⁴² Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in ^(A)the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them. And those who came out of the cities were destroying them in their midst.

¹⁵ And Joshua and all Israel ^(A)pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness.

²⁴ When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword.