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Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
BrLXXΚαὶ τὰ ἔνεδρα τῆς πόλεως ἀπὸ θαλάσσης· (Kai ta enedra taʸs poleōs apo thalassaʸs; )
BrTrAnd the ambuscade was on the west side of the city.
ULTAnd he took about 5,000 men. And he set them in ambush between Bethel and the Ai, from west of the city.
USTJoshua had taken about five thousand men and told them to go and stay hidden so they could make a surprise attack, just west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.
BSB § Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
KJB-1611[fn]And he tooke about fiue thousand men, and set them to lye in ambush betweene Bethel and Ai, on the West side of the citie. (And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lye in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the West side of the city.)
BshpsAnd he toke vpon a fiue thousande men, and set them to lye in wayte betweene Bethel and Ai, on the westsyde of the citie. (And he took upon a five thousand men, and set them to lye in wait between Bethel and Ai, on the westsyde of the city.)
GnvaAnd hee tooke about fiue thousande men, and set them to lye in waite betweene Beth-el and Ai, on the Westside of the citie. (And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lye in wait between Beth-el and Ai, on the Westside of the city. )
CvdlHe had taken aboute a fyue thousande men, and set them in the hynder watch betwene Bethel and Hai, on the west syde of the cite, (He had taken about a five thousand men, and set them in the hynder watch between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city,)
Wyc`Sotheli he hadde chose fyue thousynde men, and hadde sette in buyschementis bitwixe Bethauen and Hay, in the west part of the same citee. (`Truly he had chose five thousand men, and had set in buyschementis between Bethaven and Hay, in the west part of the same city.)
LuthEr hätte aber bei fünftausend Mann genommen und auf den Hinterhalt gestellet zwischen Bethel und Ai gegen abendwärts der Stadt. (He would_have but at fünftausend man taken and on the Hinterhalt gestellet between Bethel and Ai gegen abendwärts the/of_the city.)
ClVgQuinque autem millia viros elegerat, et posuerat in insidiis inter Bethel et Hai ex occidentali parte ejusdem civitatis: (Quinque however thousands men elegerat, and posuerat in insidiis between Bethel and Hai from occidentali in_part/partly hisdem of_the_city: )
8:1-13 The first attempt to conquer Ai had been done without consulting God; the second attempt would be made at God’s command and direction. Before the second attempt, God spoke to Joshua again and gave him a strategy. More importantly, in light of Israel’s recent disaster, God gave him encouragement and a promise.
This statement seems to be a reminder of what Joshua did in 8:3–9. For a discussion of why 8:3 says that Joshua sent 30,000 men to lie in ambush while this verse says that he sent about 5,000 men, see the General Notes to this chapter.
[Author’s note: This map and article assume that Ai was located at Khirbet al-Maqatir and Bethel was located at al-Bira. It is beyond the scope of this article to present all the convincing reasons for these assumptions, but they are well summarized in the following articles: “Traditional Site of Bethel Questioned,”“Location of Biblical Bethel and Ai Reconsidered,” and “The Khirbet el-Maqatir Excavations.” The expected locations for Roman mile markers are also included on this map, which confirm that al-Bira is located precisely at the twelfth mile marker from Jerusalem, as Eusebius and Jerome both asserted. All other maps in this Atlas have been recently updated to use these same locations for Ai and Bethel.
Soon after the Israelites entered the Promised Land and captured the city of Jericho, they sent a force of only three thousand men to capture the much smaller fortified town of Ai (Joshua 7). They suffered defeat, however, and the Lord revealed to them that this happened because a man named Achan had taken some of the devoted items from Jericho. So Joshua took Achan and his family to the Valley of Achor and executed them there (see Israel Enters the Promised Land map). Later the Lord told Joshua to attack Ai again, because this time he was going to give them the town. It appears that Ai, which had a direct line of sight to the more powerful city of Jerusalem to the south, must have served as a sort of early warning outpost for the larger city. Thus, capturing Ai was critical to staging an effective battle campaign throughout southern Canaan. So Joshua advanced with thirty thousand troops during the night and camped north of the city, and he positioned a force of five thousand men in ambush between Bethel and Ai, just to the west of Ai. The men in ambush were also just east of the mountain where Abraham had pitched his tent centuries earlier (Genesis 12:8). Joshua himself spent the night in the valley between Ai and the main Israelite camp. Early the next morning, the king of Ai led all the inhabitants of the town in an attack on the main camp of the Israelites, who feigned retreat into the wilderness. After the Israelite army had drawn the people of Ai away from the town, the Israelites hiding in ambush rose up and captured Ai. They set the town on fire, sending a signal to the the main army of Israelites to turn back upon the forces of Ai. The Israelites completely destroyed the people of Ai and reduced the town to a burning heap of ruins.
