Bible Strands
Joshua 8:18
Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Joshua during the assault on Ai, commanding him to extend his javelin as a tactical signal while the enemy pursues the Israelite forces.
The words — The imperative נְטֵה (neṭeh) directs Joshua to “stretch out” the בַּכִּידוֹן (ba-kiddôn), the specific javelin already positioned in his hand.
The thread — Joshua holds this extended posture until Ai’s inhabitants are fully devoted to destruction (Joshua 8:26), and the text notes parallel outstretched gestures in Exodus 8:5 and Job 15:25.
Why it lands — The passage records a direct divine command paired with a physical act of obedience, establishing that the promised delivery of the city depends on Joshua’s visible compliance.
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 the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.
Cross-references
- Joshua 8:26 Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.
- Job 15:25 For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,
- Exodus 8:5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”
- Exodus 14:16 And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
- Exodus 17:9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”
- Joshua 8:7 you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
- 1 Samuel 17:6 and he had armor of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.
- 1 Samuel 17:41 Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him.
- 1 Samuel 17:45 But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
- Job 39:23 A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance.