Joshua 8:6

6 They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, "They are fleeing from us, as before.' While we flee from them,

Joshua 8:6 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:6

For they will come out after us
Of which there could be no doubt, when they should see them run from them:

till we have drawn them from the city;
some distance from it, that they could not return soon enough to save it from the ambush, or prevent their entrance into it, and burning it:

for they will say, they will flee before us, as at the first;
they run away as they did before, and let us pursue them and smite them as we did then:

therefore we will flee before them;
to draw them out of the city, and make your way easy to get into it,

Joshua 8:6 In-Context

4 with the command, "You shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it; do not go very far from the city, but all of you stay alert.
5 I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us, as before, we shall flee from them.
6 They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, "They are fleeing from us, as before.' While we flee from them,
7 you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city; for the Lord your God will give it into your hand.
8 And when you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire, doing as the Lord has ordered; see, I have commanded you."
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.