Key Verse Spotlight
Joshua 8:17 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel. "
Joshua 8:17
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
15 Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16 All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.
18 The LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
19 The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand and entered into the city and took it. They hurried and set the city on fire.
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Joshua 8:1
"The LORD said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land."
Joshua 8:2
"You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”"
Joshua 8:3
"So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night."
Joshua 8:4
"He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready."
Joshua 8:5
"I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them."
Joshua 8:6
"They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee before them,"
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