7:6 Joshua tore his clothes; 1 he and the leaders 2 of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening 3 and threw dirt on their heads. 4
7:2 Joshua sent men from Jericho 5 to Ai (which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel 6 ) and instructed them, “Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.
9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.
1 sn Tearing one’s clothes was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Gen 37:34; 44:13).
2 tn Or “elders.”
3 tn Heb “and fell on his face to the ground before the ark of the
4 sn Throwing dirt on one’s head was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Lam 2:10; Ezek 27:30).
5 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
6 map For the location of Bethel see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
7 tn The total number of names in the list is thirty-six, not twenty-nine. Perhaps (1) some of the names are alternatives (though the text appears to delineate clearly such alternative names here and elsewhere, see vv. 8, 9, 10, 13, 25b) or (2), more likely, later scribes added to a list originally numbering twenty-nine and failed to harmonize the concluding summary statement with the expanded list.
8 tn Heb “they lifted up their eyes.” The idiom “to lift up the eyes” (or “to lift up the voice”) is intended to show a special intensity in the effort. Here it would indicate that they were trying to see Job from a great distance away.
9 tn The Hiphil perfect here should take the nuance of potential perfect – they were not able to recognize him. In other words, this does not mean that they did not know it was Job, only that he did not look anything like the Job they knew.
10 tn Heb “they tossed dust skyward over their heads.”