When all the men ¹  had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they had healed.

They went ¹  to the hill country and stayed there for three days, long enough for those chasing them ²  to return. Their pursuers ³  looked all along the way but did not find them. ⁴ 

Then the two men returned – they came down from the hills, crossed the river, ¹  came to Joshua son of Nun, and reported to him all they had discovered.

They marched around the city one time on the second day, then returned to the camp. They did this six days in all.

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

Then the whole army safely returned to Joshua at the camp in Makkedah. ¹  No one ²  dared threaten the Israelites. ³ 

So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had solemnly promised to their ancestors, ¹  and they conquered ²  it and lived in it.

The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan, and as soon as they set foot on dry land, ¹  the water of the Jordan flowed again and returned to flood stage. ² 

They returned and reported to Joshua, ¹  “Don’t send the whole army. ²  About two or three thousand men are adequate to defeat Ai. ³  Don’t tire out the whole army, for Ai is small.” ⁴ 

Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place ¹  west of Ai, between Bethel ²  and Ai. ³  Joshua spent that night with the army. ⁴ 

When Israel had finished killing all the men ¹  of Ai who had chased them toward the desert ²  (they all fell by the sword), ³  all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it.

(The Danites failed to conquer their territory, ¹  so they went up and fought with Leshem and captured it. They put the sword to it, took possession of it, and lived in it. They renamed it ²  Dan after their ancestor. ³ )

Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders left the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead and reported back to the Israelites in the land of Canaan. ¹ 

So the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and headed home to their own land in Gilead, ¹  which they acquired by the Lord’s command through Moses.