³ So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose 30,000 of his best fighting men. He sent them out at night. ⁴ He gave them orders. He said, “Listen carefully to what I’m saying. You must hide behind the city. Don’t go very far away from it. All of you must be ready to attack it. ⁵ I and all those with me will march up to the city. The men of Ai will come out to fight against us, just as they did before. Then we’ll run away from them.