15:4 He despises a reprobate, 25
but honors the Lord’s loyal followers. 26
He makes firm commitments and does not renege on his promise. 27
17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city 30 of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die!
17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him 33 for despising my oath and breaking my covenant!
1 tn Heb “Now, swear to me by the
2 tn Heb “with the house of my father.”
3 tn Heb “true sign,” that is, “an inviolable token or pledge.”
4 tn Or “our lives.”
5 tn The second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that Rahab’s entire family is in view.
6 tn Heb “Our lives in return for you to die.” If the lives of Rahab’s family are not spared, then the spies will pay for the broken vow with their own lives.
7 tn Heb “If you do not report this matter of ours.”
8 tn Heb “allegiance and faithfulness.” These virtual synonyms are joined in the translation as “unswerving allegiance” to emphasize the degree of promised loyalty.
9 tn The second person pronoun is feminine singular, referring specifically to Rahab.
10 tn Heb “We are free from this oath of yours which you made us swear.” The words “unless the following conditions are met” are not in the Hebrew text, but are added for clarification.
11 tn Heb “Look! We are about to enter the land.”
12 tn Heb “the cord of this red thread.”
13 tn Heb “and your father and your mother and your brothers and all the house of your father gather to yourself to the house.”
14 tn Heb “Anyone who goes out from the doors of your house to the outside, his blood is on his head. We are innocent.”
15 tn Heb “But anyone who is with you in the house, his blood is on our head if a hand should be on him.”
16 tn Heb “and if you report this matter of ours.”
17 tn Or “assembly.”
18 tn Heb “Joshua made peace with them and made a treaty with them to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.”
19 tn Heb “by the
20 tn Or “grumbled against.”
21 tn Heb “to them by….”
22 tn Or “touch.”
23 tn Heb “This is what we will do to them, keeping them alive so there will not be upon us anger concerning the oath which we swore to them.”
24 tn Heb “they gathered together to fight against Joshua and Israel [with] one mouth.”
25 tn Heb “despised in his eyes [is] a rejected [one].” The Hebrew term נִמְאָס (nim’as, “rejected [one]”) apparently refers here to one who has been rejected by God because of his godless behavior. It stands in contrast to “those who fear God” in the following line.
26 tn Heb “those who fear the
27 tn Heb “he takes an oath to do harm and does not change.” The phrase “to do harm” cannot mean “do harm to others,” for the preceding verse clearly characterizes this individual as one who does not harm others. In this context the phrase must refer to an oath to which a self-imprecation is attached. The godly individual takes his commitments to others so seriously he is willing to “swear to his own hurt.” For an example of such an oath, see Ruth 1:16-17.
28 tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).
29 tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”
30 tn Heb “place.”
31 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.
32 sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).
33 tn Heb “place it on his head.”
34 tn Grk “did not perish together with.”