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1 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:

2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto 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 valour, 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 unto 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 up 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 Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.

10 And Joshua rose up 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 Bethel 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 up 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 wist 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 after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.

17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

18 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.

19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.

20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.

21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.

22 And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.

25 And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.

26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua.

28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.

29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.

30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal,

31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.

32 And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

33 And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.

<html><b>Take for yourselves as booty.</b> You shall no longer consecrate the spoils.</html>

<html><b>Until we have drawn them.</b> הַתִּיקֵנוּ is an expression of תִּיק, a pocket, i.e., until we have drawn them from the pocket of the city.¹<i class=“footnote”>The city provided them with protection, as a pocket protects its contents.</i> Defaurer in old french. We may also explain it as an expression of נְתִּיקָה, drawing out similar to ‘Draw them out like sheep to the slaughter.’²<i class=“footnote”>Yirmiahu 12:3.</i></html>

<html><b>And drive out.</b>³<i class=“footnote”>This is translated according to the Targum who renders the word הוֹרַשְׁתֶם as תְתַרְכוּן which means to drive out.</i></html>

<html><b>To the west of Ai.</b> Ai was east of Beis-eil and Beis-eil was west of Ai.</html>

<html><b>And Yehoshua rested—in the midst of the people.</b> To be ready early in the morning.</html>

<html><b>And he went up.</b> He fulfilled that which God had said to him, “If he goes at their head, they will cross, and if not, they will not cross.”</html>

<html><b>He took about five thousand men.</b> One ambush contingent following the other each approaching nearer to the city than its fellow.⁴<i class=“footnote”>The question is, what was the purpose of this second ambush party? Some suggest that these five thousand men were not to enter the city. Their task was to attack the army of Ai from behind, as they were pursuing the main army of Bnei Yisroel. When Yehoshua and his army would turn and attack, the army of Ai would be caught between them.</i></html>

<html><b>The people positioned.</b> This positioning expresses readiness to wage war near the [city] wall. This is similar to what is said regarding Ben-Hadad, in I Melachim 20:12, (who said to his servants:) “Position yourselves against the city and they positioned themselves.”</html>

<html><b>And their ambush party</b> their ambushers this word עַקֵבוֹ is similar to וַיעֲקְבֵנִי.⁵<i class=“footnote”>Bereishis 27:36. Eisov said regarding Yaakov, וַיַעְקְבֵנִי זֶה פַּעֲמַיִם “He has deceived me twice.” An ambush implies cunning and trickery.</i></html>

<html><b>That night, Yehoshua walked through the valley </b> Our Sages have said that he lodged in the depth of the law.⁶<i class=“footnote”>Our Sages interpreted the word עֵמֶק as an expression of depth, and they say he spent the night studying Torah. After all the preparations were made and orders given, Yehoshua had time to return to the study of Torah, which is the real protection in time of crisis. He remembered the rebuke of the angel on the night before the fall of Yericho.</i></html>

<html><b>At the appointed time.</b> At the time of day they had astrologically predicted previously, saying “at that time we will go out,” for they were sorcerers and diviners.</html>

<html><b>Pretended to be stricken.</b> This is an expression of נֶגַע, plague, or beating. They gave the appearance of being beaten before them.</html>

<html><b>Stretch out the spear.</b> This was the signal to the ambush party.⁷<i class=“footnote”>This signal was for the second, smaller ambush party of 5000 men. The 30,000 men were too far away to see Yehoshua give the signal to attack. The second troop was in a closer position and would be able to see his signal.</i> They were to leave the ambush when they saw the spear stretched out toward the city. כִּידוֹן is espida, a sword.</html>

<html><b>יָדַיִם</b> hands, here refers to strength.</html>

<html><b>The people who fled to the desert.</b> The Bnei Yisroel who had fled to the desert, as stated above (v.15) turned back to battle the pursuers.</html>

<html><b>And the others came out of the city.</b> The “others” refers to the ambush party that had set fire to the city.</html>

<html><b>Then [Yehoshua] built.</b> This <i>parasha</i> is not in chronoligical order, [for Yehoshua built the altar] on the day they crossed the Jordan river.⁸<i class=“footnote”>Since the following verse states that he built the altar as Moshe had commanded them, we must conclude that this verse describes events that occured before the conquest of Yericho.</i></html>

<html><b>And there he wrote on the stones.</b>⁹<i class=“footnote”>There are different opinions as to what Yehoshua wrote on the stones. Some say that he wrote only Seifer Devorim which is itself the repetition of the Torah, as Moshe taught the Bnei Yisroel in the last year of the forty years in the wilderness—Seifer Devorim is referred to as מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, which means the repetition or copy of the Torah, which are the exact words used in this verse. Others say that he only wrote the Ten Commandments as they are recorded in Seifer Devorim (5:6-18). Most commentators maintain that Yehoshua wrote the entire Torah from beginning to end, and that it was a literal copy of the Torah.</i> There are the same stones mentioned above.(4:20) After the altar was built, they scraped off the whitewash¹⁰<i class=“footnote”>There are different opinions concerning <i>how </i>it was written. According to Rabbi Yehudah it written directly on the stones, and later whitewashed as the verse states, “you are to write on them—and coat them with whitewash.” (Devorim 27:3,4.) Rabbi Shimon said that if they were whitewashed on top of the writing no one would be able to read it, which would defeat the purpose of the commandment. According to him the whitewash was put on first, to make the stones easier to write on and easier to read. (See Maseches Sotah 35).</i> and brought them to Gilgal.¹¹<i class=“footnote”>See Devorim 27:2 and Rashi’s comments there.</i></html>

<html><b>To bless the people of Yisroel first.</b> To pronounce the blessings before the curses,¹²<i class=“footnote”>When all the tribes were assembled (as described in Devorim 27:12,13,) the <i>Levi’im</i> began to recite the blessings and the curses. Although the Torah mentions only the curses, each curse was actually preceded by a corresponding blessing. (See Rashi to Devorim 27:12).</i> “Blessed is the man who will not make a statue or a molten image.”</html>