Passage

Joshua 8.26

Book: Joshua · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"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 wherein they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. 25. And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai."

"26. For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai."

"27. Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey unto themselves, according unto the word of Jehovah which he commanded Joshua. 28. So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day." (Joshua 8:24-28, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"24. When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25. All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai."

"26. For Joshua didn’t draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai."

"27. Israel took for themselves only the livestock and the goods of that city, according to Yahweh’s word which he commanded Joshua. 28. So Joshua burned Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day." (Joshua 8:24-28, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"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 wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. 25. And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai."

"26. For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai."

"27. Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua. 28. And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day." (Joshua 8:24-28, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"24. And it cometh to pass, at Israel's finishing to slay all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them (and they fall all of them by the mouth of the sword till their consumption), that all Israel turn back to Ai, and smite it by the mouth of the sword; 25. and all who fall during the day, of men and of women, are twelve thousand, all men of Ai."

"26. And Joshua hath not brought back his hand which he stretched out with the javelin till that he hath devoted all the inhabitants of Ai;"

"27. only, the cattle and the spoil of that city have Israel spoiled for themselves, according to the word of Jehovah which He commanded Joshua. 28. And Joshua burneth Ai, and maketh it a heap age-during, a desolation unto this day;" (Joshua 8:24-28, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: narrator; the action belongs to Joshua and Israel
Audience: Israel; downstream, the covenant-community
Location: Ai, immediately north of Bethel
Time period: early conquest, c. 1406 BC

Theological reading

The Ai [[H2763 - charam|charam]] is the second-major conquest-narrative application after Jericho, with a structurally-significant variation: at YHWH's explicit instruction (Josh 8:2), Israel takes the cattle and spoil for itself (v. 27) rather than dedicating them to the sanctuary as at Jericho. The variation marks two things: (1) the conquest-charam is divinely-modulated case-by-case, not a single-formula across all sites; (2) the economic-incentive disclaimer at Jericho (Josh 6:19) is theological-pedagogical at the conquest's opening, to show Israel the cherem is not for-plunder, and is then varied as Israel has internalized the lesson. Achan's intervening violation (Josh 7) explains why YHWH then permits the spoil at Ai: the covenantal-discipline has been administered; Israel has learned what cherem-violation costs. The verse's stretched-out-javelin imagery (compare Moses' upheld-rod at Ex 17:8-13 against Amalek) frames Joshua as the second-Moses figure executing the divinely-commissioned judgment. The "twelve thousand" total at v. 25 is internal to the ANE-warfare-rhetoric genre (round-number totality-formula); archaeological assessment of Ai is contested (the et-Tell identification problem), but the canonical-theological force is the symmetrical-execution of the conquest commission. See Canaanite Conquest Objection Defeater for the full treatment.

Key words

H2763 - charam, heḥerim, the charam execution-verb at v. 26; "until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai."

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.