¹Zvino Jehovha wakati kuna Joshua,

¹Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.

²Unofanira kuitira Ai sezvawakaitira Jeriko namambo waro; asi munofanira kutapa zvingatapwa zvaro, nemombe dzaro, zvive zvenyu; uzvigadzirire vangavandira guta necheseri kwaro.

²You 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.”

³Naizvozvo Joshua akasimuka, navarume vose vehondo, kuti vakwire Ai; Joshua akatsaura varume vane zviuru zvina makumi matatu, varume vane simba noumhare, akavatuma usiku.

³So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night.

⁴Akavaraira, akati, Tarirai, munofanira kundovandira guta necheseri kwaro; musaenda kure neguta, asi mugare makazvigadzira mose;

⁴He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.

⁵zvino ini navanhu vose vandinavo, tichaswedera kuguta; zvino kana vachibuda kuzorwa nesu, sapakutanga, isu tichatiza pamberi pavo;

⁵I, and all the people who are with me, will approach to the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.

⁶ipapo vachabuda, vachititevera, kusvikira tavanyengera kure neguta; nekuti vachati, Vanotiza pamberi pedu sapakutanga, nesu tichatiza pamberi pavo;

⁶They will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee before them,

⁷ipapo imwi munofanira kusimuka pamakanga makavandira, mundokunda guta, nekuti Jehovha Mwari wenyu uchariisa mumaoko enyu.

⁷and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.

⁸Zvino kana makunda guta, munofanira kuripisa nomoto; munofanira kuita sezvakarehwa naJehovha;tarirai, ndakurairai.

⁸It shall be, when you have seized on the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to the word of Yahweh. Behold, I have commanded you.”

⁹Zvino Joshua akavatuma, vakaenda kundovanda, vakagara pakati peBheteri neAi, kurutivi rwamavirazuva rweAi; asi Joshua wakavata pakati pavanhu usiku uhwo.

⁹Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night.

¹⁰Zvino Joshua akamuka mangwanani, akaunganidza vanhu, akakwira iye navakuru valsiraeri, vakatungamirira vanhu kuenda Ai.

¹⁰Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

¹¹Navarume vose vehondo vaakanga anavo, vakakwira, vakaswedera pamberi peguta, vakadzika matende avo kurutivi rwokumusoro rweAi. Zvino kwakanga kuno mupata pakati pake neAi.

¹¹All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.

¹²Akatsaura varume vanenge zviuru zvishanu, akavaraira kuvanda pakati peBheteri neAi, kurutivi rwamavirazuva rweguta.

¹²He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.

¹³Naizvozvo vakaraira vanhu, iyo hondo yose yaiva kurutivi rwokumusoro rweguta, navaivanda kurutivi rwamavirazuva rweguta; asi Joshua wakaenda usiku uhwo pakati pomupata.

¹³So they set the people, even all the army who was on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

¹⁴Zvino mambo weAi wakati aona izvozvo, vakakurumidza kumuka mangwanani, varume veguta vakabuda kundorwa naIsiraeri, iye navanhu vake vose, panzvimbo yakanga yatarwa, pamupata; asi haana kuziva kuti kwakanga kuna vavandiri necheseri kweguta.

¹⁴It happened, 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 the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn’t know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

¹⁵Zvino Joshua navaIsiraeri vose vakaita savakundwa navo, vakatiza nenzira yerenje.

¹⁵Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.

¹⁶Ipapo vanhu vose vakanga vari muguta vakakokwa kundovatevera; vakatevera Joshua, vakanyengerwa kure neguta.

¹⁶All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.

¹⁷Kwakanga kusina munhu wakasara paAi neBheteri, asina kubuda kundotevera Isiraeri; vakasiya guta rakashama, vakatevera Isiraeri.

¹⁷There was not a man left in Ai or Beth El who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.

¹⁸Zvino Jehovha akati kuna Joshua, Tambanudzira pfumo riri muruoko rwako kurutivi rweAi, nekuti ndichariisa muruoko rwako. Joshua akatambanudzira pfumo rakanga riri muruoko rwake kurutivi rweguta;

¹⁸Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

¹⁹ipapo vavandiri vakakurumidza kusimuka pavakanga vagere, vakamhanya pakarepo pakutambanudza kwake ruoko rwake, vakapinda muguta, vakarikunda; vakakurumidza kupisa guta.

¹⁹The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it. They hurried and set the city on fire.

²⁰Zvino varume veAi vakati vachicheuka, onei utsi bweguta huchikwira kudenga, vakashaiwa kwavangatizira kupi nokupi; navanhu vakanga vatizira kurenje vakadzoka kuzorwa navaivatevera.

²⁰When the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. The people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.

²¹Zvino Joshua navaIsiraeri vose vakati vaona kuti vavandiri vakunda guta, uye kuti utsi bweguta hwokwira kudenga, vakadzokazve kuzouraya varume veAi.

²¹When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and killed the men of Ai.

²²Navamwe vakabuda muguta kuzorwa navo; naizvozvo vakanga vari pakati pavaIsiraeri, vamwe nechouno vamwe nechokoko; vakavauraya, kusvikira vasina kurega mumwe wavo ari mupenyu, kana wakatiza.

²²The others came out of the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

²³Vakabata mambo weAi, achiri mupenyu, vakamuisa kuna Joshua.

²³They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴Zvino vaIsiraeri vakati vapedza kuuraya nomunondo unopinza vanhu vose veAi kusango, kurenje kwavakanga vavateverera, kusvikira vapera, vaIsiraeri vakadzokera Ai, vakariparadza nomunondo unopinza.

²⁴It happened, when Israel had made an end of 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, that all Israel returned to Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword.

²⁵Vose vakaurawa nomusi iwoyo, varume navakadzi, vakanga vane zviuru zvine gumi nezviviri, ivo varume vose veAi,

²⁵All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.

²⁶nekuti Joshua haana kudzosa ruoko rwake, rwaakanga akatambanudza pfumo, kusvikira aparadza chose vanhu veAi.

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

²⁷Asi mombe nezvingatapwa zveguta iro vaIsiraeri vakazvitapa kuti zvive zvavo, zvakarehwa neshoko raJehovha, raakaraira Joshua.

²⁷Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey to themselves, according to the word of Yahweh which he commanded Joshua.

²⁸Naizvozvo Joshua akapisa Ai, akariita murwi ungavapo nokusingaperi, nedongo kusvikira nhasi.

²⁸So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.

²⁹Akasungirira mambo weAi pamuti kusvikira madekwana; asi pakuvira kwezuva Joshua akavaraira, vakaturura chitunha chake pamuti, vakachikanda panopindwa napo pasuwo reguta, vakatutira pamusoro pacho murwi mukuru wamabwe; aripo kusvikira nhasi.

²⁹He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening, and at the sundown Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.

³⁰Zvino Joshua wakavakira Jehovha Mwari waIsiraeri atari pagomo reEbhari,

³⁰Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,

³¹sezvakanga zvarairwa vana vaIsiraeri naMozisi, muranda waJehovha, sezvakanyorwa mubhuku yomurayiro waMozisi; yakanga iri aritari yamabwe asina kuvezwa; hakuna munhu wakange asimudzira dare pamusoro pawo; vakabayirapo Jehovha zvipiriso zvinopiswa, nokubayirawo zvipiriso zvokuyananisa.

³¹as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, on which no man had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, and sacrificed peace offerings.

³²Akanyorazve ipapo pamabwe murayiro waMozisi, waakanyora pamberi pavaIsiraeri.

³²He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

³³Valsiraeri vose navakuru vavo navatariri vavo, navatongi vavo vakamira paareka nechouno necheseri, pamberi pavapristi vaRevhi, vaisitakura areka yesungano yaJehovha, pamwechete navatorwa navakanga vaberekerwa munyika; hafu yavo pamberi pegomo reGerizimi, nehafu yavo pamberi pegomo reEbhari; sezvakanga zvarairwa naMozisi, muranda waJehovha, kuti vatange kuropafadza vana vaIsiraeri.

³³All Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, who carried the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.

³⁴Pashure akarava mashoko ose omurayiro, okuropafadza nookutuka, sezvazvakanyorwa zvose mubhuku yomurayiro.

³⁴Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

³⁵Kwakanga kusine shoko rimwe, pazvose zvakanga zvarairwa naMozisi, risina kurahwa naJoshua pamberi peungano yose yavalsiraeri, navakadzi navana, navatorwa vakanga vagere pakati pavo.

³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua didn’t read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who were among them.