Ai

עי


Also ha-Ai (העי) on several occasions, and Ai'ah (עיא) in Nehemiah 11:31, the latter the Aramaic rendition.

A royal city of the Beney Kena'an which Yehoshu'a sacked (Joshua 7/8); it was standing again in Yesha-Yahu's time (Isaiah 10:28). Possibly El-Tel, one mile south of Beit-El (Bethel), though a case is now being made for Khirbet el-Maqatir.

The name means "ruins", from which we can presume that it was not its real name. The town of AVIT also means "ruins", though the two are not geographically connected.

Genesis 12:8 names it as a city east of Beit-El where Av-Ram pitched his tent and where he built his altar on arriving in Kena'an.

Genesis 13:2 ff states that, after travelling to the Negev, Av-Ram again pitched his tent near Ai; he and his nephew Lot parted there.

Joshua 7:2 places it near Beit Aven, east of Beit-El in the northern part of Bin-Yamin.

Ezra 2:28 states that among the "returnees" from exile in Babylon (536 BCE) were two hundred and twenty-three men from Beit-El and Ai.

Not to be confused with Ayah, spelled with an initial Aleph and closing Hey (איה), which appears as the name of two different women.

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