9. So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.
10. Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.
11. All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town.
12. That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town.
13. So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.
14. When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town.
15. Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten.
16. Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town.