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OEB No OEB JOS 8:15 verse available
WEBBE Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
WMBB (Same as above)
NET Joshua and all Israel pretended to be defeated by them and they retreated along the way to the desert.
LSV And Joshua and all Israel [seem] struck before them, and flee the way of the wilderness,
FBV Joshua and the Israelites allowed themselves to be driven back, and ran away in the direction of the wilderness.
T4T Joshua and the Israeli soldiers who were with him allowed the army of Ai to push them back. They ran toward the desert.
LEB Then Joshua and all Israel acted like they were beaten before them, and they fled in the direction of the wilderness.[fn]
BBE Then Joshua and all Israel, acting as if they were overcome before them, went in flight by way of the waste land.
Moff In the morning the townsmen rose and marched out to fight Israel. They beat Joshua and all Israel, who fled in the direction of the desert; 16 all the townsmen of Ai were called out to pursue them, and in their pursuit of Joshua they left the town unguarded. Then said the Eternal to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin in your hand towards Ai, for I put Ai in your power.” And as soon as Joshua stretched out the javelin 19 towards the town, the men in ambush rushed into the town and captured it, while the Israelites who were flying towards the desert turned upon their pursuers, seeing that the men in ambush had captured the town. When the Israelites and Joshua had finished slaughtering the townsmen of Ai who had run into the desert and when they had cut them down, giving no quarter, all Israel then returned to Ai and sacked it. All the folk of Ai fell that day, both men and women, twelve thousand in all; Joshua never withdrew the hand that held his javelin until he had massacred all the folk of Ai. Only the Israelites took the spoils and cattle of the town for themselves, as the Eternal had given orders to Joshua. Ai itself Joshua burned, and made it a heap of ruins; to this day it lies desolate. When the king of Ai saw this, he and his men made an early start; not knowing that an ambush had been laid behind the town they allowed themselves to be drawn away from the town, till not a man was left in Ai who did not go out after Israel. The men in ambush then came out quickly and hurried to set the town on fire, so that when the men of Ai turned round to look, there was smoke rising from the town! They had no chance to flee this way or that, for the pursued turned upon the pursuers when they saw the smoke rising from the town, and the men in ambush rushed from the town to join them, so that the men of Ai were caught between Israelites, some on one side and some on the other; they were slaughtered till not a soul escaped or remained alive. The king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua, who hung him on a tree till evening; at sunset Joshua ordered his body to be taken down from the tree and thrown down at the entrance to the town-gate. They raised a cairn of stones over it, which is there to this day.
JPS And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
ASV And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
DRA But Josue, and all Israel gave back, making as if they were afraid, and fleeing by the way of the wilderness.
YLT And Joshua and all Israel [seem] stricken before them, and flee the way of the wilderness,
Drby And Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten before them; and they fled by the way of the wilderness.
RV And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
Wbstr And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
KJB-1769 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
KJB-1611 And Ioshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wildernesse.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)
Bshps And Iosuah & all Israel as beaten before them, fledde by the way of the wildernesse.
(And Yoshua and all Israel as beaten before them, fled by the way of the wilderness.)
Gnva Then Ioshua and all Israel as beaten before them, fled by the way of the wildernes.
(Then Yoshua and all Israel as beaten before them, fled by the way of the wildernes. )
Cvdl But Iosua and all Israel were feble before them, and fled by the waye to ye wyldernesse.
(But Yoshua and all Israel were feble before them, and fled by the way to ye/you_all wilderness.)
Wycl Forsothe Josue and al the multitude `of Israel yauen place, feynynge drede, and fleynge bi the weie of wildirnesse; and thei crieden togidere,
(Forsothe Yosue and all the multitude `of Israel gave place, feynynge drede, and fleeing by the way of wilderness; and they cried together,)
Luth Josua aber und ganz Israel stelleten sich, als würden sie geschlagen vor ihnen, und flohen auf dem Wege zur Wüste.
(Yosua but and all Israel stelleten sich, als würden they/she/them geschlagen before/in_front_of ihnen, and fled on to_him ways to desert.)
ClVg Josue vero et omnis Israël cesserunt loco, simulantes metum, et fugientes per solitudinis viam.[fn]
(Yosue vero and everyone Israel cesserunt loco, simulantes metum, and fugientes through solitudinis viam. )
BMM BibleMapper.com Maps:
The Israelites Conquer Ai
Joshua 8
[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.