Joshua 8:4–12

⁴He commanded them, “Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.^{m 5}Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them. ⁶They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we are fleeing from them, ⁷you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city. The Lord your God will hand it over to you. ⁸After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow the Lord’s command—see that you do as I have ordered you.” ⁹So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.

¹⁰Joshua started early the next morning and mobilized them. Then he and the elders of Israel led the people up to Ai. ¹¹All the troops who were with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city. ¹²Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.