Joshua 8:24

24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.

Joshua 8:24 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:24

And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying
all the inhabitants of Ai
That came out against them:

in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them;
both in the arable lands that were sown with corn, and now clothed with it, the wheat especially, not being gathered in, as not yet ripe, and in the pasture ground, designed by the wilderness, see ( Joshua 8:15 ) ; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it:

and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword;
and were slain by it:

until they were consumed;
and not one left:

that all the Israelites returned unto Ai;
both the ambush that came out of it, and the army that came against it:

and smote it with the edge of the sword;
that is, the inhabitants that were left in it unfit for war, as old men, infirm persons, women and children, as follows.

Joshua 8:24 In-Context

22 Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.
23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.
25 A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.
26 Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.
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