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Joshua 8:3

in Joshua 8

So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them forth by night.

KJV

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.

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This verse in Joshua 8

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
Thirty thousand men - comparing Jos 8:3 and Jos 8:12 (“five thousand men”), there is probably a mistake in the numbers of this verse, where an early copyist may have written the sign for 30,000 instead of that for 5,000. Sent them away by night - The selected 5,000 would accordingly post themselves in the main ravine between Ai and Bethel in the night and early morning.

This site's exposition

sent them out at night

on Joshua 8:3-4

Verse 3 sends 30,000 men and verse 12 sets 5,000 in the same place. Barnes suspects a copyist’s error in the number, and Henry takes verse 12 as the account doubling back on one ambush of five thousand. Others read a main force with a smaller detachment drawn from it.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA 10-11 · Written before 430.

proposed

Inasmuch as God ordered Joshua to plant an ambush in their rear, that is, to plant warriors in hiding to ambush the enemy, we can learn that such treachery is not unjustly carried out by those who wage a just war. Thus, a just man, if he wishes to undertake a just war, ought to think chiefly in these matters about nothing else than whether it is right for him to do so, for it is not lawful for everyone to wage war. However, once he has undertaken a just war, it makes no difference to the justice of the war whether he wins in open warfare or by treachery. However, those just wars ought to be defined as those which avenge injuries, if the tribe or state which is about to be sought in war, either neglected to punish a crime improperly committed by its own countrymen or neglected to repay what had been lost through those injuries. Moreover, without doubt that type of war is just which God commands, since there is no iniquity in him and he knows what ought to be done to each person. In this type of war the general of the army or the people themselves are not to be deemed so much the instigator of the war as much as its agent.Joshua sent thirty thousand warriors to vanquish Ai.… We must consider whether every attempt at deception ought to be reckoned as a lie and, if so, whether a lie can be just, when someone who should be deceived is deceived. And if not even this kind of a lie is found to be just, we must still relate what transpired with the ambush to the truth with some other meaning.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

) of 30,000 that were chosen and sent away by night, to whom the charge was given to surprise the city as soon as ever they perceived it was evacuated,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

To go up against Ai - That is, to consider about this expedition; not as if all the people of war did actually go up, which was both unnecessary and burdensome: but it seems to be resolved by Joshua and all the council of war, that the thirty thousand here following should be selected for the enterprize.
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Out of this number a detachment of five thousand was sent forward to conceal themselves in the immediate precincts of the town, in order to seize the first opportunity of throwing themselves into it [Jos 8:12].

The words behind it

16 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.

  • וַיָּ֧קָםand he arose

    vaiyakomH6965 →628 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֛עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH3605 →5413 times

  • עַ֥ם[the] people of

    ʾamH5971 →1873 times

  • הַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה<the> war

    hamilchamahH4421 →320 times

  • לַעֲל֣וֹתto go up

    laalotH5927 →890 times

  • הָעָ֑י<the> Ai

    haaiH5857 →40 times

  • וַיִּבְחַ֣רand he chose

    vaiyivcharH977 →171 times

  • יְ֠הוֹשֻׁעַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • שְׁלֹשִׁ֨יםthirty

    sheloshimH7970 →172 times

  • אֶ֤לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • אִישׁ֙man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • גִּבּוֹרֵ֣י[the] mighty [men] of

    giboreiH1368 →158 times

  • הַחַ֔יִל<the> strength

    hachayilH2428 →246 times

  • וַיִּשְׁלָחֵ֖םand he sent out them

    vaiyishlachemH7971 →845 times

  • לָֽיְלָה׃night

    layelahH3915 →233 times

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

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Matthew 24:50The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate.2 worksMatthew 24:39And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.2 works1 Thessalonians 5:2For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.2 worksMatthew 25:6At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’2 worksGenesis 12:8From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.2 worksJoshua 8:17Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
2 Peter 3:10But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.1 works

The walk

8 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

    1 Thessalonians 5:2

    For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 16:15

      “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who remains awake and clothed, so that he will not go naked and let his shame be exposed.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Peter 3:10

      But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Matthew 24:42–44

      Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Revelation 3:3

      Remember, then, what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know the hour when I will…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    2 Peter 3:10

    But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 21:1

      Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

    • Matthew 24:35

      Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

    • 2 Peter 3:7

      And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

    • Isaiah 51:6

      Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like…

Where this verse is studied

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; Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA 10-11; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Joshua 8 →