עַי

Genesis 12:8 וְהָעַ֣י and <the> Ai

From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

Here: 'And the Ai.' The name always has 'the' and seems to mean 'the ruin' or 'the heap'. KJV's 'Hai' keeps the 'h' sound of the article.

Genesis 13:3 הָעָֽי׃ <the> Ai

From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,

Joshua 7:2 הָעַ֞י הָעָֽי׃ <the> Ai

Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

Joshua 7:3 הָעָ֑י <the> Ai

On returning to Joshua, they reported, “There is no need to send all the people; two or three thousand men are enough to go up and attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, you need not wear out all our people there.”

Joshua 7:4 הָעָֽי׃ <the> Ai

So about three thousand men went up, but they fled before the men of Ai.

Joshua 7:5 הָעַ֗י <the> Ai

And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them, chasing them from the gate as far as the quarries and striking them down on the slopes. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

Joshua 8:1 הָעָ֑י הָעַי֙ <the> Ai

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

Here: Always written with 'the': 'the Ai'. The word sounds like ʿî, 'ruin heap', so the name means something like 'the Ruin'.

Joshua 8:2 לָעַ֜י to <the> Ai

And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”

Here: Literally "to the Ai": the name always carries the definite article in Hebrew and sounds like "the Ruin" or "the Heap." The city that had just humiliated Israel (7:2–5) is now the target.

Joshua 8:3 הָעָ֑י <the> Ai

So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night

Here: The town's name always carries the article, 'the Ai', and is usually connected with a word meaning 'heap of ruins'. The story ends on that note: Joshua makes it 'a heap (tel) forever, a desolation' (8:28).

Joshua 8:9 הָעַ֖י לָעָ֑י <the> Ai, of <the> Ai

So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.

Here: The town's name always has the article, "the Ai," and sounds like the word for a heap of ruins. The story ends with Joshua making it "a permanent heap of ruins" (8:28), a fitting outcome for that name.

Joshua 8:10 הָעָֽי׃ <the> Ai

Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.

Here: The destination. The Hebrew carries the article, "the Ai," because the name is a common noun meaning "ruin-heap." Hebrew often leaves out a word for "to" after verbs of motion, so this means "up to Ai."

Joshua 8:11 לָעַ֔י הָעָֽי׃ <to> Ai, <the> Ai

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.

Here: 'Of Ai'. The preposition ties the northern side to the city.

Joshua 8:12 הָעַ֖י <the> Ai

Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

Here: The name nearly always has 'the', because it is a common noun meaning 'the ruin' or 'the heap'. To a Hebrew ear the city is called 'The Ruin'.

Joshua 8:14 הָעַ֗י <the> Ai

When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.

Joshua 8:16 בָּעַ֔י [was] in <the> Ai

Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

Here: 'In Ai'. This is how the text is read aloud by tradition. The consonants written in the text spell 'in the city', which is why some translations have 'city' here (see textual notes). The town's name means 'the ruin' or 'the heap'.

Joshua 8:17 בָּעַי֙ in <the> Ai

Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.

Here: The Hebrew always says "the Ai," with the article. The name means "the ruin-heap," which is grimly ironic in a story that ends with the place made a permanent ruin (8:28).

Joshua 8:18 הָעַ֔י <the> Ai

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,

Here: The name always carries the article "the". It is linked to the word for a heap of ruins, so it reads like "the Ruin". By the end of the chapter the name has come true (8:28).

Joshua 8:20 הָעַ֨י <the> Ai

When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.

Here: The town's name always carries the article, "the Ai", and very probably means "the Ruin" or "the Heap" (compare ʿi, "heap of ruins"). The name grimly anticipates what the town is about to become (8:28).

Joshua 8:21 הָעָֽי׃ <the> Ai

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

Here: The place name always takes "the" ("the Ai"). It is probably related to ʿî, "heap of ruins." The name fits the town's fate: by v. 28 Joshua has made it "a ruin-heap forever."

Joshua 8:23 הָעַ֖י <the> Ai

But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

Joshua 8:24 הָעַ֜י הָעַ֔י <the> Ai

When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.

Here: The place name always takes the article, "the Ai." The name sounds like the Hebrew word for "ruin-heap" (ʿî). The point is made in 8:28, where Joshua turns it into a "heap forever."

Joshua 8:25 הָעָֽי׃ <the> Ai

A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.

Here: The town's name. It always carries the article ('the Ai'), and it sounds like the common noun for 'heap of ruins'. Verse 28 plays on this when Joshua turns it into 'a ruin-mound forever'.

Joshua 8:26 הָעָֽי׃ <the> Ai

Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.

Here: The name always carries the article, 'the Ai', and sounds like the Hebrew word for 'heap of ruins'. The story ends at 8:28 with Joshua making it 'a permanent ruin-heap', which plays on the name.

Joshua 8:28 הָעָ֑י <the> Ai

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

Here: The city name always carries the article in Hebrew, 'the Ai', and is related to the common noun ʿî, 'heap of ruins'. So the name itself sounds like 'the Ruin', which sets up the wordplay in the rest of the verse.

Joshua 8:29 הָעַ֛י <the> Ai

He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.

Here: The name carries the article: 'the Ai', literally 'the ruin' or 'the heap'. A Hebrew hearer could hardly miss it, since v. 28 has just turned the city into a permanent ruin-mound.

Joshua 9:3 וְלָעָֽי׃ and to <the> Ai

But the people of Gibeon, having heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

Here: Literally 'to the Ai.' The name nearly always carries the article and sounds like the Hebrew for 'ruin heap.' Ai fell to Israel's ambush in chapter 8 and was left 'a heap forever, a desolation' (8:28). Ai was close to Gibeon, so the danger had come within a day's walk.

Joshua 10:1 הָעַי֮ לָעַ֖י <the> Ai, to <the> Ai

Now Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and devoted it to destruction—doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king—and that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living near them.

Joshua 10:2 הָעַ֔י <the> Ai

So Adoni-zedek and his people were greatly alarmed, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were mighty.

Here: Ai always carries the article: 'the Ai', which probably means 'the ruin-heap.' Ai had just fallen (ch. 8) with 12,000 dead (8:25). If Gibeon was bigger than that, its loss was serious.

Joshua 12:9 הָעַ֛י <the> Ai

the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is near Bethel, one;

Ezra 2:28 וְהָעָ֔י and <the> Ai

the men of Bethel and Ai, 223;

Nehemiah 7:32 וְהָעָ֔י and <the> Ai

the men of Bethel and Ai, 123;

Here: "And the Ai." The name nearly always takes the article "the" and probably means "the ruin" or "the heap". Bethel and Ai sit next to each other and are paired here, as they are in the Abraham story (Genesis 12:8; 13:3).

Nehemiah 11:31 וְעַיָּ֔ה and Aija

The descendants of Benjamin from Geba lived in Michmash, Aija, and Bethel with its villages;

Isaiah 10:28 עַיַּ֖ת Aiath

Assyria has entered Aiath and passed through Migron, storing their supplies at Michmash.

Jeremiah 49:3 עַ֗י Ai

Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.

Here: An Ammonite town we can no longer locate, not the Ai of Joshua 7–8. The name itself means 'heap of ruins', which may be a grim pun after verse 2's promise that Rabbah will become 'a mound of desolation'.