Joshua 8:3-22

³ Joshua and all his soldiers got ready to march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, tough, seasoned fighters, and sent them off at night ⁴ with these orders: "Look sharp now. Lie in ambush behind the city. Get as close as you can. Stay alert. ⁵ I and the troops with me will approach the city head-on. When they come out to meet us just as before, we'll turn and run. ⁶ They'll come after us, leaving the city. As we are off and running, they'll say, 'They're running away just like the first time.' ⁷ That's your signal to spring from your ambush and take the city. God, your God, will hand it to you on a platter. ⁸ Once you have the city, burn it down. God says it, you do it. Go to it. I've given you your orders." ⁹ Joshua sent them off. They set their ambush and waited between Bethel and Ai, just west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people. ¹⁰ Joshua was up early in the morning and mustered his army. He and the leaders of Israel led the troops to Ai. ¹¹ The whole army, fighting men all, marched right up within sight of the city and set camp on the north side of Ai. There was a valley between them and Ai. ¹² He had taken about five thousand men and put them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city. ¹³ They were all deployed, the main army to the north of the city and the ambush to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley. ¹⁴ So it happened that when the king of Ai saw all this, the men of the city lost no time; they were out of there at the crack of dawn to join Israel in battle, the king and his troops, at a field en route to the Arabah. The king didn't know of the ambush set against him behind the city. ¹⁵ Joshua and all Israel let themselves be chased; they ran toward the wilderness. ¹⁶ Everybody in the city was called to the chase. They pursued Joshua and were led away from the city. ¹⁷ There wasn't a soul left in Ai or Bethel who wasn't out there chasing after Israel. The city was left empty and undefended as they were chasing Israel down. ¹⁸ Then God spoke to Joshua: "Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai - I'm giving it to you." Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward Ai. ¹⁹ At the signal the men in ambush sprang to their feet, ran to the city, took it, and quickly had it up in flames. ²⁰ The men of Ai looked back and, oh! saw the city going up in smoke. They found themselves trapped with nowhere to run. ²¹ The army on the run toward the wilderness did an about-face - Joshua and all Israel, seeing that the ambush had taken the city, saw it going up in smoke, turned and attacked the men of Ai. ²² Then the men in the ambush poured out of the city. The men of Ai were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides - a real massacre. And not a single survivor.