The Ambush at Ai

1Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

2And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”

3So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night

4with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.

5Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

6They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,

7you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

8And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”

9So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.

10Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.

11Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.

12Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

13So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

14When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.

15Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.

16Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

17Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.

18Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,

19and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

20When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.

21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

22Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.

23But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

Berean Standard Bible