But this is a people robbed and plundered, all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses. They have become a prey, with no one to deliver – for plunder, and no one to say, “Restore!”
And the men of Ai looked behind them and saw the smoke of the city rising to the heavens. And there was no power in them to flee this way or that way, for the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.
“Say this to them, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “As I live, those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and the one who is in the open field I shall give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and caves shall die of the pestilence.