8:1 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! 1 Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! 2 See, I am handing over to you 3 the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land. 8:2 Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho 4 and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!”
8:3 Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai. 5 Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night. 8:4 He told 6 them, “Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city; all of you be ready! 8:5 I and all the troops 7 who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them. 8:6 They will attack 8 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. 8:7 Then you rise up from your hiding place 9 and seize 10 the city. The Lord your God will hand it over to you. 8:8 When you capture the city, set it 11 on fire. Do as the Lord says! See, I have given you orders.” 12 8:9 Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place 13 west of Ai, between Bethel 14 and Ai. 15 Joshua spent that night with the army. 16
8:10 Bright and early the next morning Joshua gathered 17 the army, 18 and he and the leaders 19 of Israel marched 20 at the head of it 21 to Ai. 8:11 All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. 22 They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley. 23 8:12 He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel 24 and Ai. 8:13 The army was in position – the main army north of the city and the rear guard west of the city. That night Joshua went into 25 the middle of the valley.
8:14 When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. 26 But he did not realize 27 men were hiding behind the city. 28
1 tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”
2 tn Heb “Take with you all the people of war and arise, go up against Ai!”
3 tn Heb “I have given into our hand.” The verbal form, a perfect, is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action.
4 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
5 tn “And Joshua and all the people of war arose to go up [against] Ai.”
6 tn Or “commanded, ordered.”
7 tn Heb “the people.”
8 tn Heb “come out after.”
9 tn Heb “from the ambush.”
10 tn Heb “take possession of.”
11 tn Heb “the city.”
12 tn Heb “I have commanded you.”
13 tn Or “the place of ambush.”
14 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
15 tn Heb “and they stayed between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai.”
16 tn Heb “in the midst of the people.”
17 tn Or “summoned, mustered.”
18 tn Heb “the people.”
19 tn Or “elders.”
20 tn Heb “went up.”
21 tn Heb “them” (referring to “the people” in the previous clause, which requires a plural pronoun). Since the translation used “army” in the previous clause, a singular pronoun (“it”) is required in English.
22 tn Heb “All the people of war who were with him went up and approached and came opposite the city.”
23 tn Heb “and the valley [was] between them and Ai.”
24 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
25 tn Some Hebrew
26 tn Heb “When the king of Ai saw, the men of Ai hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people at the meeting place before the Arabah.”
27 tn Or “know.”
28 tn Heb “that (there was) an ambush for him behind the city.”