Joshua 8:1-29
Read Joshua 8 in full →Ai Given to Israel
8Now Yahweh said to Joshua, “aDo not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, bI have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. 2“So you shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall atake only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. 1Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
3So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. 4And he commanded them, saying, “See, you are agoing to ambush the city from behind 1it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. 5“Then I and all the people who are with me will come near the city. And it will be that when they come out to meet us as at the first, awe will flee before them. 6“And they will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them. 7“And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. 8“Then it will be that when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it aaccording to the word of Yahweh. See, I have commanded you.” 9So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10Now Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. 11Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. 12And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between aBethel and Ai, on the west side of the 1city. 13So they set the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14Now it happened that when the king of Ai saw it, the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled aby the way of the wilderness. 16And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and awere drawn away from the city. 17So not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they forsook the city, leaving it open, and pursued Israel.
18Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “aStretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19Then the men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. 20Then the men of Ai turned 1back and looked, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers. 21But Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended. So they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 221And the others came out from the city to meet them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, 2some on this side and some on that side; and they struck them down until 3there was ano one remaining for him who survived or escaped. 23But they seized the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24Now it happened that when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them fell by the edge of the sword until they were completely destroyed, then all Israel turned back to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25aSo all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the 1people of Ai. 26For Joshua adid not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted to destruction all the inhabitants of Ai. 27aIsrael took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh which He had commanded Joshua. 28So Joshua burned Ai and made it aa heap forever, a desolation until this day. 29aAnd he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave a command, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.