Bible Strands
Joshua 8:13
So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes Joshua’s final troop deployment after the initial ambush is placed and immediately before the king of Ai leads his army out to confront them.
The words — The passage uses וַיָּשִׂימוּ (va.ya.si.mu), “and they set/place,” and מִצְפֹּן (mi.tze.fon), “north,” to record the exact location where the main camp was positioned relative to Ai.
The thread — This deployment completes the arrangement begun in Joshua 8:12 and executes the tactical sequence commanded in Joshua 8:8 to secure and destroy the city.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to observe how the campaign advances only when each unit occupies its specified coordinate, demonstrating that the operation proceeds through measured positioning rather than spontaneous action.
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
And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
Cross-references
- Joshua 8:8 And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”
- Joshua 8:12 Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.