Paragraph 8:14–17
8:14a
When the king of Ai saw the Israelites: The King of Ai saw Joshua’s main army in its place north of the town, ready to attack the town.
Here is another way to translate this phrase:
When the king of Ai saw ⌊the Israelite army⌋
8:14b
he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city: The phrases he and the men of the city refer to the same group of fighting men in Ai. They can be translated as one phrase. For example:
he and all the men of the town hurried (New International Version)
he hurried out: The phrase he hurried out indicates that they went quickly.
8:14c
to engage them in battle: The phrase to engage them in battle indicates that the king of Ai intended to fight as he had done the day before.
at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah: The Hebrew text is more literally “at the meeting place near the Arabah.”
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
to the meeting place near the Arabah (NET Bible)
-or-
to meet…at a certain place overlooking the Arabah (New International Version)
-or-
toward the Jordan Valley to fight…at the same place as before (Good News Translation)
The army of Ai went toward the valley of the Jordan River. Some English versions include the implied information that the place was on the downhill slope toward the Jordan River. For example:
to the descent toward the Arabah (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
on the slope facing the Arabah (New Jerusalem Bible)
the Arabah: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the Arabah refers to the valley of the Jordan River. This was east of the town of Ai. For example:
at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley (New Living Translation (2004))
8:14d
But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city: The clause an ambush had been set up against him refers to the Israelite soldiers who hid to attack the town by surprise. The king of Ai did not know about these soldiers.
behind the city: The phrase behind the city indicates the direction west of the town.
© 2001, 2011, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.