Israel Conquers Ai

8 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic!^[a] Take the whole army with you and march against Ai!^[b] See, I am handing over to you^[c] the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land. ² Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city.”

³ Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai.^[d] Joshua selected 30,000 brave warriors and sent them out at night.

¹⁸ The Lord told Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the curved sword^[a] in your hand, for I am handing the city^[b] over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand. ¹⁹ When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked.^[c] They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire. ²⁰ When the men of Ai turned around, they saw^[d] the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction.^[e] In the meantime the men who were retreating to the wilderness turned against their pursuers. ²¹ When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke,^[f] they turned around and struck down the men of Ai. ²² At the same time the men who had taken the city came out to fight, and the men of Ai were trapped in the middle.^[g] The Israelites struck them down, leaving no survivors or refugees. ²³ But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴ When Israel had finished killing all the men^[h] of Ai who had chased them toward the wilderness^[i] (they all fell by the sword),^[j] all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it. ²⁵ So 12,000 men and women died^[k] that day, including all the men of Ai. ²⁶ Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai.^[l]