Joshua 8:4

And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
commanded	וַיְצַ֨ו vay.Tzav	H6680	(intensively) to constitute · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
saying	לֵאמֹ֗ר le.Mor	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Behold	רְ֠אוּ Re.'u	H7200	to see · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
wait	אֹרְבִ֤ים 'o.re.Vim	H693	to lurk · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
city	לָעִיר֙ la.'Ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
behind	מֵאַחֲרֵ֣י me.'a.cha.Rei	H310	properly · preposition + cardinal number, masculine plural construct
city	הָעִ֔יר ha.'Ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
go	תַּרְחִ֥יקוּ tar.Chi.ku	H7368	to widen (in any direction) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
very	מְאֹ֑ד me.'Od	H3966	properly · cardinal number, masculine singular absolute
far	רָחַק râchaq	H7368	to widen (in any direction)
city	הָעִ֖יר ha.'Ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
ready	נְכֹנִֽים ne.kho.Nim	H3559	properly · verb, niphal active participle, masculine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Judges 20:29 And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.
Joshua 8:16 And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the ci…
Judges 9:25 And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them: and it w…
Judges 20:33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth…
Judges 20:36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the li…
1 Samuel 15:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
1 Samuel 15:5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
Ecclesiastes 7:19 Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Joshua 8:3-22

We have here an account of the taking of Ai by stratagem. The stratagem here used, we are sure, was lawful and good; God himself appointed it, and we have no reason to think but that the like is lawful and good in other wars. Here was no league broken, no treaty of peace, that the advantage was gained; no, these are sacred things, and not to be jested with, nor used to serve a turn; truth, when once it is plighted, becomes a debt even to the enemy. But in this stratagem here was no untruth told; nothing was concealed but their own counsels, which no enemy ever pretended a right to be entrusted with; nothing was dissembled, nothing counterfeited but a retreat, which was no natural or necessar…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 8:4

behind the city--is rendered (Jos 8:9), "on the west side of Ai."

Adam Clarke on Joshua 8:1

Fear not - The iniquity being now purged away, because of which God had turned his hand against Israel, there was now no cause to dread any other disaster, and therefore Joshua is ordered to take courage. Take all the people of war with thee - From the letter of this verse it appears that all that were capable of carrying arms were to march out of the camp on this occasion: thirty thousand chosen men formed an ambuscade in one place; five thousand he placed in another, who had all gained their positions in the night season: with the rest of the army he appeared the next morning before Ai, which the men of that city would naturally suppose were the whole of the Israelitish forces; and consequ…

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John Gill on Joshua 8:4

And he commanded them, saying,.... At the time he sent them away: behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city; that is, on the west side of it, Joshua 8:9, go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready; to enter into it, as soon as the forces are drawn out eastward to meet the army of Israel.

The Church Fathers

Joshua, when he sends to the conquest of Aye to thirty thousand men, says to them: You ambush behind the city, but do not be far from it and you will all be ready. I, on the other hand, and all the people who are with me, will approach the city. And it will happen that when those who live in Ay come to meet us, like the previous time, and we will flee and when they have left behind us, we will take them out of the city, and they will say: "These flee before us as before." You will then leave the ambush and go to the city. You will do according to this order. See that I send it to you. One must ask whether every intention to deceive is to be considered a lie, and, if so, if the lie with which one is worthy to be deceived can be just. And if even this lie is not considered fair, then it remains to refer to the truth that has been said here about the ambushes, according to some special meaning.
— Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA, Q. 11 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Ai — Ruins. (1.) One of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh. 10:1; Gen. 12:8; 13:3). It was the scene of Joshua’s defeat, and afterwards of his victory. It was the second Canaanite city taken by…
Ambush — Joshua at the capture of Ai lay in ambush, and so deceived the inhabitants that he gained an easy victory (Josh. 8:4-26). Shechem was taken in this manner (Judg. 9:30-45. Comp. Jer. 51:12).
Heap — When Joshua took the city of Ai (Josh. 8), he burned it and “made it an heap [Heb. tel] for ever” (8:28). The ruins of this city were for a long time sought for in vain. It has been at length,…
Ambush · .At Ai — .At Ai
Cities · Were frequently: Stormed — Were frequently: Stormed
Sieges · Mentioned in scripture: Ai — Mentioned in scripture: Ai
Strategy · In war — In war

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Joshua 8:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Joshua 8:3-22

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 8:4

Adam Clarke on Joshua 8:1

John Gill on Joshua 8:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Joshua 8:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Joshua 8:3-22

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 8:4

Adam Clarke on Joshua 8:1

John Gill on Joshua 8:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Joshua 8:1-29

Keil & Delitzsch on Joshua 8:1-29

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Joshua 8:4-9

Rashi on Joshua 8:2