Joshua 8:6-21

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.

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;