---
title: "Joshua 8:4-8 KJV - \"And he commanded them, saying, Behold,...\" | Real Bible Believers"
description: "\"And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city,\" — Read Joshua 8:4-8 in the King James Version (KJV) with commentary, cross references, and Greek/Hebrew lexicon."
image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/joshua/8/4-8"
---

[ Read](/kjv/joshua/8)[ Commentary](/study/joshua/8)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/joshua/8) Audio

## Joshua 8:4-8 in Context (Verses 1–11 KJV)
 
 [1 ](/kjv/joshua/8/1) And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
 
 [2 ](/kjv/joshua/8/2) And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
 
 [3 ](/kjv/joshua/8/3) ¶ So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
 
 [4 ](/kjv/joshua/8/4) And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, *even* behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
 
 [5 ](/kjv/joshua/8/5) And I, and all the people that *are* with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
 
 [6 ](/kjv/joshua/8/6) (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.*
 
 [7 ](/kjv/joshua/8/7) Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
 
 [8 ](/kjv/joshua/8/8) And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, *that* ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
 
 [9 ](/kjv/joshua/8/9) ¶ Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
 
 [10 ](/kjv/joshua/8/10) And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
 
 [11 ](/kjv/joshua/8/11) And all the people, *even the people* of war that *were* with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now *there was* a valley between them and Ai.
 
[Joshua 7](/kjv/joshua/7) [Joshua 9](/kjv/joshua/9)

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