Joshua 8:1-7

New King James Version

The Fall of Ai

8 Now the Lord said to Joshua: ^(A)“Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, ^(B)I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ² And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to ^(C)Jericho and its king. Only ^(D)its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.”

³ So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying: “Behold, ^(E)you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. ⁵ Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that ^(F)we shall flee before them. ⁶ For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. ⁷ Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.