³¹ And the people of Benjamin went out against the people and were drawn away from the city. And as at other times they began to strike and kill some of the people in the highways, ^(A)one of which goes up to ^(B)Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country, about thirty men of Israel.

¹³ And he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at ^(A)Ramah.” ¹⁴ So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin,

¹⁴ And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place^[a] toward ^(A)the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. ^(B)But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵ And Joshua and all Israel ^(C)pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. ¹⁶ So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they ^(D)were drawn away from the city.

⁵ and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people ^(A)melted and became as water.