Joshua 8:9-22

New Catholic Bible

⁹ Joshua sent them off, and they went into their ambush, lying in wait between Bethel and Ai, on the western side of Ai. Joshua spent the night with his people. ¹⁰ Early the next morning Joshua mustered the people, and he and the elders^[a] of Israel marched off before them to Ai. ¹¹ All of the soldiers who were with him went up and approached the city, drawing up in front of it. They pitched camp on the northern side of Ai, with the valley lying between them and Ai. ¹² He had taken about five thousand men and set them up in an ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the western side of the city. ¹³ All the soldiers were thus ready, those who were on the northern side of the city and those lying in wait on the western side of the city. That night Joshua went down into the valley. ¹⁴ When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men from the city rose early and went out to do battle with Israel at a fixed place in the plain. He did not know about the ambush that was lying in wait for him behind the city. ¹⁵ Joshua and all the Israelites were driven back before them, and they fled in the direction of the desert. ¹⁶ All of the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them. They followed after Joshua, and thus were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Every single man in Ai and Bethel went out after the Israelites. They left the city open and pursued the Israelites.

¹⁸ The Lord then said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will deliver it into your hands.” So Joshua stretched out the spear in his hands toward the city. ¹⁹ As soon as he stretched out his hand, the men who were hiding in ambush rose from their place and rushed forward. They entered into the city and captured it, quickly setting it on fire. ²⁰ The men from Ai looked back, and they saw smoke rising up into the sky from the city. There was no possibility of fleeing in any direction, for the people who had fled into the desert turned back upon their pursuers. ²¹ Joshua and all of the Israelites saw that those who had been in ambush had taken the city and that smoke was rising up from the city, so they turned and attacked the men from Ai. ²² The others also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle between two Israelite forces. They cut them down; none of them escaped or survived