Bible Strands
Joshua 8:20
When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the men of Ai turning back toward Joshua’s forces at the moment the Israelite ambush sets their city ablaze. This occurs during the feigned retreat, precisely when the hidden troops secure the city.
The words — The Hebrew verbs וַ/יִּפְנ֣וּ (va/i.yif.Nu, "they turned") and וַ/יִּרְא֗וּ (va/i.yir.'U, "they saw") mark the sudden physical reorientation of the Ai soldiers. These verbs record their direct observation as they face the burning city behind them.
The thread — The image of ascending smoke parallels Genesis 19:28, where smoke rises from Sodom as a visible marker of judgment. The motif of inescapable pursuit also appears in Job 11:20 and Psalms 48:5.
Why it lands — The text establishes that physical flight fails when the appointed judgment is already underway. It requires the reader to accept the factual sequence of events before drawing any theological conclusion.
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 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: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
Cross-references
- Genesis 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
- Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”
- Psalms 48:5 They saw and were astounded; they fled in terror.
- Psalms 76:5 The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep. No men of might could lift a hand.
- Isaiah 34:10 It will not be quenched—day or night. Its smoke will ascend forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever again pass through it.
- Amos 2:14 Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.
- Revelation 6:15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
- Revelation 18:9 Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.
- Revelation 19:3 And a second time they called out: “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises forever and ever.”