וַיְהִ֞י כִּרְא֣וֹת מֶֽלֶךְ־הָעַ֗י וַֽיְמַהֲר֡וּ וַיַּשְׁכִּ֡ימוּ וַיֵּצְא֣וּ אַנְשֵֽׁי־הָעִ֣יר לִקְרַֽאת־יִ֠שְׂרָאֵ֠ל לַֽמִּלְחָמָ֞ה ה֧וּא וְכׇל־עַמּ֛וֹ לַמּוֹעֵ֖ד לִפְנֵ֣י הָעֲרָבָ֑ה וְהוּא֙ לֹ֣א יָדַ֔ע כִּֽי־אֹרֵ֥ב ל֖וֹ מֵאַחֲרֵ֥י הָעִֽיר׃
When the king of Ai saw them, he and all his troops, the townsmen, rushed out in the early morning to the meeting place, facing the Arabah, to engage the Israelites in battle; for he was unaware that a force was lying in ambush behind the city.
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term containing אִישׁ.)
The Hebrew term is vague, meaning “salient affiliates of the town”; the nature of the affiliation is unspecified. In context, the term is understood by convention to denote those who can represent their town on the battlefield: able-bodied members of the militia.
As for rendering into English, NJPS ‘the inhabitants of the city’ (so also NRSV) seems unduly broad, given that nowadays women are presumed to be in view when speaking of inhabitants. The new rendering is vague (similar to the Hebrew), yet it adds some masculine color, as as appropriate to the military context.