1 And the LORD {YHWH, Promise Keeper} said to Joshua, “Do not fear, and do not be dismayed. Take with you all the people for battle {milchamah: combat force}, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.”
2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king; only its spoil {shelalah: battle loot} and its livestock you shall plunder {tavozu: seize goods} for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city, behind it.
3 And Joshua {Yehoshua, Divinely Empowered Leader} rose up, and all the people of war went up to Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand men {gibborei: elite warriors} and sent them out by night.
4 And he commanded them, saying, “See, you are ambushers {orvim: ones lying in wait} behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, and all of you must be ready {nekhonim: prepared for action}.”
5 And I and all the people who are with me will approach {nikrav: draw near} the city, and it shall be when they come out to meet us just as at the first time, that we will flee {venasnu: withdraw quickly} before them.
6 And they will come out after us until we have drawn them away {tiqenu: enticed outward} from the city, for they will say, “They are fleeing {nasim: feigned retreat} before us as at the first time.” Therefore, we will flee before them.
7 And you shall rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, and the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant Fighter} will give it into your hand {beyedkhem: under your control}.
8 And when you seize the city, you shall set the city aflame with fire; according to the word of the LORD {YHWH, Commander in Action} you shall do it. See, I have commanded {tsiviti: issued an order} you.
9 And Joshua sent them, and they went to the place of ambush, remaining between Bethel and Ai on the west side of Ai. Joshua then spent that night {balaylah: hours of darkness} among the people {ha’am: gathered nation}.
10 Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people {ha’am: assembled community}. Then he, along with the elders of Israel, went up before the people to Ai {haʿai: fortified city}.
11 And all the people of the battle {milchamah: combat force} who were with him went up, and they approached and came opposite the city, and they camped on the north side of Ai, and the valley {gai: deep ravine} was between them and Ai.
12 Joshua took about five thousand men and set them as an ambush between Bethel {beit-El: house of God} and Ai, to the west of the city {ir: urban center}.
13 And the people positioned the entire camp north of the city, with the rear guard {akev: tactical unit} to the west of the city. Joshua then went that night into the midst of the valley {emek: low plain}.
14 And it happened when the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city {anshei-ha‘ir: city defenders} hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel in battle—he and all his people—at the appointed place {mo‘ed: strategic gathering} before the Arabah plain. But he did not know that an ambush was set against him from behind the city.
15 Then Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten {vayinnahgu: acted as though struck} before their enemies, and they fled by way of the wilderness {hamidbār: desolate region}.
16 Then all the people in the city of Ai were summoned {yizaku: mobilized for battle} to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua, and they were drawn away {nataku: strategically diverted} from the city.
17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel; and they left the city {‘ir: walled settlement} open and pursued {vayird’fu: relentless pursuit} after Israel.
18 And the LORD {YHWH, Divine Commander} said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin {kidon: battle spear} that is in your hand toward Ai, for into your hand I will give it.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
19 And the ambush {orev: hidden force} rose swiftly from its position, and as soon as he stretched out his hand {kinetot: immediate signal}, they ran, entered the city and captured it; then they hurried and set the city on fire.
20 And the men of Ai turned around and looked, and behold, the smoke of the city {ashan: visible signal} was ascending to the heavens, and there was no strength {yadayim: power to act} in them to flee this way or that. Then the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers.
21 And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush {orev: waiting force} had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city had risen; then they turned back and struck the men of Ai {haay: city-state}.
22 And these came out of the city to meet them, so they were in the midst of Israel {Yisrael: the covenant people}, these on this side and these on that side; and Israel struck them down until none was left to them—neither a survivor {sarid: one who remains} nor a fugitive.
23 But they captured the king of Ai alive {khay: not slain}, and they brought him to Joshua {Yehoshua: YHWH Saves}.
24 And it happened when Israel finished {kekhalot: upon completion} killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when they had all fallen by the edge of the sword {cherev: instrument of judgment} until they were destroyed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it by the edge of the sword.
25 And it was that all those who fell on that day, from man to woman, were twelve thousand—all the people {anshei: city inhabitants} of Ai {'Ai: fortified city}.
26 And Joshua did not draw back his hand {yado: sustained signal}, which he stretched out with the javelin, until he devoted to destruction {hecherim: herem ban} all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city did Israel take for themselves, according to the word of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Commander} which He commanded Joshua {Yehoshua: leader of Israel}.
28 And Joshua {Yehoshua: Divinely Empowered Leader} burned Ai and made it a perpetual mound {tel: ruin heap} of desolation until this day.
29 The king of Ai was hanged on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take his body down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the city gate, and set up over it a large heap of stones {gal: memorial mound} until this day {ad hayom hazeh: enduring testimony}.
30 Then Joshua built an altar {mizbeach: place of sacrifice} to the LORD {YHWH, Covenant-Keeper}, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.
31 Just as Moses, the servant of the LORD {YHWH, Holy Lawgiver}, commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the instruction of Moses: an altar {mizbeach: worship site} of whole stones, over which iron was not lifted; and on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses {torat Mosheh: Mosaic Instruction}, writing it before the sons of Israel {benei Yisrael: Covenant Community}.
33 And all Israel, with its elders, officials, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark, opposite the Levitical priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant-Keeper}; both the foreigner and the native-born {ezrach: original inhabitants} were among them. Half the people stood before Mount Gerizim and half before Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded at the beginning to bless the people of Israel.
34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing {berachah: covenant benefit} and the curse {qelalah: pronouncement of penalty}, just as all that is written in the Book of the Law.
35 There was not one word of all that Moses commanded {tsivvah: authoritative instruction} which Joshua did not read before the entire assembly {ke-hal: communal gathering} of Israel, including the women, the children, and the foreigners who were walking in their midst.