Joshua 8:28
in Joshua 8So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.
KJV
And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
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This verse in Joshua 8
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever--"For ever" often signifies "a long time" (Ge 6:3). One of the remarkable things with regard to the tell we have identified with Ai is its name--the tell of the heap of stones--a name which to this day remains [VAN DE VELDE].
This site's exposition
made it a permanent heap of ruins
The name Ai means a ruin or heap. Its site is disputed: et-Tell is the long-standing identification, while Bryant Wood and the excavators of Khirbet el-Maqatir argue for that site. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown record that the tell’s local name in their day was the heap of stones.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
You see that these things that follow truly pertain more to the truth of a mystery than that of history. For it is not so much that a piece of land is forever uninhabitable, but that the place of demons will be uninhabitable when no one will sin and sin will not rule in anyone.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And, though there was no curse entailed upon him that should rebuild it, yet, it seems, it was not rebuilt unless it be the same with Aijah, which we read of, long after, Neh. xi. Some think it was not rebuilt because Israel had received a defeat before it, the remembrance of which should be buried in the ruins of the city.
It was a federal transaction: the covenant was now renewed between God and Israel upon their taking possession of the land of promise, that they might be encouraged in the conquest of it, and might know upon what terms they held it, and come under fresh obligations to obedience. In token of the covenant, I. They built an altar, and offered sacrifice to God (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And Joshua burnt Ai,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Unto this day - This last clause was probably added by a later hand.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשְׂרֹ֥ף | vaiyisrof | and he burned | H8313 → | 117 times |
| יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַ | yehoshua' | Joshua | H3091 → | 218 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָעָ֑י | haai | <the> Ai | H5857 → | 40 times |
| וַיְשִׂימֶ֤הָ | vaysimeha | and he made it | H7760 → | 584 times |
| תֵּל־ | tel- | a mound of | H8510 → | |
| עוֹלָם֙ | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| שְׁמָמָ֔ה | shemamah | a desolation | H8077 → | |
| עַ֖ד | ʾad | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| הַיּ֥וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַזֶּֽה׃ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
וַיִּשְׂרֹ֥ףand he burned
vaiyisrofH8313 →117 times
יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַJoshua
yehoshua'H3091 →218 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָעָ֑י<the> Ai
haaiH5857 →40 times
וַיְשִׂימֶ֤הָand he made it
vaysimehaH7760 →584 times
תֵּל־a mound of
tel-H8510 →
עוֹלָם֙perpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
שְׁמָמָ֔הa desolation
shemamahH8077 →
עַ֖דuntil
ʾadH5704 →1261 times
הַיּ֥וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Deuteronomy 13:16And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God.…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 49:2
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned.…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 25:2
Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 49:2
Through
Micah 3:12Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 26:18
“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a…
- Micah 1:6
Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open field, a planting area for a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 79:1
The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
- Jeremiah 26:18
Through
Isaiah 17:1This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.
it leads to
- Amos 1:3–5
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.
- Zechariah 9:1
This is the burden of the word of the LORD against the land of Hadrach and Damascus its resting place—for the eyes of men and of all the tribes of Israel are upon the…
- Amos 1:3–5
Through
Jeremiah 49:2Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned.…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:19
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm…
- Jeremiah 4:19
Where this verse is studied
About Joshua
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.5.