Joshua 8:4–12

⁴And he commanded them, saying: “Behold, ^eyou shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. ⁵Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that ^fwe shall flee before them. ⁶For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. ⁷Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the Lord you shall do. ^gSee, I have commanded you.”

⁹Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. ¹⁰Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ^11hAnd all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai. ¹²So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of ¹the city.