³¹ When the Benjaminites went out against the army, they were drawn away from the city. As before, they began to inflict casualties on the troops along the main roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, as well as in the open country, killing about thirty men of Israel.^(A)

¹³ Then he said to his servant, “Come, let us try to reach one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.” ¹⁴ So they passed on and went their way, and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.

¹⁴ When the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the inhabitants of the city, hurried out early in the morning to the meeting place facing the Arabah to meet Israel in battle, but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.^{(A) 15} And Joshua and all Israel made a pretense of being beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. ¹⁶ So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city.

⁵ The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim and killing them on the slope. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water.