Add parallel Print Page Options

They returned and reported to Joshua,[a] “Don’t send the whole army.[b] About two or three thousand men are adequate to defeat Ai.[c] Don’t tire out the whole army, for Ai is small.”[d]

So about 3,000 men went up, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them and chased them from in front of the city gate all the way to the fissures[e] and defeated them on the steep slope.[f] The people’s[g] courage melted away like water.[h]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 7:3 tn Heb “and they returned to Joshua and said to him.”
  2. Joshua 7:3 tn Heb “Don’t let all the people go up.”
  3. Joshua 7:3 tn Heb “Let about two thousand men or about three thousand men go up to defeat Ai.”
  4. Joshua 7:3 tn Heb “all the people for they are small.”
  5. Joshua 7:5 tn The meaning and correct translation of the Hebrew word שְׁבָרִים (shevarim) is uncertain. The translation “fissures” is based on usage of the plural form of the noun in Ps 60:4 HT (60:2 ET), where it appears to refer to cracks in the earth caused by an earthquake. Perhaps deep ravines or gorges are in view, or the word is a proper noun (“all the way to Shebarim”).
  6. Joshua 7:5 sn The precise geographical location of the Israelite defeat at this “steep slope” is uncertain.
  7. Joshua 7:5 tn Or “army’s.”
  8. Joshua 7:5 tn Heb “and the heart of the people melted and became water.”