Joshua 8:3-13

8:3 Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai. ¹  Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night. 8:4 He told ²  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 ³  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 ⁴  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 ⁵  and seize ⁶  the city. The Lord your God will hand it over to you. 8:8 When you capture the city, set it ⁷  on fire. Do as the Lord says! See, I have given you orders.” ⁸  8:9 Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place ⁹  west of Ai, between Bethel ¹⁰  and Ai. ¹¹  Joshua spent that night with the army. ¹² 

8:10 Bright and early the next morning Joshua gathered ¹³  the army, ¹⁴  and he and the leaders ¹⁵  of Israel marched ¹⁶  at the head of it ¹⁷  to Ai. 8:11 All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. ¹⁸  They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley. ¹⁹  8:12 He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel ²⁰  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 ²¹  the middle of the valley.

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

[8:4]  ² tn Or “commanded, ordered.”

[8:5]  ³ tn Heb “the people.”

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “come out after.”

[8:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the ambush.”

[8:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “take possession of.”

[8:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “the city.”

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

[8:9]  ⁹ tn Or “the place of ambush.”

[8:9]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[8:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they stayed between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai.”

[8:9]  ¹² tn Heb “in the midst of the people.”

[8:10]  ¹³ tn Or “summoned, mustered.”

[8:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the people.”

[8:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “elders.”

[8:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “went up.”

[8:10]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “All the people of war who were with him went up and approached and came opposite the city.”

[8:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the valley [was] between them and Ai.”

[8:12]  ²⁰ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[8:13]  ²¹ tn Some Hebrew mss read, “spent the night in.”