About forty thousand battle-ready troops marched past the Lord to fight on the plains of Jericho.

So about three thousand men went up, but they fled from the men of Ai.

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

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

He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel and Ai.

Twelve thousand men and women died that day, including all the men of Ai.

The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans:

One of you makes a thousand run away, for the Lord your God fights for you as he promised you he would.

But stay about three thousand feet behind it. Keep your distance so you can see which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before.”

He was accompanied by ten leaders, one from each of the Israelite tribes, each one a family leader among the Israelite clans.

When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, they were satisfied.