Joshua 8:20

So that when the men of Ai turned round to look, there was smoke rising from the town! They had no chance to flee this way or that, for the Israelites who were flying towards the desert turned upon their pursuers.

Open English Bible (US)

In The 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.

In Context

19And as soon as Joshua stretched out the javelin towards the town, the men in ambush rushed into the town and captured it, and hurried to set the town on fire.

21Seeing that the men in ambush had captured the town and seeing the smoke rise up from it, Joshua and the Israelites turned and attacked the men of Ai,

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Cross References

Genesis 19:28and as he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the plain, he saw the smoke of the land going up as the smoke of a smelting-furnace.

Psalms 48:5But one glance, and they were astounded; they hastened away in dismay.

Revelation 6:15Then all the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the generals, and the rich, and the powerful, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and under the rocks of the mountains.

Revelation 19:3Again they cried – ‘Hallelujah!’ And the smoke from her ruins rises for ever and ever.

Matthew Henry on Joshua 8:4-23

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 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 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 (For they will come out… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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