Bible Strands
Joshua 7:4
So about three thousand men went up, but they fled before the men of Ai.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Following the spies' assessment in Joshua 7:3, Joshua dispatches a detachment to assault Ai. The narrative records their advance and immediate collapse before the city's defenders.
The words — The verb וַ/יָּנֻ֕סוּ (va/i.ya.Nu.su) means "and they fled," describing a rout rather than a tactical withdrawal. The phrase כִּ/שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁתֶ֖שׁ אֲלָפִ֖ים (ki/sh.Lo.shet 'a.la.Fim) literally renders "about three thousand," quantifying the force that advanced.
The thread — The motif of routed armies appears in Deuteronomy 28:25, Leviticus 26:17, and Deuteronomy 32:30, where flight before enemies signals covenant breach or divine withdrawal. This pattern frames the Ai defeat not as a military blunder but as a theological judgment.
Why it lands — The text records a specific numerical force collapsing under enemy pressure before any explanation of cause. It demands recognition that military calculation fails when the underlying covenant relationship is compromised.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Leviticus 26:17 And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
- Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- Isaiah 30:17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.
- Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.