Deuteronomy 13:16

13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza ¹  and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin ²  forever – it must never be rebuilt again.

Joshua 6:26

6:26 At that time Joshua made this solemn declaration: ³  “The man who attempts to rebuild ⁴  this city of Jericho ⁵  will stand condemned before the Lord. ⁶  He will lose his firstborn son when he lays its foundations and his youngest son when he erects its gates!” ⁷ 

Joshua 6:2

6:2 The Lord told Joshua, “See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you, ⁸  along with its king and its warriors.

Joshua 10:27

10:27 At sunset Joshua ordered his men to take them down from the trees. ⁹  They threw them into the cave where they had hidden and piled large stones over the mouth of the cave. (They remain to this very day.) ¹⁰ 

Ezra 6:11

6:11 “I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled ¹¹  on it, and his house is to be reduced ¹²  to a rubbish heap ¹³  for this indiscretion. ¹⁴ 

[13:16]  ¹ tn Heb “street.”

[13:16]  ² tn Heb “mound”; NAB “a heap of ruins.” The Hebrew word תֵּל (tel) refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).

[6:26]  ³ tn Normally the Hiphil of שָׁבַע (shava’) has a causative sense (“make [someone] take an oath”; see Josh 2:17, 20), but here (see also Josh 23:7) no object is stated or implied. If Joshua is calling divine judgment down upon the one who attempts to rebuild Jericho, then “make a solemn appeal [to God as judge]” or “pronounce a curse” would be an appropriate translation. However, the tone seems stronger. Joshua appears to be announcing the certain punishment of the violator. 1 Kgs 16:34, which records the fulfillment of Joshua’s prediction, supports this. Casting Joshua in a prophetic role, it refers to Joshua’s statement as the “word of the Lord” spoken through Joshua.

[6:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “rises up and builds.”

[6:26]  ⁵ tc The LXX omits “Jericho.” It is probably a scribal addition.

[6:26]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew phrase אָרוּר לִפְנֵי יְהוָה (’arur lifney yÿhvah, “cursed [i.e., condemned] before the Lord”) also occurs in 1 Sam 26:19.

[6:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “With his firstborn he will lay its foundations and with his youngest he will erect its gates.” The Hebrew verb יַצִּיב (yatsiv, “he will erect”) is imperfect, not jussive, suggesting Joshua’s statement is a prediction, not an imprecation.

[6:2]  ⁸ tn 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.

[10:27]  ⁹ sn For the legal background of the removal of the corpses before sundown, see Deut 21:22-23.

[10:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to this very day.” The words “They remain” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:11]  ¹¹ sn The practice referred to in v. 11 has been understood in various ways: hanging (cf. 1 Esd 6:32 and KJV); flogging (cf. NEB, NLT); impalement (BDB 1091 s.v. זְקַף; HALOT 1914 s.v. מחא hitpe; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The latter seems the most likely.

[6:11]  ¹² tn Aram “made.”

[6:11]  ¹³ tn Aram “a dunghill.”

[6:11]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “for this.”