Joshua 8:24

24 Israel finished killing the entire population of Ai that had chased them out into the open wasteland. All of them were finished off without mercy. Then all Israel went back to Ai and struck it down without mercy.

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 When other Israelites came out of the city to confront them, the men of Ai were caught in the middle. Some Israelites were on one side of them and some on the other. The Israelites struck them down until there was no one left to escape.
23 But they seized the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 Israel finished killing the entire population of Ai that had chased them out into the open wasteland. All of them were finished off without mercy. Then all Israel went back to Ai and struck it down without mercy.
25 Twelve thousand men and women died that day, all the people of Ai.
26 Joshua didn't pull back the hand that was stretched out holding a dagger until he had wiped out the whole population of Ai as something reserved for God.
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