Joshua 8:1-12

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!”

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.

[8:1]  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.

[8:3]  ⁵ tn “And Joshua and all the people of war arose to go up [against] Ai.”

[8:4]  ⁶ tn Or “commanded, ordered.”

[8:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “the people.”

[8:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “come out after.”

[8:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the ambush.”

[8:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “take possession of.”

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the city.”

[8:8]  ¹² tn Heb “I have commanded you.”

[8:9]  ¹³ tn Or “the place of ambush.”

[8:9]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[8:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and they stayed between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai.”

[8:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the midst of the people.”

[8:10]  ¹⁷ tn Or “summoned, mustered.”

[8:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the people.”

[8:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “elders.”

[8:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “went up.”

[8:10]  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.

[8:11]  ²² tn Heb “All the people of war who were with him went up and approached and came opposite the city.”

[8:11]  ²³ tn Heb “and the valley [was] between them and Ai.”

[8:12]  ²⁴ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.