Joshua 8:1-2

Israel Conquers Ai

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!”

Joshua 5:1

5:1 When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they ⁵  crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites. ⁶ 

Proverbs 21:30-31

21:30 There is no wisdom and there is no understanding,

and there is no counsel against ⁷  the Lord. ⁸ 

21:31 A horse is prepared for the day of battle,

but the victory is from the Lord. ⁹ 

[8:1]  ¹ tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”

[8:1]  ² tn Heb “Take with you all the people of war and arise, go up against Ai!”

[8:1]  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.

[8:2]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[5:1]  ⁵ tc Another textual tradition has, “while we crossed.”

[5:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “their heart[s] melted and there was no longer in them breathe because of the sons of Israel.”

[21:30]  ⁷ tn The form לְנֶגֶד (lÿneged) means “against; over against; in opposition to.” The line indicates they cannot in reality be in opposition, for human wisdom is nothing in comparison to the wisdom of God (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 232).

[21:30]  ⁸ sn The verse uses a single sentence to state that all wisdom, understanding, and advice must be in conformity to the will of God to be successful. It states it negatively – these things cannot be in defiance of God (e.g., Job 5:12-13; Isa 40:13-14).

[21:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “of the Lord.” The victory being “of the Lord” means that it is accomplished by him. Ultimate success comes from the Lord and not from human efforts. The faithful have acknowledged this down through the ages, even though they have been responsible and have prepared for the wars. Without this belief there would have been no prayer on the eve of battle (e.g., Ps 20:7 and 33:17).