And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
Parallel translations
- WEB So Joshua burned Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.
- BSB So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
- NKJV So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day.
- NASB So Joshua burned Ai and made it a refuse heap forever, a desolation until this day.
- NLT So Joshua burned the town of Ai, and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joshua burns Ai and leaves it a permanent heap of ruins. The city is reduced to a lasting monument of judgment.
Overview
The total burning of Ai fulfills God's command and leaves a desolation 'to this day' as a witness. Its name, meaning 'ruin' or 'heap,' becomes fittingly literal. The enduring desolation stands as a testimony to the judgment that falls on those who oppose the living God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Deut 13:16And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
- Jer 49:2Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.
- Jer 50:26Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.
- Josh 4:9And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.
- 2 Kgs 19:25Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
- Isa 17:1The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
- Isa 25:2For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
- Jer 9:11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
- Mic 3:12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 8:28 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.