Joshua 8:23

23 The king of `Ai they took alive, and brought him to Yehoshua.

Joshua 8:23 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:23

And the king of Ai they took alive
They spared him, and reserved him for a more shameful death:

and brought him to Joshua;
their general; delivering him into his hands as his prisoner, to do will, him as seemed good in his sight.

Joshua 8:23 In-Context

21 When Yehoshua and all Yisra'el saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and killed the men of `Ai.

22 The others came forth out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Yisra'el, some on this side, and some on that side: and they struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

23 The king of `Ai they took alive, and brought him to Yehoshua.

24 It happened, when Yisra'el had made an end of killing all the inhabitants of `Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Yisra'el returned to `Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword.

25 All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of `Ai.