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Joshua 8:13

in Joshua 8

So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So they set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers-in-wait that were on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

KJV

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.

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This verse in Joshua 8

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
Joshua went down by night into the valley where He would be seen at daylight by the men of Ai, and was accompanied no doubt by a picked body of troops. The king of Ai, in the morning, would see neither the ambush in his rear, nor the whole of the great host of Israel among the hills away to the north on his left; but supposing, as it appears, that the Israelites before him were a body detached as on the former occasion to assail his city, he sallied out promptly to attack them.

This site's exposition

about five thousand men

on Joshua 8:12-13

Joshua puts himself in the valley while it is still night, so what the king of Ai sees at daylight is a body of men in front of him and neither the ambush behind his city nor the host on the high ground to his north. Barnes reads the king's mistake out of that, that he took the men in the valley for a detachment like the one he had beaten before. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown identify the ravine with the wady running below the tell.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Joshua himself took up his position on the north side of "the ravine"--the deep chasm of the wady El-Murogede; "that night"--means, while it was dark, probably after midnight, or very early in the morning (Joh 20:1).

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

The people positioned. This positioning expresses readiness to wage war near the [city] wall. This is similar to what is said regarding Ben-Hadad, in I Melachim:12, (who said to his servants:) “Position yourselves against the city and they positioned themselves.”
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 8:13:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
He took about five thousand men. One ambush contingent following the other each approaching nearer to the city than its fellow. 4 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.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 8:12:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997
At the appointed time. At the time of day they had astrologically predicted previously, saying “at that time we will go out,” for they were sorcerers and diviners.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 8:14:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיָּשִׂ֨ימוּand they set

    vaiyasimuH7760 →584 times

  • הָעָ֜םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֗הthe camp

    hamachanehH4264 →215 times

  • אֲשֶׁר֙which

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • מִצְּפ֣וֹן[was] from [the] north

    mitzefonH6828 →153 times

  • לָעִ֔ירof the city

    lairH5892 →1090 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • עֲקֵב֖וֹrearguard its

    akevoH6119 →

  • מִיָּ֣םfrom [the] west

    miyamH3220 →396 times

  • לָעִ֑ירof the city

    lairH5892 →1090 times

  • וַיֵּ֧לֶךְand he went

    vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֛עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • בַּלַּ֥יְלָהin the night

    balaylahH3915 →233 times

  • הַה֖וּא<the> that

    hahu'H1931 →1879 times

  • בְּת֥וֹךְin [the] middle of

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • הָעֵֽמֶק׃the valley

    haemekH6010 →69 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

6 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Joshua 8:8

    And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 13:28

      Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid.…

    • Joshua 1:16

      So they answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go.

    • Joshua 1:9

      Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

    • Judges 4:6

      She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten…

    • Joshua 6:24

      Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.

  • Through

    Joshua 8:12

    Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 8:2–3

      And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind…

About Joshua

Joshua Burns the Town of Ai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joshua Burns the Town of Ai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 8 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Joshua 8 →