2. Joshua sent some men from Jericho to Ai. (Ai was near Beth Aven, east of Bethel.) He told them, “Go to Ai and spy out the area.” So the men went to spy on Ai.
3. Later they came back to Joshua. They said, “There are only a few men in Ai to fight against us. So we will not need all our people to defeat them. Send 2,000 or 3,000 men to fight there. There is no need to send all of our people.”
4. So about 3,000 men went to Ai. But the people of Ai beat them badly.
5. The people of Ai chased the Israelites. They chased them from the city gate all the way to where stones were cut from the ground. They killed about 36 Israelites as they went down the hill. When the Israelites saw this, they became very afraid.