Then you rise up from your hiding place and seize the city. The Lord your God will hand it over to you.

Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!”

He told them, “Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city; all of you be ready!

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

When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

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

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. But he did not realize men were hiding behind the city.