Joshua 8:18-29

Then YAHWEH spoke to Joshua and said, “Now, take the spear in your hand and point it toward Ai, for I will hand the city over to you!” So Joshua pointed his spear toward the city, and when Joshua gave this signal, all the men waiting in ambush behind the city jumped up from their position and poured into Ai. They quickly captured it and set it on fire. When the men of Ai looked back, they saw the smoke of their city rising to the sky. Joshua and his men also saw the smoke and knew that the other Israelite soldiers had captured the city and had set it on fire. The army of Ai had no place to escape, so Joshua and his men turned on them and began killing them. The men who had taken the city came out and joined the battle, so the Israelites had them surrounded. Israel cut them down, leaving neither survivors nor fugitives. But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. Joshua’s men killed all the inhabitants of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them. They all fell by the sword. Then the Israelites turned to attack Ai and killed those who were still there. Joshua kept his spear pointed at Ai until the destruction was complete. Ai’s entire population, twelve thousand men and women, fell that day. However, the Israelites took the livestock and the goods captured in the city as YAHWEH had instructed Joshua. Then Joshua burned Ai to the ground and reduced it to a mound of ruins for all time. It remains desolate to this day. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until sunset. Then at sunset, Joshua had the corpse taken down and left it lying in front of where the city gates once stood. They raised a large pile of stones over his corpse, where it remains to this day.