Ai
아이
Genesis 12:8 names it: “He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east.” Genesis 13:1–3 has Abram go up out of Egypt into the South, and go on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. Joshua 7:2–5 has Joshua send men from Jericho “to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel” to spy out the land, and then about three thousand men of the people go up there and flee before the men of Ai. In Joshua 8:3–29 Joshua sets an ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city; Joshua and all Israel make as if they are beaten and draw the people of the city away from it, and the ambush takes the city and sets it on fire; all the people of Ai, twelve thousand men and women, fall that day, and Joshua burns Ai, makes it a heap forever and hangs the king of Ai on a tree.
Direct relationships 7
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Source-backed narrative relations; not independent historical verification. Legacy dates and coordinates are outside this review.
Collection & rightsSource evidence (13)
AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.
- EZR 2:21–35, engwebp
21The children of Bethlehem, one hundred twenty-three.
22The men of Netophah, fifty-six.
23The men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight.
24The children of Azmaveth, forty-two.
25The children of Kiriath Arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three.
26The children of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one.
27The men of Michmas, one hundred twenty-two.
28The men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred twenty-three.
29The children of Nebo, fifty-two.
30The children of Magbish, one hundred fifty-six.
31The children of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.
32The children of Harim, three hundred twenty.
33The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-five.
34The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-five.
35The children of Senaah, three thousand six hundred thirty.
- GEN 12:8–9, engwebp
8He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the LORD’s name.
9Abram traveled, still going on toward the South.
- GEN 13:1–9, engwebp
1Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South.
2Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
3He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the LORD’s name.
5Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents.
6The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together.
7There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time.
8Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives.
9Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
- JOS 7:2–5, engwebp
2Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the land.” The men went up and spied out Ai.
3They returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Don’t let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people to toil there, for there are only a few of them.”
4So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai.
5The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water.
- JOS 8:1–2, engwebp
1The 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.
2You 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.”
- JOS 8:3–9, engwebp
3So 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.
4He 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.
5I 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.
6They 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,
7and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8It shall be, when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to the LORD’s word. Behold, I have commanded you.”
9Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night.
- JOS 8:10–17, engwebp
10Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up and came near, and came before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.
12He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13So they set the people, even all the army who was on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the middle of the valley.
14When the king of Ai saw it, they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn’t know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
15Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.
- JOS 8:18–23, engwebp
18The 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.
19The 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.
20When the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. The people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.
21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned back and killed the men of Ai.
22The others came out of the city against them, so they were in the middle of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
- JOS 8:24–29, engwebp
24When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.
25All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the people of Ai.
26For Joshua didn’t draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27Israel took for themselves only the livestock and the goods of that city, according to the LORD’s word which he commanded Joshua.
28So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.
29He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.
- JOS 9:3–6, engwebp
3But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,
4they also resorted to a ruse, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and old, torn-up and bound up wineskins,
5and old and patched sandals on their feet, and wore old garments. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy.
6They went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country. Now therefore make a covenant with us.”
- JOS 10:1–5, engwebp
1Now when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them,
2they were very afraid, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.
3Therefore Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying,
4“Come up to me and help me. Let’s strike Gibeon; for they have made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.”
5Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their armies, and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it.
- JOS 12:7–24, engwebp
7These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel struck beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon even to Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir. Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions;
8in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
9the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;
10the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;
11the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
12the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;
13the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
14the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;
15the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
16the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;
17the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;
18the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one;
19the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;
20the king of Shimron Meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
21the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
22the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
23the king of Dor in the height of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one;
24the king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty-one.
- NEH 7:25–38, engwebp
25The children of Gibeon: ninety-five.
26The men of Bethlehem and Netophah: one hundred eighty-eight.
27The men of Anathoth: one hundred twenty-eight.
28The men of Beth Azmaveth: forty-two.
29The men of Kiriath Jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth: seven hundred forty-three.
30The men of Ramah and Geba: six hundred twenty-one.
31The men of Michmas: one hundred twenty-two.
32The men of Bethel and Ai: one hundred twenty-three.
33The men of the other Nebo: fifty-two.
34The children of the other Elam: one thousand two hundred fifty-four.
35The children of Harim: three hundred twenty.
36The children of Jericho: three hundred forty-five.
37The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono: seven hundred twenty-one.
38The children of Senaah: three thousand nine hundred thirty.
AI-assisted, human review pending, 2026-09-26
Machine comparison on 2026-10-07: the wording raised none of the 3 rules against the passages this entry cites. No person has read it.
Geographic sources & candidates
Matched to OpenBible.info’s “Ai 1” by name and 31 shared verses. The coordinate of its leading identification, Et Tell (confidence 522 of 1000), is adopted as a sourced approximation: not verified here, and not the place of any particular event.
AI-assisted source review; human approval pending, 2026-09-29
- Et Tell
OpenBible.info confidence 522 of 1000 (current scholarship)
31.91694, 35.26111
OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, “Ai 1” (CC BY 4.0)
Original editorial notes; linked source texts retain their own rights. Candidate lists are not exhaustive.
All 7 relationships: AI-assisted, human review pending
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Narrated location (7) — An altar built between Bethel and Ai, Strife among the herdsmen, and the offer to part, About three thousand men go up to Ai and flee before the men of Ai, Joshua sends thirty thousand men by night to lie in ambush on the west side of Ai, Joshua and all Israel make as if beaten and flee, and all the people of the city pursue, Joshua stretches out the javelin toward Ai, and the ambush takes the city, The inhabitants of Ai destroyed, and Ai burned and made a heap forever
A relationship with an event rests on the passages the event cites: each event’s page has them.
Verses tagged with this entry
Names in the World English Bible text that carry this entry’s tag. They are carried over from the tags on the Korean Revised Version, which are matched by name inside chapters that already have collected evidence, and a verse where the English says “he” carries none. All await human review. They are a separate list from the source passages above. An empty list does not mean the entry is absent from the text.
He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the LORD’s name.
He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the land.” The men went up and spied out Ai.
They returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Don’t let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people to toil there, for there are only a few of them.”
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.
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.”
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 sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night.
Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up and came near, and came before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.
He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
When the king of Ai saw it, they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn’t know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
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.
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.
They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.
For Joshua didn’t draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.
He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.
But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,
Now when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them,
they were very afraid, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.
the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;
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[Bibliadatum entry report] Entry: Ai (place-ai) Address: https://bibliadatum.org/en/wiki/place/ai Current wording: Genesis 12:8 names it: “He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east.” Genesis 13:1–3 has Abram go up out of Egypt into the South, and go on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. Joshua 7:2–5 has Joshua send men from Jericho “to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel” to spy out the land, and then about three thousand men of the people go up there and flee before the men of Ai. In Joshua 8:3–29 Joshua sets an ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city; Joshua and all Israel make as if they are beaten and draw the people of the city away from it, and the ambush takes the city and sets it on fire; all the people of Ai, twelve thousand men and women, fall that day, and Joshua burns Ai, makes it a heap forever and hangs the king of Ai on a tree. Cited evidence: EZR 2:21–35, engwebp / GEN 12:8–9, engwebp / GEN 13:1–9, engwebp / JOS 7:2–5, engwebp / JOS 8:1–2, engwebp / JOS 8:3–9, engwebp / JOS 8:10–17, engwebp / JOS 8:18–23, engwebp (and 5 more of 13) Review state: ai-assisted / human-review-pending What looks wrong: (not written yet) --- This collection records what the text says and does not settle interpretation. A report about a reading that divides opinion may be registered as an unresolved issue rather than corrected.