3. So Joshua got ready to go to Ai with all his soldiers. He picked out 30,000 of his best troops and sent them out at night
4. with these orders: “Hide on the other side of the city, but not too far away from it; be ready to attack.
5. My men and I will approach the city. When the men of Ai come out against us, we will turn and run, just as we did the first time.
6. They will pursue us until we have led them away from the city. They will think that we are running away from them, as we did before.
7. Then you will come out of hiding and capture the city. The Lord your God will give it to you.
8. After you have taken the city, set it on fire, just as the Lord has commanded. These are your orders.”
9. So Joshua sent them out, and they went to their hiding place and waited there, west of Ai, between Ai and Bethel. Joshua spent the night in camp.
25-26. Joshua kept his spear pointed at Ai and did not put it down until every person there had been killed. The whole population of Ai was killed that day — 12,000 men and women.
27. The Israelites kept for themselves the livestock and goods captured in the city, as the Lord had told Joshua.
28. Joshua burnt Ai and left it in ruins. It is still like that today.
29. He hanged the king of Ai from a tree and left his body there until evening. At sunset Joshua gave orders for the body to be removed, and it was thrown down at the entrance to the city gate. They covered it with a huge pile of stones, which is still there today.
30. Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel.
31. He made it according to the instructions that Moses, the Lord's servant, had given the Israelites, as it says in the Law of Moses: “an altar made of stones which have not been cut with iron tools.” On it they offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord, and they also presented their fellowship offerings.
32. There, with the Israelites looking on, Joshua made on the stones a copy of the Law which Moses had written.