• Ps 39:6 : 6 Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are troubled in vain: he heaps up riches, and does not know who shall gather them.
• Deut 3:2 : 2 And the LORD said to me, Do not fear him, for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.
• Prov 28:20 : 20 A faithful person shall abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich shall not be innocent.
• Jer 17:11 : 11 As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
• Jer 51:12 : 12 Set up the banner upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for the LORD has both devised and done what He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
• Luke 12:20-21 : 20 But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you; then whose shall those things be, which you have provided? 21 So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
• Josh 8:7 : 7 Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
• Josh 8:9 : 9 Joshua therefore sent them forth, and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
• Josh 8:12 : 12 And he took about five thousand men and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
• Josh 8:14 : 14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he did not know that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
• Josh 8:19 : 19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand; and they entered into the city and took it and hastened and set the city on fire.
• Josh 8:24 : 24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they chased them, and when they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.
• Josh 8:27-29 : 27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua. 28 And Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation to this day. 29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening; and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones, that remains to this day.
• Josh 10:1 : 1 Now it happened, when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and utterly destroyed it—just as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king—and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,
• Josh 10:28 : 28 On that day Joshua took Makkedah and struck it with the edge of the sword, he utterly destroyed its king, and all the people who were in it; he left none remaining. He did to the king of Makkedah as he did to the king of Jericho.
• Judg 20:29-33 : 29 And Israel set ambushers round about Gibeah. 30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31 And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are struck down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city to the highways. 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar; and the ambushers of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.
• 2 Chr 13:13 : 13 But Jeroboam set an ambush to come around behind them: so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.