Joshua 8:24

24 When Israel had finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai, and attacked it with the edge of the sword.

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 And the others came out from the city against them; so they were surrounded by Israelites, some on one side, and some on the other; and Israel struck them down until no one was left who survived or escaped.
23 But the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai, and attacked it with the edge of the sword.
25 The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand—all the people of Ai.
26 For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the sword, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.