Ai and its king are to be completely destroyed, as were Jericho and its king. (It should be noticed that the story of the fall of Jericho [6.20-25] does not expressly state that its king was put to death, but it is implied in 6.21.) This time, however, the Israelites will be allowed to keep its goods and livestock. The Hebrew noun translated goods is literally “plunder” and may refer to any removable goods taken in battle, including prisoners (see 1 Sam 30.19). In the present context it would refer to any physical objects which may be hauled away, but not to prisoners, since all the people of the city are condemned to destruction. The word translated livestock refers basically to cattle, though sheep and other domesticated animals would also be included. However, one should be careful not to select a term which specifically indicates unclean animals such as pigs.

The Lord tells Joshua the strategy he is to follow: the Israelites are to lie in ambush behind the city, that is, to the west of it (see verses 9 and 12), so as to attack it by surprise. The translation should not imply that Joshua is commanded to line up all his men behind the city to attack it by surprise. As the unfolding of the account will indicate, only part of Joshua’s force was placed behind the city in ambush. In order to make this clear, one may translate “Secretly place some of your men behind the city, so that they can come out and attack it by surprise at the right time.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .