Ai
עַי · ay · H5857Gעַיַּת · ay · H5857G1 other spelling“or Hai, mass; heap” Hitchcock's 186933 mentions in 5 books, most in Joshua (27)
Where it is
31.92° N, 35.26° E
Coordinates and map: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0 · drawn without map tiles
Mentioned most in
Counted from 33 references · STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
About this place
Ai was a Canaanite city located near Bethel, east of Jerusalem. It is first mentioned in Genesis 12:8 and 13:3, where Abraham built an altar between Bethel and Ai. During the conquest of Canaan, Joshua sent spies to Ai, who reported that the city was small and could be easily defeated (Joshua 7:2-3). However, the Israelites were initially defeated because of Achan's sin (Joshua 7:4-5).
After dealing with Achan, Joshua set an ambush and conquered Ai, killing its inhabitants and burning the city (Joshua 8). The king of Ai was hanged, and a heap of stones was raised over his body (Joshua 8:29). The conquest of Ai opened the way for the Israelites to advance into the heart of Canaan (Joshua 9:3; 10:1-2). Ai is listed among the cities defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:9).
After the Babylonian exile, some people from Ai returned to Jerusalem (Ezra 2:28; Nehemiah 7:32). Ai was resettled by the Benjamites (Nehemiah 11:31). The city is also mentioned in Isaiah 10:28 as part of a prophetic description of the Assyrian invasion of Judah. The exact location of Ai is debated, but it is generally identified with et-Tell, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Bethel.
Article: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Every mention
33 references, counted from STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · verse text: World English Bible (public domain)
Genesis2 mentions
Genesis 12:8He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s…Genesis 13:3He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
Joshua27 mentions
Joshua 7:2Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the land.” The men went up and spied out Ai.Joshua 7:3They returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Don’t let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people to toil there, for there…Joshua 7:4So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai.Joshua 7:5The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like…Joshua 8:1Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people…Joshua 8:2You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”Joshua 8:3So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night.Joshua 8:9Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night.Joshua 8:10Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.Joshua 8:11All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up and came near, and came before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.Joshua 8:12He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.Joshua 8:14When the king of Ai saw it, they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but…Joshua 8:16All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.Joshua 8:17There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.Joshua 8:18Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.Joshua 8:20When 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. The people who fled to the…Joshua 8:21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned back and killed the men of Ai.Joshua 8:23They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.Joshua 8:24When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were…Joshua 8:25All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the people of Ai.Joshua 8:26For Joshua didn’t draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.Joshua 8:28So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.Joshua 8:29He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and…Joshua 9:3But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,Joshua 10:1Now when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the…Joshua 10:2they were very afraid, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.Joshua 12:9the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;
Nehemiah2 mentions
What the dictionary says
Ruins.
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Read the article →Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0 · www.openbible.info/geo/
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain