2. And thou shalt do to Ai and her king, as thou didst to Jericho and her king: only its spoil, and its cattle, shall ye take for a prey to yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
3. So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valor, and sent them away by night.
4. And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
5. And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach to the city: and it shall come to pass when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
6. (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.
7. Then ye shall rise from the ambush and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand,
8. And it shall be when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9. Joshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11. And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai.
12. And he took about five thousand men; and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13. And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
14. And it came to pass when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain: but he knew not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
15. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16. And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue them: and they pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17. And there was not a man left in Ai, or Beth-el that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued Israel.