When 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.
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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.
25Twelve thousand men and women died that day, including all the men of Ai.
26Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai.
27But Israel did plunder the cattle and the goods of the city, in keeping with the LORD’s orders to Joshua.
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).
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.
14When 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.
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.
40But when the signal, a pillar of smoke, began to rise up from the city, the Benjaminites turned around and saw the whole city going up in a cloud of smoke that rose high into the sky.
41When the Israelites turned around, the Benjaminites panicked because they could see that disaster was on their doorstep.
42They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down.
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.
3Like fire they devour everything in their path; a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness– for nothing escapes them!
38The Israelites and the men hiding in ambush had arranged a signal. When the men hiding in ambush sent up a smoke signal from the city,
3When the residents of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai,
8The LORD handed them over to Israel and they struck them down and chased them all the way to Greater Sidon, Misrephoth Maim, and the Mizpah Valley to the east. They struck them down until no survivors remained.
19But don’t you delay! Chase your enemies and catch them! Don’t allow them to retreat to their cities, for the LORD your God is handing them over to you.”
20Joshua and the Israelites almost totally wiped them out, but some survivors did escape to the fortified cities.
8O Lord, what can I say now that Israel has retreated before its enemies?
11They annihilated everyone who lived there with the sword– no one who breathed remained– and burned Hazor.
5“What do I see! The soldiers are frightened. They are retreating. They are being scattered. They have fled for refuge without looking back. Terror is all around them,” says the LORD.