13. The army was in position – the main army north of the city and the rear guard west of the city. That night Joshua went into the middle of the valley.
14. When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. But he did not realize men were hiding behind the city.
15. Joshua and all Israel pretended to be defeated by them and they retreated along the way to the desert.
16. All the reinforcements in Ai were ordered to chase them; they chased Joshua and were lured away from the city.
17. No men were left in Ai or Bethel; they all went out after Israel. They left the city wide open and chased Israel.
18. The Lord told Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.
19. When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
20. When the men of Ai turned around, they saw the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.
21. When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.
22. At the same time the men who had taken the city came out to fight, and the men of Ai were trapped in the middle. The Israelites struck them down, leaving no survivors or refugees.
23. But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24. When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had chased them toward the desert (they all fell by the sword), all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it.
25. Twelve thousand men and women died that day, including all the men of Ai.
26. Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai.
27. But Israel did plunder the cattle and the goods of the city, in accordance with the Lord’s orders to Joshua.
28. Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanently uninhabited mound (it remains that way to this very day).
29. He hung the king of Ai on a tree, leaving him exposed until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered that his corpse be taken down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and erected over it a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day).
30. Then Joshua built an altar for the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal,