Joshua 8:4–12

⁴And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ^eye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: ⁵And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that ^fwe will flee before them, ⁶(For they will come out after us) till we have ^†drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them. ⁷Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. ^gSee, I have commanded you. ⁹Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, ^hon the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people. ¹⁰And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ¹¹And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai. ¹²And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side ^||of the city.