Joshua 6:2

6:2 The Lord told Joshua, “See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you,¹ along with its king and its warriors.

Joshua 8:4

8:4 He told² them, “Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city; all of you be ready!

Joshua 8:8

8:8 When you capture the city, set it³ on fire. Do as the Lord says! See, I have given you orders.”⁴

Joshua 8:21

8:21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke,⁵ they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

Joshua 23:3

23:3 You saw everything the Lord your God did to all these nations on your behalf, for the Lord your God fights for you.⁶

Joshua 2:1

Joshua Sends Spies into the Land

2:1 Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them:⁷ “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.”⁸ They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there.⁹

Joshua 3:3

3:3 and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God¹⁰ being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here¹¹ and walk¹² behind it.

Joshua 5:13

Israel Conquers Jericho

5:13 When Joshua was near¹³ Jericho,¹⁴ he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword.¹⁵ Joshua approached him and asked him, “Are you on our side or allied with our enemies?”¹⁶

Joshua 7:21

7:21 I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon,¹⁷ two hundred silver pieces,¹⁸ and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath.”

Joshua 8:1

Israel Conquers Ai

8:1 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic!¹⁹ Take the whole army with you and march against Ai!²⁰ See, I am handing over to you²¹ the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.

Joshua 8:14

8:14 When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah.²² But he did not realize²³ men were hiding behind the city.²⁴

Joshua 8:20

8:20 When the men of Ai turned around, they saw²⁵ the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction.²⁶ In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.

Joshua 22:28

22:28 We said, ‘If in the future they say such a thing²⁷ to us or to our descendants, we will reply, “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors²⁸ made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you.”’²⁹

Joshua 23:4

23:4 See, I have parceled out to your tribes these remaining nations,³⁰ from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea³¹ in the west, including all the nations I defeated.³²

Joshua 24:7

24:7 Your fathers³³ cried out for help to the Lord; he made the area between you and the Egyptians dark,³⁴ and then drowned them in the sea.³⁵ You witnessed with your very own eyes³⁶ what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness for a long time.³⁷

Joshua 5:6

5:6 Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off.³⁸ For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them,³⁹ a land rich in⁴⁰ milk and honey.

¹tn Heb “I have given into your hand Jericho.” The Hebrew verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, “I have given”) is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action. The Hebrew pronominal suffix “your” is singular, being addressed to Joshua as the leader and representative of the nation. To convey to the modern reader what is about to happen and who is doing it, the translation “I am about to defeat Jericho for you” has been used.

²tn Or “commanded, ordered.”

³tn Heb “the city.”

⁴tn Heb “I have commanded you.”

⁴tn Heb “and that the smoke of the city ascended.”

⁵tn Heb “for the Lord your God, he [is] the one who fights for you.”

⁶tn Heb “Joshua, son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spies, secretly, saying.”

⁷tn Heb “go, see the land, and Jericho.”

⁸tn Heb “they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab, and they slept there.”

⁷sn The ark of the covenant refers to the wooden chest that symbolized God’s presence among his covenant people.

⁸tn Heb “set out from your place.”

⁹tn Or “march.”

⁸tn Heb “in.”

⁹map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

¹⁰tn Heb “he lifted up his eyes and looked. And look, a man was standing in front of him, and his sword was drawn in his hand.” The verb הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) invites the reader to view the scene through Joshua’s eyes. By calling the stranger “a man,” the author reflects Joshua’s perspective. The text shortly reveals his true identity (vv. 14-15).

¹¹tn Heb “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

⁹tn Heb “Shinar,” a reference to Babylon (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1). Many modern translations retain the Hebrew name “Shinar” (cf. NEB, NRSV) but some use the more familiar “Babylon” (cf. NIV, NLT).

¹⁰tn Heb “shekels.”

¹⁰tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”

¹¹tn Heb “Take with you all the people of war and arise, go up against Ai!”

¹²tn Heb “I have given into our hand.” The verbal form, a perfect, is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action.

¹¹tn Heb “When the king of Ai saw, the men of Ai hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people at the meeting place before the Arabah.”

¹²tn Or “know.”

¹³tn Heb “that (there was) an ambush for him behind the city.”

¹²tn Heb “and they saw, and look.” The Hebrew term הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) draws attention to the scene and invites the audience to view the events from the perspective of the men of Ai.

¹³tn Heb “and there was not in them hands to flee here or there.” The Hebrew term יָדַיִם (yadayim, “hands”) is idiomatic for “strength.”

¹³tn The words “such a thing” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹⁴tn Heb “fathers.”

¹⁵tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”

¹⁴tn Heb “I have assigned by lots to you these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes.”

¹⁵tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

¹⁶tn Heb “from the Jordan and all the nations which I cut off and the Great Sea [at] the place where the sun sets.” The relationship of the second half of the verse, which mentions nations already conquered, to the first half, which speaks of “remaining nations,” is difficult to understand.

¹⁵tn Heb “they”; the referent (the fathers) has been specified in the translation for clarity (see the previous verse).

¹⁶tn Or “put darkness between you and the Egyptians.”

¹⁷tn Heb “and he brought over them the sea and covered them.”

¹⁸tn Heb “your eyes saw.”

¹⁹tn Heb “many days.”

¹⁶tn Heb “all the nation, the men of war who went out from Egypt, who did not listen to the voice of the Lord, came to an end.”

¹⁷tn Some Hebrew mss, as well as the Syriac version, support this reading. Most ancient witnesses read “us.”

¹⁸tn Heb “flowing with.”