8:3 Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai. 11 Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night.
23:9 “The Lord drove out from before you great and mighty nations; no one has been able to resist you 24 to this very day. 23:10 One of you makes a thousand run away, 25 for the Lord your God fights for you 26 as he promised you he would. 27
1 tn Heb “A man will not stand before you.” The second person pronouns in this verse are singular, indicating Joshua is the addressee.
2 tn Heb “any man who rebels against your mouth and does not listen to your words, to all which you command us, will be put to death.”
3 tn Or “Only.” Here and in v. 17 this word qualifies what precedes (see also v. 7).
3 tn Another way to translate vv. 6-7 would be, “While she took them up to the roof and hid them…, the king’s men tried to find them….” Both of the main clauses have the subject prior to the predicate, perhaps indicating simultaneous action. (On the grammatical point, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 42, §235.) In this case Rahab moves the Israelite spies from the hiding place referred to in v. 4 to a safer and less accessible hiding place.
4 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.
5 tn Heb “And the men chased after them [on] the road [leading to] the Jordan to the fords.” The text is written from the perspective of the king’s men. As far as they were concerned, they were chasing the spies.
6 tn Heb “And they shut the gate after – as soon as the ones chasing after them went out.” The expressions “after” and “as soon as” may represent a conflation of alternate readings.
4 tn The words “the river,” though not in the Hebrew text, are added for clarification.
5 tn Heb “and go around the city, all [you] men of war, encircling the city one time.” The Hebrew verb וְסַבֹּתֶם (vÿsabbotem, “and go around”) is plural, being addressed to the whole army.
6 tn Heb “all which was in the city.”
7 tn “And Joshua and all the people of war arose to go up [against] Ai.”
8 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
9 tc The LXX omits the words “or Bethel.”
10 tn Heb “who did not go out after Israel.”
10 tn Heb “in our midst.”
11 tn This statement is subordinated to v. 1 in the Hebrew text, which reads literally, “When Adoni-Zedek…they feared greatly.” The subject of the plural verb at the beginning of v. 2 is probably the residents of Jerusalem.
12 tn Heb “I have given them into your hand.” The verbal form is a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of the action.
13 tn Heb “and not a man [or “one”] of them will stand before you.”
13 tn Heb “listened to the voice of.”
14 tn Heb “all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua [at] Makkedah [in] peace.”
15 tc Heb “No man.” The lamed (ל) prefixed to אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) is probably dittographic (note the immediately preceding יִשְׂרָאֵל [isra’el] which ends in lamed, ל); cf. the LXX.
16 tn Heb “no man sharpened [or perhaps, “pointed”] his tongue against the sons of Israel.” Cf. NEB “not a man of the Israelites suffered so much as a scratch on his tongue,” which understands “sharpened” as “scratched” (referring to a minor wound). Most modern translations understand the Hebrew expression “sharpened his tongue” figuratively for opposition or threats against the Israelites.
15 tn Heb “I will send them so they may arise and walk about in the land and describe it in writing according to their inheritance and come to me.”
16 tn Heb “not a man has stood before you.”
17 tn Or “chases a thousand.”
18 tn Heb “for the
19 tn Heb “as he said to you.”