Joshua 8:26

26 Joshua didn't lower his outstretched javelin until the sacred destruction of Ai and all its people was completed.

Joshua 8:26 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:26

For Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out
his spear
But continued it, and that stretched out:

until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai;
just as the hand of Moses was held up, and kept held up until Amalek was discomfited by Joshua, ( Exodus 17:12 Exodus 17:13 ) .

Joshua 8:26 In-Context

24 When it was all over, Israel had killed everyone in Ai, whether in the fields or in the wilderness where they had chased them. When the killing was complete, the Israelites returned to Ai and completed the devastation.
25 The death toll that day came to 12,000 men and women - everyone in Ai.
26 Joshua didn't lower his outstretched javelin until the sacred destruction of Ai and all its people was completed.
27 Israel did get to take the livestock and loot left in the city; God's instructions to Joshua allowed for that.
28 Joshua burned Ai to the ground. A "heap" of nothing forever, a "no-place" - go see for yourself.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.