Joshua 8:1-17

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid or give up. Lead all your fighting men to Ai. I will help you defeat the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You will do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may take all the wealth and keep it for yourselves. Now tell some of your soldiers to set up an ambush behind the city.” So Joshua led his whole army toward Ai. Then he chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night. Joshua gave them these orders: “Listen carefully. You must set up an ambush behind the city. Don’t go far from it, but continue to watch and be ready. I and the men who are with me will march toward the city, and the men in the city will come out to fight us, just as they did before. Then we will turn and run away from them. They will chase us away from the city, thinking we are running away from them as we did before. When we run away, come out from your ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give you the power to win. After you take the city, burn it. See to it! You have your orders.” Then Joshua sent them to wait in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua stayed the night with his people. Early the next morning Joshua gathered his men together. He and the older leaders of Israel led them up to Ai. All of the soldiers who were with Joshua marched up to Ai and stopped in front of the city and made camp north of it. There was a valley between them and the city. Then Joshua chose about five thousand men and set them in ambush in the area west of the city between Bethel and Ai. So the people took their positions; the main camp was north of the city, and the other men were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into the valley. Now when the king of Ai saw the army of Israel, he and his people got up early the next morning and hurried out to fight them. They went out to a place east of the city, but the king did not know soldiers were waiting in ambush behind the city. Joshua and all the men of Israel let the army of Ai push them back. Then they ran toward the desert. The men in Ai were called to chase Joshua and his men, so they left the city and went after them. All the men of Ai and Bethel chased the army of Israel. The city was left open; not a man stayed to protect it.