Joshua 8:3-22

³ So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai ; and Joshua chose 30,000 e men , valiant warriors , and sent them out at night . ⁴ He commanded them, saying , "See , you are going to ambush the city from behind it. Do not go very far from the city , but all of you be ready . ⁵ "Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city . And when they come out to meet us as at the first , we will flee before them. ⁶ "They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city , for they will say , 'They are fleeing before us as at the first .' So we will flee before them. ⁷ "And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city , for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand . ⁸ "Then it will be when you have seized the city , that you shall set the city on fire . You shall do it according to the word of the Lord . See , I have commanded you." ⁹ So Joshua sent them away , and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai , on the west side of Ai ; but Joshua spent that night among the people . ¹⁰ Now Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people , and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai . ¹¹ Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city , and camped on the north side of Ai . Now there was a valley between him and Ai . ¹² And he took about 5,000 e men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai , on the west side of the city . ¹³ So they stationed the people , all the army that was on the north side of the city , and its rear guard on the west side of the city , and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley . ¹⁴ It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle , he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain . But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind e the city . ¹⁵ Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness . ¹⁶ And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city . ¹⁷ So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel , and they left the city unguarded and pursued Israel . ¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua , " Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai , for I will give it into your hand ." So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city . ¹⁹ The men in ambush rose quickly from their place , and when he had stretched out his hand , they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire . ²⁰ When the men of Ai turned back and looked , behold , the smoke of the city ascended to the sky , and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers . ²¹ When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended , they turned back and slew the men of Ai . ²² The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel , some on this side and some on that side ; and they slew them until no one was left of those who survived or escaped .