All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city.<n id="1" /> They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">So about three thousand men went up, but they fled from the men of Ai.

But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.p>

Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanently uninhabited mound (it remains that way to this very day).<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">When the residents of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho<n id="1" /> and Ai,

<p class="poetry">the king of Jericho<n id="1" /> (one),p> <p class="poetry">the king of Ai &#8211; located near Bethel &#8211; (one),p>

<p class="bodytext">Joshua sent men from Jericho<n id="1" /> to Ai (which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel<n id="2" />) and instructed them, &#8220;Go up and spy on the land.&#8221; So the men went up and spied on Ai.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told Joshua, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid and don&#8217;t panic!<n id="1" /> Take the whole army with you and march against Ai!<n id="2" /> See, I am handing over to you<n id="3" /> the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.

Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place<n id="1" /> west of Ai, between Bethel<n id="2" /> and Ai.<n id="3" /> Joshua spent that night with the army.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">When Israel had finished killing all the men<n id="1" /> of Ai who had chased them toward the desert<n id="2" /> (they all fell by the sword),<n id="3" /> all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> heard how Joshua captured Ai and annihilated it and its king as he did Jericho<n id="2" /> and its king.<n id="3" /> He also heard how<n id="4" /> the people of Gibeon made peace with Israel and lived among them.

Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho<n id="1" /> and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai.<n id="1" /> Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night.

<p class="bodytext">Bright and early the next morning Joshua gathered<n id="1" /> the army,<n id="2" /> and he and the leaders<n id="3" /> of Israel marched<n id="4" /> at the head of it<n id="5" /> to Ai.

He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel<n id="1" /> and Ai.

No men were left in Ai or Bethel;<n id="1" /> they all went out after Israel.<n id="2" /> They left the city wide open and chased Israel.p>

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke,<n id="1" /> they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

Twelve thousand men and women died<n id="1" /> that day, including all the men of Ai.

Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai.<n id="1" />

All Jerusalem was terrified<n id="1" /> because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai and all its men were warriors.