⁴And he commanded them, saying, “Look, you are to lay an ambush against the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city and be ready. ⁵Then I and all of the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us as before,^e we will flee from them.^f ⁶They will come out after us until we draw them away from the city, because they will think, ‘They are fleeing from us^g as before.’^h So we will flee from them.ⁱ ⁷Then you will rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. ⁸And when you capture the city you will set it on fire as Yahweh commanded. Look, I have commanded you.” ⁹So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of the ambush, and they sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent the night with the people.^j

¹⁰Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people of Ai.^k ¹¹All the fighting men^l who were with him went up and drew near before the city^m and camped north of Ai; there was a valley between him and Ai. ¹²And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

eLiterally “as that at the first occasion”
fOr “before their presence”
gOr “before our presence”
hLiterally “as that at the first occasion”
iOr “before their presence”
jLiterally “in the middle of the people”
kOr “before the presence of the people of Ai”
lLiterally “All the people of war”
mLiterally “went up, drew near, and came before the city”