Joshua 8:11

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Joshua 8:11 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Joshua 8:11 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/joshua/8/11.

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English Translation
All the people, [even] the [men of] war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between him and Ai.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    All the people, [even] the [men of] war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between him and Ai.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    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.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And all of the people of war who with him went up and approached and came before the city. And they camped from north of Ai, and the valley was between them and between Ai.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    All the people, [even] the [men of] war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between him and Ai.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    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.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And all the people, `even' the `men of' war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between him and Ai.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And all the people, even the men 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 him and Ai.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    Also all the men of warre that were with him went vp and drewe neere, and came against the citie, and pitched on the Northside of Ai: and there was a valley betweene them and Ai.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And when they were come, and were gone up over against the city, they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there was a valley in the midst.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    and all the people of war who `are' with him have gone up, and draw nigh and come in over-against the city, and encamp on the north of Ai; and the valley `is' between him and Ai.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    and all the people of war who [are] with him have gone up, and draw near and come in before the city, and encamp on the north of Ai; and the valley [is] between him and Ai.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    All the fighting men who were with him went up and approached the city. They came near the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between them and Ai.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And all of the people of war who with him went up and approached and came before the city. And they camped from north of Ai, and the valley was between them and between Ai.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And all the people of war that were with him went up, and drew near, and came before the city; and they encamped on the north of Ai; and the valley was between them and Ai.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    All 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.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    All the fighting men who were with him approached the front of the town, and camped there on the north side, with a valley between them and Ai.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And all the fighting-men who were with him went up and came near the town, and took up a position on the north side of Ai facing the town, with a valley between him and the town.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And all the people, even the men 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 him and Ai.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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לָעַ֔י
ʻAy
H5857
“to/for · Ai”
Preposition + Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Preposition + Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: for H5856

TWOT: None

Ai or Aija or Aiath or Hai = "heap of ruins" - a city lying east of Bethel and beside Bethaven near Jericho and the 2nd city taken on the invasion of Canaan - a city of the Ammonites on the east of the Jordan and apparently attached to Heshbon
  1. וְכָל kôl H3605 “and · all of” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  2. הָעָ֨ם ʻam H5971 “the · people” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  3. הַמִּלְחָמָ֜ה milchâmâh H4421 “the · battle” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  4. אֲשֶׁ֣ר ʼăsher H834 “which” Particle, Relative
  5. אִתּ֗וֹ ʼêth H854 “with · him” Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  6. עָלוּ֙ ʻâlâh H5927 “to go up” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural
  7. וַֽיִּגְּשׁ֔וּ nâgash H5066 “and · to approach” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  8. וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ bôwʼ H935 “and · to enter” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  9. נֶ֣גֶד neged H5048 “before” Preposition
  10. הָעִ֑יר ʻîyr H5892 “the · city” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  11. וַֽיַּחֲנוּ֙ chânâh H2583 “and · to encamp” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  12. מִצְּפ֣וֹן tsâphôwn H6828 “from · north of” Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct
  13. וְהַגַּ֖י gayʼ H1516 “and · the · valley” Conjunction + Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute
  14. בינו bêyn H996 “between · him” Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  15. בֵּינָ֥יו bêyn H996 “between · him” Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  16. וּבֵין bêyn H996 “and · between” Conjunction + Preposition
  17. הָעָֽי ʻAy H5857 “the · Ai” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Proper

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

18
words
15
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

לָעַ֔י Ai H5857 occurs in 34 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 4 verbs
  • 8 nouns
  • 5 prepositions
  • 1 particle

Verb forms

  • עָלוּ֙ Qal · Perfect
  • וַֽיִּגְּשׁ֔וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • וַֽיַּחֲנוּ֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • בינו between H996 ×3
  • לָעַ֔י Ai H5857 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 39 words from the Hebrew and 21 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably shorter here. See the side-by-side →

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 18 Hebrew tokens and 18 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably shorter than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 21 words vs World English Bible 39. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 8:11 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְכָל הָעָ֨ם הַמִּלְחָמָ֜ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אִתּ֗וֹ עָלוּ֙ וַֽיִּגְּשׁ֔וּ וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ נֶ֣גֶד הָעִ֑יר וַֽיַּחֲנוּ֙ מִצְּפ֣וֹן לָעַ֔י וְהַגַּ֖י בינו בֵּינָ֥יו וּבֵין הָעָֽי

All the people, [even] the [men of] war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between him and Ai.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 8:11 Septuagint · lemma form

καί πᾶς ὁ λαός ὁ πολεμιστής μετά αὐτός ἀναβαίνω καί πορεύομαι ἔρχομαι ἐκ ἐναντίος ὁ πόλις ἀπό ἀνατολή

And all the men of war went up with him, and they went forward and came over against the city eastward.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

1

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    וְכָל עַמָא עָבְדֵי קְרָבָא דְעִמֵיהּ סְלִיקוּ וְאִתְקְרָבוּ וַאֲתוֹ לָקֳבֵל קַרְתָּא וּשְׁרוֹ מִצִפּוּנָא לָעַי וְחֵילְתָא בֵּינוֹהִי וּבֵין עָי:

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 8:11 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Jos 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.

Ver. 11. And all the people, even the people of war.] Not two or three thousand only, as when they first went against Ai, and were discomfited, but all the chief of the soldiery; lest some man should say to him, as once Archidamus did to his son, rashly conflicting with the Athenians, but wanting strength to make his party good with them, Aut viribus adde, aut animis adime: Either add to your forces, or abate of your valour.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

8:11-13 That the main army marched in front of the town indicates that Joshua did not try to hide them from the defenders of Ai. The main army came from the east and ended the day camped on the north side of Ai. The men in ambush were west of Ai, between Ai and Bethel.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

there was a valley between them and Ai--literally, "the valley."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) On the north side.—The lurking-place of the thirty thousand was on the west side, between Bethel and Ai. There is a ravine called the Wady Maheesin which runs nearly east and west, on the north of et-Tel, and probably Joshua’s main body took up a position on the rising ground to the north of this ravine, for it is added, “the ravine (or Gai) was between them and Ai.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, and went up, and drew nigh,.... To the city of Ai:

and came before the city; as if they intended to besiege it, storm it, or force an entrance into it:

and pitched on the north side of Ai; which was judged fittest for the purpose:

now there was a valley between them and Ai; which the Rabbins call the valley of Halacah, as Jarchi says; so that they were upon a hill, at least on rising ground, and might the more easily be seen by the inhabitants of Ai, whom they wanted to draw out of their city.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The people of war that were with him, to wit, the thirty thousand mentioned Jos 8:3, or the most of them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

11. A valley between them and Ai — The Hebrew reads the valley, the article intimating that it was well known. It was the main valley, of which the ravine in which the ambush was laid was a branch. See note on Jos_8:9.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And all the people, even the people of war that were with him. Literally, all the people, the war that were with him. Probably the word vyai has been omitted by an early copyist. Implying, no doubt, that the non-warlike portion of the community had been left under a guard at Jericho (see also ver. 1). On the north side. Joshua made a detour, and encamped on a hill on the other side of the wady. Now there was a valley. Literally, and the valley was. This valley, the Wady Mutyah (see Robinson 17. sec. 10, and note on ver. 2, ch. 7), is a remarkable feature of thecountry round Ai. Our version misses this sign of personal acquaintance with the locality on the part of the historian.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

That were with him - Namely, the thirty thousand mentioned, ver. 3, or the most of them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 18 words (15 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻAy (“Ai”). The Greek Septuagint runs shorter here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. How does “Ai” (ʻAy) shape what this verse is saying?
  2. Genesis 12:8 shares the word «Ai» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
  3. “between” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  4. Compared with the Hebrew, the Septuagint runs shorter here. What questions does that raise?
  5. The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
  6. The verb «עָלוּ֙» is Qal Perfect. How does its form color the action?
  7. Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

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