Joshua 8:12-28

¹²And he taketh about five thousand men, and setteth them an ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west of the city;

¹³and they set the people, all the camp which is on the north of the city, and its rear on the west of the city, and Joshua goeth on that night into the midst of the valley.

¹⁴And it cometh to pass, when the king of Ai seeth it, that hasten, and rise early, and go out do the men of the city to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people, at the appointed season, at the front of the plain, and he hath not known that an ambush is against him, on the rear of the city.

¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel seem stricken before them, and flee the way of the wilderness,

¹⁶and all the people who are in the city are called to pursue after them, and they pursue after Joshua, and are drawn away out of the city,

¹⁷and there hath not been left a man in Ai and Bethel who hath not gone out after Israel, and they leave the city open, and pursue after Israel.

¹⁸And Jehovah saith unto Joshua, 'Stretch out with the javelin which is in thy hand towards Ai, for into thy hand I give it;' and Joshua stretcheth out with the javelin which is in his hand toward the city,

¹⁹and the ambush hath risen with haste, out of its place, and they run at the stretching out of his hand, and go into the city, and capture it, and hasten, and burn the city with fire.

²⁰And the men of Ai look behind them, and see, and lo, the smoke of the city hath gone up unto the heavens, and there hath not been in them power to flee hither and thither — and the people who are fleeing to the wilderness have turned against the pursuer, —

²¹and Joshua and all Israel have seen that the ambush hath captured the city, and that the smoke of the city hath gone up, and they turn back and smite the men of Ai;

²²and these have come out from the city to meet them, and they are in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that, and they smite them till he hath not left to them a remnant and escaped one;

²³and the king of Ai they caught alive, and bring him near unto Joshua.

²⁴And it cometh to pass, at Israel's finishing to slay all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them (and they fall all of them by the mouth of the sword till their consumption), that all Israel turn back to Ai, and smite it by the mouth of the sword;

²⁵and all who fall during the day, of men and of women, are twelve thousand — all men of Ai.

²⁶And Joshua hath not brought back his hand which he stretched out with the javelin till that he hath devoted all the inhabitants of Ai;

²⁷only, the cattle and the spoil of that city have Israel spoiled for themselves, according to the word of Jehovah which He commanded Joshua.

²⁸And Joshua burneth Ai, and maketh it a heap age-during — a desolation unto this day;