Joshua 8:6-16

6 till they pursue us, and be drawn away further from the city; for they shall guess, that we shall flee them as we did before. Then while we shall flee, and while they pursue,
7 ye shall rise from the ambushments, and shall waste the city; and your Lord God shall betake it into your hands. (ye shall rise up from ambush, or from lying in wait, and shall destroy the city; and the Lord your God shall deliver it into your hands.)
8 And when ye have taken it, burn ye it; (yea,) do ye all things, as I have commanded to you.
9 And Joshua let go them, and they went to the place of [the] ambushments, and sat betwixt Bethel and Ai, at the west coast of the city of Ai. Forsooth Joshua dwelled in that night in the midst of the people. (And Joshua let them go, and they went to the place of ambush, and sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city of Ai. But Joshua stayed that night in the midst of his people.)
10 And he rose (up) early, and numbered his fellows, and he went up with the elder men in the front of the host (and he went up with the elders at the front of the army), and was compassed with the help of (his) fighters.
11 And when they had come, and had gone up against the city, they stood at the north coast of the city, betwixt the which city and them a valley was in the midst. (And they came toward the city, and arrived at the north side of it, and there was a valley between them and the city.)
12 And Joshua had chosen five thousand men, and he had set them in [the] ambushments betwixt Bethel and Ai, in the west part of the same city. (And Joshua chose five thousand men, and he put them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.)
13 And all the tother host dressed the battle array to the north, so [that] the last men of the multitude reached to the west coast of the city. Then Joshua went in that night, and stood in the midst of [the] valley;
14 and when the king of Ai had seen this, he hasted (and rose up) early, and went out with all the host of the city, and he dressed (the) battle array against the desert; and he wist not that ambushments were hid behind his back. (and when the king of Ai had seen this, he hastened, and rose up early, and went out of the city with all of his army, and he directed the battle array toward the wilderness; but he did not know that men were hidden in ambush behind his back.)
15 Forsooth Joshua and all the multitude of Israel gave place, feigning dread, and fleeing (away) by the way of (the) wilderness;
16 and the men cried together, and with gladness stirred themselves together (and with gladness stirred themselves up), and they pursued the men of Israel. And when they had gone away from the city,

Joshua 8:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 8

Joshua is encouraged to go up and take Ai, and is directed what method to make use of, Jos 8:1,2; accordingly he set an ambush on the west side of it, and, he and the rest of the army went up before it, Jos 8:3-13; which, when the king of Ai saw, he and all his forces came cut against them, and the Israelites making a feint as if they were beaten, drew on the men of Ai to pursue them, upon which the ambush arose and entered the city and set fire to it, Jos 8:14-19; the smoke of which being observed by Joshua and Israel, they turned back upon the pursuers, and the ambush sallying out of the city behind them, made an entire destruction of them, then slew all the inhabitants, took the spoil, burnt the city, and hanged the king of it, Jos 8:20-29; after this Joshua built an altar at Ebal, wrote the law on stones, and read the blessings and curses in it before all Israel, Jos 8:30-35.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.