Joshua 8:23

23 and the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

Joshua 8:23 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 8:23

And the king of Ai they took alive
They spared him, and reserved him for a more shameful death:

and brought him to Joshua;
their general; delivering him into his hands as his prisoner, to do will, him as seemed good in his sight.

Joshua 8:23 In-Context

21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again and slew the men of Ai.

22 And the others issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape;

23 and the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they had all fallen on the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai and smote it with the edge of the sword.

25 And so it was that all who fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.