Joshua 8:3-19

Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

³ So Joshua and all the troops set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected thirty thousand of his best soldiers and sent them out at night. ⁴ He commanded them, ‘Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.^{(A) 5} Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them. ⁶ They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, “They are fleeing from us as before.” While we are fleeing from them, ⁷ you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city. The Lord your God will hand it over to you. ⁸ After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow the Lord’s command – see that you do as I have ordered you.’ ⁹ So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.

¹⁰ Joshua started early the next morning and mobilised them. Then he and the elders of Israel led the people up to Ai. ¹¹ All the troops who were with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city. ¹² Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. ¹³ The troops were stationed in this way: the main^[a] camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

¹⁴ When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, the men of the city hurried and went out early in the morning so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle at a suitable place facing the Arabah. But he did not know there was an ambush waiting for him behind the city. ¹⁵ Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten back by them and fled towards the wilderness.^{(B) 16} Then all the troops of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Hold out the javelin in your hand towards Ai, for I will hand the city over to you.’ So Joshua held out his javelin towards it. ¹⁹ When he held out his hand, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.