Joshua 8:6-21

⁶And they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first; and we will flee before them.

⁷And ye shall rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city; and Jehovah your God will deliver it into your hand.

⁸And it shall be when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the word of Jehovah shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.

⁹And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west of Ai. And Joshua lodged that night among the people.

¹⁰And Joshua rose early in the morning, and inspected the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

¹¹And all the people of war that were with him went up, and drew near, and came before the city; and they encamped on the north of Ai; and the valley was between them and Ai.

¹²Now he had taken about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west of the city.

¹³And when they had set the people, the whole camp on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

¹⁴And it came to pass when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hasted and rose early, and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the appointed place before the plain. But he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten before them; and they fled by the way of the wilderness.

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

¹⁷And not a man remained in Ai and Bethel that went not out after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

¹⁸And Jehovah said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thy hand. And Joshua stretched out the javelin that he had in his hand toward the city.

¹⁹And the ambush arose quickly from their place, and they ran when he stretched out his hand, and came into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.

²⁰And the men of Ai turned and saw, and behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people that fled to the wilderness turned upon the pursuers.

²¹When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.