The Hebrew text does not read, “they pursued them from in front of the gate to the sebaµriµm,” i.e. mlpny hs‘r. Were this the reading, then the text would be describing the course of the chase, from x to y, which would have to be sought beyond the perimeter of the Early Bronze Age city walls. The text is describing the general locus of the pursuit, mentioning only the place at which the men of Ai stopped. Most readers of this text assume that it describes a course and, therefore, search for the sebaµriµm, which is translated variously as “ravines,” “quarries,” or “crags” some distance from the city. The root s-b-r, however, is not associated with quarrying or quarnes; the root h-s-b is often employed in such contexts, and perhaps p-s-l (Judges 3:19, 26). It is, however, associated with ruined walls: “Surely, this iniquity will work on you like a spreading breach in a high wall whose crash (sbrh) comes suddenly. And its crash (sbrh) is like the smashing (sbr) of a jug … ” (Isaiah 30:13–14). Thus, both grammatical and philological considerations support the interpretation given here.