The Conquest of Ai

1 Now the Lord said to Joshua, “aDo not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, bI have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

2 “You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall atake only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. 1Set an ambush for the city behind it.”

3 So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night.

4 He commanded them, saying, “See, you are agoing to ambush the city from behind 1it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.

5 “Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as at the first, awe will flee before them.

6 “They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them.

7 “And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.

8 “Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it aaccording to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.”

9 So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.

10 Now Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai.

11 Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.

12 And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between aBethel and Ai, on the west side of the 1city.

13 So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley.

14 It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled aby the way of the wilderness.

16 And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and awere drawn away from the city.

17 So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city 1unguarded and pursued Israel.

18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “aStretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

19 The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire.

20 When the men of Ai turned 1back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers.

21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and 1slew the men of Ai.

22 1The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, 2some on this side and some on that side; and they 3slew them until ano one was left 4of those who survived or escaped.

23 But they took alive the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.

24 Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.

25 aAll who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the 1people of Ai.

26 For Joshua adid not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had 1utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

27 aIsrael took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had commanded Joshua.

28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it aa heap forever, a desolation until this day.

29 aHe hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.