וַיַּעֲל֤וּ מִן־הָעָם֙ שָׁ֔מָּה כִּשְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת אֲלָפִ֖ים אִ֑ישׁ וַיָּנֻ֕סוּ לִפְנֵ֖י אַנְשֵׁ֥י הָעָֽי׃
Environ trois mille hommes du peuple y furent donc envoyés; mais ils lâchèrent pied devant les habitants d’Aï.
Or HaChaim
וישב ממנו שבי, "and took a captive from amongst them." We need to explain why the Israelites did not appear troubled by the fact that they suffered a defeat at the hands of a single Canaanite nation. We could have expected them to extrapolate that if a single Canaanite nation could inflict a defeat upon them, what would happen when they would face all seven Canaanite nations? After all, we find precisely such a reaction by Joshua when he suffered a defeat at the hands of the inhabitants of the town of Ai (Joshua 7,5-9).