Joshua 8:4-6

Living Bible

^3-4 Before the main army left for Ai, Joshua sent thirty thousand of his bravest troops to hide in ambush close behind the city, alert for action.

⁵ “This is the plan,” he explained to them. “When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away. ⁶ We will let them chase us until they have all left the city; for they will say, ‘The Israelis are running away again just as they did before!’