13:21 So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, 1 at the entrance of Hamath. 2
13:1 When Joshua was very old, 5 the Lord told him, “You are very old, and a great deal of land remains to be conquered.
8:1 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! 6 Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! 7 See, I am handing over to you 8 the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land. 8:2 Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho 9 and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!”
8:3 Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai. 10 Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night.
1 sn Zin is on the southern edge of the land, but Rehob is far north, near Mount Hermon. The spies covered all the land.
2 tn The idiom uses the infinitive construct: “to enter Hamath,” meaning, “on the way that people go to Hamath.”
3 tn Heb “and the land of the Gebalites.”
4 tn Or “the entrance to Hamath.” Most modern translations take the phrase “Lebo Hamath” to be a proper name, but often provide a note with the alternative, where “Hamath” is the proper name and לְבוֹא (lÿvo’) is taken to mean “entrance to.”
5 tn Heb “was old, coming into the days.” This expression, referring to advancing in years, also occurs in the following clause.
6 tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”
7 tn Heb “Take with you all the people of war and arise, go up against Ai!”
8 tn 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.
9 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
10 tn “And Joshua and all the people of war arose to go up [against] Ai.”