16. All the men in the city had been called together to go after them, and as they pursued Joshua, they kept getting farther away from the city.
17. Every man in Ai went after the Israelites, and the city was left wide open, with no one to defend it.
18. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Point your spear at Ai; I am giving it to you.” Joshua did as he was told,
19. and as soon as he lifted his hand, the men who had been hiding got up quickly, ran into the city and captured it. They immediately set the city on fire.
20. When the men of Ai looked back, they saw the smoke rising to the sky. There was no way for them to escape, because the Israelites who had run towards the barren country now turned round to attack them.
21. When Joshua and his men saw that the others had taken the city and that it was on fire, they turned round and began killing the men of Ai.
22. The Israelites in the city now came down to join the battle. So the men of Ai found themselves completely surrounded by Israelites, and they were all killed. No one got away, and no one lived through it
23. except the king of Ai. He was captured and taken to Joshua.
24. The Israelites killed every one of the enemy in the barren country where they had chased them. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there.
25-26. Joshua kept his spear pointed at Ai and did not put it down until every person there had been killed. The whole population of Ai was killed that day — 12,000 men and women.
27. The Israelites kept for themselves the livestock and goods captured in the city, as the Lord had told Joshua.
28. Joshua burnt Ai and left it in ruins. It is still like that today.
29. He hanged the king of Ai from a tree and left his body there until evening. At sunset Joshua gave orders for the body to be removed, and it was thrown down at the entrance to the city gate. They covered it with a huge pile of stones, which is still there today.
30. Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel.
31. He made it according to the instructions that Moses, the Lord's servant, had given the Israelites, as it says in the Law of Moses: “an altar made of stones which have not been cut with iron tools.” On it they offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord, and they also presented their fellowship offerings.