Joshua 8:5

5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them.

Joshua 8:5 in Other Translations

5 And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,

5 And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before them.

5 When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them.

5 I and the troops with me will approach the city head-on. When they come out to meet us just as before, we'll turn and run.

5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

Joshua 8:5 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:5

And I and all the people that [are] with me will approach unto
the city
That is, Joshua with the main body of the army would march up to the city the next morning, in order to draw out the inhabitants of it to fight them:

and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the
first;
as they had done before, when the three thousand were sent against them, ( Joshua 7:4 Joshua 7:5 ) ;

that we will flee before them;
as the three thousand did, which would animate them to pursue them with the greater eagerness, and to a distance from their city.

Joshua 8:5 In-Context

3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night

4 with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert.

5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them.

6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them,

7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand.