Joshua Returns to Ai

After Israel had been beaten at Ai before, Yahweh told Joshua not to be afraid or discouraged. He was to take all the warriors and go again to Ai. This time, God said the king, the city, and the land would be given into Israel’s hand. Unlike Jericho, the goods and livestock could be taken, and an ambush was to be set behind the city.

Joshua got ready for the second campaign. He sent chosen fighting men out by night and told them to wait behind Ai, not far away, ready to move. He explained that he and the rest would go near the city and then flee as they had before, so the men of Ai would chase them away from the city.

Early the next morning Joshua and the elders of Israel led the people towards Ai. The army camped north of the city, with a valley between them and Ai, while an ambush waited on the west side. When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his people came out to fight, not knowing there was a trap behind the city.

Joshua and all Israel acted as if they were beaten and fled towards the wilderness. The people of Ai chased them, leaving the city open. Then Yahweh told Joshua to stretch out the javelin in his hand towards Ai. As soon as he did, the men in ambush rushed in, took the city, and set it on fire.

When the men of Ai saw the smoke, they were trapped. Israel turned back, and the force that had taken the city came out against them from the other side. None of Ai’s people were left or escaped. The king of Ai was captured alive. That day twelve thousand people of Ai, men and women, fell. Israel kept the livestock and goods, as Yahweh had commanded.

Joshua burned Ai and left it a ruin. He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sundown, Joshua gave orders for the body to be taken down and placed at the entrance of the city gate. Then they raised a great heap of stones over him, which remained there at the time this was written.