When the king of Ai saw Israel, they rushed to get up early. Then the men of the city went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people, at the meeting place near the rift valley. But he did not realize an ambush was waiting for him behind the city.
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1Israel Conquers Ai The LORD told Joshua,“Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! See, I am handing over to you the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.
2Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!”
3Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai. Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night.
4He ordered them,“Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city; all of you be ready!
5I and all the troops who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them.
6They will attack us until we have lured them from the city, for they will say,‘They are retreating from us like before.’ We will retreat from them.
7Then you rise up from your hiding place and seize the city. The LORD your God will hand it over to you.
8When you capture the city, set it on fire in keeping with the Lord’s message. See, I have given you orders.”
9Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place west of Ai, between Bethel and Ai. Joshua spent that night with the army.
10Bright and early the next morning Joshua gathered the army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched at the head of it to Ai.
11All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley.
12He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel and Ai.
13The army was in position– the main army north of the city and the rear guard west of the city. That night Joshua went into the middle of the valley.
15Joshua and all Israel pretended to be defeated by them and they retreated along the way to the wilderness.
16All the reinforcements in Ai were ordered to chase them; they chased Joshua and were lured away from the city.
17No men were left in Ai or Bethel; they all went out after Israel. They left the city wide open and chased Israel.
18The LORD told Joshua,“Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.
19When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
20When the men of Ai turned around, they saw the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. In the meantime the men who were retreating to the wilderness turned against their pursuers.
21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.
22At the same time the men who had taken the city came out to fight, and the men of Ai were trapped in the middle. The Israelites struck them down, leaving no survivors or refugees.
23But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had chased them toward the wilderness(they all fell by the sword), all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it.
2Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai(which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel) and instructed them,“Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.
3They returned and reported to Joshua,“Don’t send the whole army. About two or three thousand men are adequate to defeat Ai. Don’t tire out the whole army, for Ai is small.”
4So about three thousand men went up, but they fled from the men of Ai.
5The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them and chased them from in front of the city gate all the way to the fissures and defeated them on the steep slope. The people’s courage melted away like water.
1The Gibeonites Deceive Israel When the news reached all the kings on the west side of the Jordan– in the hill country, the foothills, and all along the Mediterranean coast as far as Lebanon(including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites)–
2they formed an alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel.
3When the residents of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai,
26Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai.
1Israel Defeats an Amorite Coalition Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua captured Ai and annihilated it and its king as he did Jericho and its king. He also heard how the people of Gibeon made peace with Israel and lived among them.
28Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanently uninhabited mound(it remains that way to this very day).
29He hung the king of Ai on a tree, leaving him exposed until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered that his corpse be taken down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and erected over it a large pile of stones(it remains to this very day).
7Joshua and his whole army caught them by surprise at the Waters of Merom and attacked them.
9Joshua attacked them by surprise after marching all night from Gilgal.
1Israel Crosses the Jordan Bright and early the next morning Joshua and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing the river.
2The king of Jericho received this report:“Note well! Israelite men have come here tonight to spy on the land.”
13Israel Conquers Jericho When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword. Joshua approached him and asked him,“Are you on our side or allied with our enemies?”
9the king of Jericho(one), the king of Ai– located near Bethel–(one),
13Now Jeroboam had sent some men to ambush the Judahite army from behind. The main army was in front of the Judahite army; the ambushers were behind it.
30The LORD handed it and its king over to Israel, and Israel put the sword to all who lived there; they left no survivors. They did to its king what they had done to the king of Jericho.
5All these kings gathered and joined forces at the Waters of Merom to fight Israel.
5So the five Amorite kings(the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon) and all their troops gathered together and advanced. They deployed their troops and fought against Gibeon.
15On the seventh day they were up at the crack of dawn and marched around the city as before– only this time they marched around it seven times.