Joshua 8:4-17

⁴and commandeth them, saying, 'See, ye are liers in wait against the city, at the rear of the city, ye go not very far off from the city, and all of you have been prepared,

⁵and I and all the people who are with me draw near unto the city, and it hath come to pass when they come out to meet us as at the first, and we have fled before them,

⁶and they have come out after us till we have drawn them out of the city, for they say, They are fleeing before us as at the first, and we have fled before them,

⁷and ye rise from the ambush, and have occupied the city, and Jehovah your God hath given it into your hand;

⁸and it hath been, when ye capture the city, ye burn the city with fire, according to the word of Jehovah ye do, see, I have commanded you.'

⁹And Joshua sendeth them away, and they go unto the ambush, and abide between Bethel and Ai, on the west of Ai; and Joshua lodgeth on that night in the midst of the people.

¹⁰And Joshua riseth early in the morning, and inspecteth the people, and goeth up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai;

¹¹and all the people of war who are with him have gone up, and draw nigh and come in over-against the city, and encamp on the north of Ai; and the valley is between him and Ai.

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.