³ When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.”

⁴ So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,^(A)

⁴⁵ All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city^(A) and scattered salt^(B) over it.