Joshua 8:9-22

Expanded Bible

⁹ Then Joshua sent them to wait in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua stayed the night ·with his [among the] people.

¹⁰ Early the next morning Joshua ·gathered his men together [mustered the army]. He and the ·older leaders [elders] of Israel led them up to Ai. ¹¹ All of the soldiers who were with Joshua marched up to Ai and stopped in front of the city and made camp north of it. There was a valley between them and the city. ¹² Then Joshua chose about five thousand men and set them in ambush in the area west of the city between Bethel and Ai. ¹³ So the people took their positions; the main camp was north of the city, and the ·other men [rear guard; ambush] were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into^[a] the valley.

¹⁴ Now when the king of Ai saw the army of Israel, he and his people got up early the next morning and hurried out to fight them. They went out to ·a place east of the city [or the meeting/appointed place near the Arabah/desert plain], but the king did not know soldiers were waiting in ambush behind the city. ¹⁵ Joshua and all the men of Israel ·let the army of Ai push them back [pretended to be defeated]. Then they ran toward the ·desert [wilderness]. ¹⁶ All the men in Ai were called to chase Joshua and his men, so they ·left the city and went after them [were lured away from the city]. ¹⁷ All the men of Ai and Bethel chased the army of Israel [^Cnearby Bethel must have been closely allied with Ai]. The city was left ·open [unguarded]; not a man ·stayed to protect it [^Lwas left in Ai or Bethel].

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold ·your spear [^Lthe spear/javelin that is in your hand] toward Ai, because I will give ·you that city [^Lit into your hand].” So Joshua held ·his spear [^Lthe spear/javelin that was in his hand] toward the city of Ai. ¹⁹ When the Israelites who were in ambush saw this, they quickly came out of their hiding place and hurried toward the city. They entered the city, ·took control of [captured] it, and quickly set it on fire.

²⁰ When the men of Ai looked back, ·they saw [^Llook; ^Tbehold] smoke rising [^Linto the sky] from their city. At the same time the Israelites stopped running and turned against ·the men of Ai [^Ltheir pursuers], who could not escape in any direction. ²¹ When Joshua and all ·his men [^LIsrael] saw that the ·army [men in ambush] had taken control of the city and saw the smoke rising from it, they stopped running and turned to ·fight [strike down] the men of Ai. ²² The men who were in ambush also came out of the city to help with the fight. So the men of Ai were caught between the armies of Israel. None of the enemy escaped. The Israelites ·fought [struck them down] until not one of the men of Ai ·was left alive [^Leither survived or escaped], except