²¹ Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. ²² Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down, so that they ^(A)let none of them remain or escape. ²³ But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

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 pursued them, and when they all had 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. ²⁵ So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. ²⁶ For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had ^(B)utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ^27 (C)Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had ^(D)commanded Joshua. ²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it ^(E)a heap forever, a desolation to this day. ^29 (F)And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. ^(G)And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and ^(H)raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.