Joshua 8:4

8:4 He told ¹  them, “Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city; all of you be ready!

Joshua 8:12-13

8:12 He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel ²  and Ai. 8:13 The army was in position – the main army north of the city and the rear guard west of the city. That night Joshua went into ³  the middle of the valley.

Proverbs 1:11-12

1:11 If they say, “Come with us!

We will ⁴  lie in wait ⁵  to shed blood; ⁶ 

we will ambush ⁷  an innocent person ⁸  capriciously. ⁹ 

1:12 We will swallow them alive ¹⁰  like Sheol, ¹¹ 

those full of vigor ¹²  like those going down to the Pit.

[8:4]  ¹ tn Or “commanded, ordered.”

[8:12]  ² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[8:13]  ³ tn Some Hebrew mss read, “spent the night in.”

[1:11]  ⁴ tn This cohortative נֶאֶרְבָה (ne’ervah) could denote resolve (“We will lie in wait!”) or exhortation (“Let us lie in wait!”). These sinners are either expressing their determination to carry out a violent plan or they are trying to entice the lad to participate with them.

[1:11]  ⁵ tn The verb אָרַב (’arav, “to lie in wait”) it is used for planning murder (Deut 19:11), kidnapping (Judg 21:20), or seduction (Prov 23:28).

[1:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “for blood.” The term דָּם (dam, “blood”) functions as a metonymy of effect for “blood shed violently” through murder (HALOT 224 s.v. 4).

[1:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “lie in hiding.”

[1:11]  ⁸ tn The term “innocent” (נָקִי, naqi) intimates that the person to be attacked is harmless.

[1:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “without cause” (so KJV, NASB); NCV “just for fun.” The term חִנָּם (khinnam, “without cause”) emphasizes that the planned attack is completely unwarranted.

[1:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lives.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “lives”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner: “alive.” The form is a plural of state, used to describe a condition of life which encompasses a long period of time – in this case a person’s entire life. Murder cuts short a person’s life.

[1:12]  ¹¹ tn The noun שְׁאוֹל (shÿ’ol) can mean (1) “death,” cf. NCV; (2) “the grave,” cf. KJV, NIV, NLT (3) “Sheol” as the realm of departed spirits, cf. NAB “the nether world,” and (4) “extreme danger.” Here it is parallel to the noun בוֹר (vor, “the Pit”) so it is the grave or more likely “Sheol” (cf. ASV, NRSV). Elsewhere Sheol is personified as having an insatiable appetite and swallowing people alive as they descend to their death (e.g., Num 16:30, 33; Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5). In ancient Near Eastern literature, the grave is often personified in similar manner, e.g., in Ugaritic mythological texts Mot (= “death”) is referred to as “the great swallower.”

[1:12]  ¹² tn Heb “and whole.” The vav (ו) is asseverative or appositional (“even”); it is omitted in the translation for the sake of style and smoothness. The substantival adjective תָּמִים (tamim, “whole; perfect; blameless”) is an adverbial accusative describing the condition and state of the object. Used in parallel to חַיִּים (khayyim, “alive”), it must mean “full of health” (BDB 1071 s.v. תָּמִים 2). These cutthroats want to murder a person who is full of vigor.