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.