1. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you. Arise, and go up to Ai. See, I have given the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land into your hand.
2. Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its spoils and its livestock. Now set an ambush for the city behind it.”
3. So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, mighty men of valor, and sent them out at night.
4. He commanded them, “You shall ambush the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city. All of you be ready.
5. I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to engage us as before, we will flee from them.
6. They will come after us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will think, ‘They are fleeing from us as before!’ So we will flee from them.
7. Then you shall rise up for the ambush and take possession of the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hands.
8. When you have seized the city, set it on fire. Act according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.”
9. So Joshua sent them out. They went to the place of ambush and took up a position between Bethel and Ai, westward of Ai, and Joshua spent the night among the people.
10. Joshua got up early in the morning and mustered the people. He and the elders of Israel went up before the people to Ai.
11. All the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near to the city. They camped north of Ai, and there was a valley between them and Ai.
12. He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, westward of the city.
13. So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley.