Joshua 8:3

8:3 Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai. ¹  Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night.

Joshua 8:10-12

8:10 Bright and early the next morning Joshua gathered ²  the army, ³  and he and the leaders ⁴  of Israel marched ⁵  at the head of it ⁶  to Ai. 8:11 All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. ⁷  They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley. ⁸  8:12 He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel ⁹  and Ai.

Joshua 8:21

8:21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, ¹⁰  they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

Joshua 8:25-26

8:25 Twelve thousand men and women died ¹¹  that day, including all the men of Ai. 8:26 Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai. ¹² 

Joshua 10:2

10:2 All Jerusalem was terrified ¹³  because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai and all its men were warriors.

Joshua 7:3

7:3 They returned and reported to Joshua, ¹⁴  “Don’t send the whole army. ¹⁵  About two or three thousand men are adequate to defeat Ai. ¹⁶  Don’t tire out the whole army, for Ai is small.” ¹⁷ 

Joshua 7:5

7:5 The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them and chased them from in front of the city gate all the way to the fissures ¹⁸  and defeated them on the steep slope. ¹⁹  The people’s ²⁰  courage melted away like water. ²¹ 

Joshua 8:9

8:9 Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place ²²  west of Ai, between Bethel ²³  and Ai. ²⁴  Joshua spent that night with the army. ²⁵ 

Joshua 8:14

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 

Joshua 8:18

8:18 The Lord told Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city ²⁹  over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.

Joshua 8:20

8:20 When the men of Ai turned around, they saw ³⁰  the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. ³¹  In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.

Joshua 10:1

Israel Defeats an Amorite Coalition

10:1 Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, ³²  heard how Joshua captured Ai and annihilated it and its king as he did Jericho ³³  and its king. ³⁴  He also heard how ³⁵  the people of Gibeon made peace with Israel and lived among them.

Joshua 8:29

8:29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree, leaving him exposed until evening. ³⁶  At sunset Joshua ordered that his corpse be taken down from the tree. ³⁷  They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and erected over it a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day). ³⁸ 

[8:3]  ¹ tn “And Joshua and all the people of war arose to go up [against] Ai.”

[8:10]  ² tn Or “summoned, mustered.”

[8:10]  ³ tn Heb “the people.”

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Or “elders.”

[8:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “went up.”

[8:10]  ⁶ 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]  ³ tn Heb “All the people of war who were with him went up and approached and came opposite the city.”

[8:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the valley [was] between them and Ai.”

[8:12]  ⁴ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[8:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and that the smoke of the city ascended.”

[8:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “fell.”

[8:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “Joshua did not draw back his hand which held out the curved sword until he had annihilated all the residents of Ai.”

[10:2]  ⁸ tn This statement is subordinated to v. 1 in the Hebrew text, which reads literally, “When Adoni-Zedek…they feared greatly.” The subject of the plural verb at the beginning of v. 2 is probably the residents of Jerusalem.

[7:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they returned to Joshua and said to him.”

[7:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Don’t let all the people go up.”

[7:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Let about two thousand men or about three thousand men go up to defeat Ai.”

[7:3]  ¹² tn Heb “all the people for they are small.”

[7:5]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning and correct translation of the Hebrew word שְׁבָרִים (shÿvarim) is uncertain. The translation “fissures” is based on usage of the plural form of the noun in Ps 60:4 HT (60:2 ET), where it appears to refer to cracks in the earth caused by an earthquake. Perhaps deep ravines or gorges are in view, or the word is a proper noun (“all the way to Shebarim”).

[7:5]  ¹¹ sn The precise geographical location of the Israelite defeat at this “steep slope” is uncertain.

[7:5]  ¹² tn Or “army’s.”

[7:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the heart of the people melted and became water.”

[8:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “the place of ambush.”

[8:9]  ¹² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[8:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “and they stayed between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai.”

[8:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the midst of the people.”

[8:14]  ¹² 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.”

[8:14]  ¹³ tn Or “know.”

[8:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “that (there was) an ambush for him behind the city.”

[8:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the city of Ai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and they saw, and look.” The Hebrew term הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) draws attention to the scene and invites the audience to view the events from the perspective of the men of Ai.

[8:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and there was not in them hands to flee here or there.” The Hebrew term יָדַיִם (yadayim, “hands”) is idiomatic for “strength.”

[10:1]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:1]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[10:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “as he had done to Jericho and to its king, so he did to Ai and to its king.”

[10:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and how.”

[8:29]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “on a tree until evening.” The words “leaving him exposed” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:29]  ¹⁷ sn For the legal background of this action, see Deut 21:22-23.

[8:29]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to this day.”