Joshua 2:12-19

2:12 So now, promise me this with an oath sworn in the Lord’s name. ¹  Because I have shown allegiance to you, show allegiance to my family. ²  Give me a solemn pledge ³  2:13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us ⁴  from death.” 2:14 The men said to her, “If you ⁵  die, may we die too! ⁶  If you do not report what we’ve been up to, ⁷  then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance ⁸  to you.” ⁹ 

2:15 Then Rahab ¹⁰  let them down by a rope ¹¹  through the window. (Her ¹²  house was built as part of the city wall; she lived in the wall.) ¹³  2:16 She told them, “Head ¹⁴  to the hill country, so the ones chasing you don’t find you. ¹⁵  Hide from them there for three days, long enough for those chasing you ¹⁶  to return. Then you can be on your way.” 2:17 The men said to her, “We are not bound by this oath you made us swear unless the following conditions are met: ¹⁷  2:18 When we invade the land ¹⁸ , tie this red rope ¹⁹  in the window through which you let us down, and gather together in your house your father, mother, brothers, and all who live in your father’s house. ²⁰  2:19 Anyone who leaves your house will be responsible for his own death – we are innocent in that case! ²¹  But if anyone with you in the house is harmed, we will be responsible. ²² 

Joshua 6:22-25

6:22 Joshua told the two men who had spied on the land, “Enter the prostitute’s house ²³  and bring out the woman and all who belong to her as you promised her.” ²⁴  6:23 So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside ²⁵  the Israelite camp. 6:24 But they burned ²⁶  the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the Lord’s house. ²⁷  6:25 Yet Joshua spared ²⁸  Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, ²⁹  and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel ³⁰  to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho. ³¹ 

Joshua 11:19

11:19 No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon); ³²  they had to conquer all of them, ³³ 

Deuteronomy 20:10-11

20:10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 20:11 If it accepts your terms ³⁴  and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. ³⁵ 

Deuteronomy 20:2

20:2 As you move forward for battle, the priest ³⁶  will approach and say to the soldiers, ³⁷ 

Deuteronomy 21:2

21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ³⁸ 

Jeremiah 18:7-8

18:7 There are times, Jeremiah, ³⁹  when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. ⁴⁰  18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, ⁴¹  I will cancel the destruction ⁴²  I intended to do to it.

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Now, swear to me by the Lord.”

[2:12]  ² tn Heb “with the house of my father.”

[2:12]  ³ tn Heb “true sign,” that is, “an inviolable token or pledge.”

[2:13]  ⁴ tn Or “our lives.”

[2:14]  ⁵ tn The second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that Rahab’s entire family is in view.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “Our lives in return for you to die.” If the lives of Rahab’s family are not spared, then the spies will pay for the broken vow with their own lives.

[2:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “If you do not report this matter of ours.”

[2:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “allegiance and faithfulness.” These virtual synonyms are joined in the translation as “unswerving allegiance” to emphasize the degree of promised loyalty.

[2:14]  ⁹ tn The second person pronoun is feminine singular, referring specifically to Rahab.

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:15]  ¹¹ tc The phrase “by a rope” is omitted in the LXX. It may be a later clarifying addition. If original, the omission in the LXX is likely due to an error of homoioarcton. A scribe’s or translator’s eye could have jumped from the initial ב (bet) in the phrase בַּחֶבֶל (bakhevel, “with a rope”) to the initial ב on the immediately following בְּעַד (bÿ’ad, “through”) and accidentally omitted the intervening letters.

[2:15]  ¹² tn Heb “For her house.”

[2:15]  ¹³ tc These explanatory statements are omitted in the LXX and probably represent a later scribal addition.

[2:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Go.”

[2:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “so that the pursuers might not meet you.”

[2:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the pursuers.” The object (“you”) is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.

[2:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “We are free from this oath of yours which you made us swear.” The words “unless the following conditions are met” are not in the Hebrew text, but are added for clarification.

[2:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Look! We are about to enter the land.”

[2:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the cord of this red thread.”

[2:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and your father and your mother and your brothers and all the house of your father gather to yourself to the house.”

[2:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “Anyone who goes out from the doors of your house to the outside, his blood is on his head. We are innocent.”

[2:19]  ²² tn Heb “But anyone who is with you in the house, his blood is on our head if a hand should be on him.”

[6:22]  ²³ tn Heb “the house of the woman, the prostitute.”

[6:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her as you swore on oath to her.”

[6:23]  ²⁵ tn Or “placed them outside.”

[6:24]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”

[6:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the treasury of the house of the Lord.” Technically the Lord did not have a “house” yet, so perhaps this refers to the tabernacle using later terminology.

[6:25]  ²⁸ tn Heb “kept alive.”

[6:25]  ²⁹ tn Heb the house of her father.”

[6:25]  ³⁰ tn Or “among the Israelites”; Heb “in the midst of Israel.”

[6:25]  ³¹ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[11:19]  ³² tn The LXX omits this parenthetical note, which may represent a later scribal addition.

[11:19]  ³³ tn Heb “the whole they took in battle.”

[20:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”

[20:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.” The Hebrew term translated slaves (מַס, mas) refers either to Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:27; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites exemplify this type of servitude (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).

[20:2]  ³⁶ sn The reference to the priest suggests also the presence of the ark of the covenant, the visible sign of God’s presence. The whole setting is clearly that of “holy war” or “Yahweh war,” in which God himself takes initiative as the true commander of the forces of Israel (cf. Exod 14:14-18; 15:3-10; Deut 3:22; 7:18-24; 31:6, 8).

[20:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and he will say to the people.” Cf. NIV, NCV, CEV “the army”; NRSV, NLT “the troops.”

[21:2]  ³⁸ tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[18:7]  ³⁹ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but it is implicit from the introduction in v. 5 that he is being addressed. It is important to see how the rhetoric of this passage is structured. The words of vv. 7-10 lead up to the conclusion “So now” in v. 11 which in turns leads to the conclusion “Therefore” in v. 13. The tense of the verb in v. 12 is very important. It is a vav consecutive perfect indicating the future (cf. GKC 333 §112.p, r); their response is predictable. The words of vv. 7-10 are addressed to Jeremiah (v. 5) in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to speak to him (v. 2) and furnish the basis for the Lord’s words of conditional threat to a people who show no promise of responding positively (vv. 11-12). Verse six then must be seen as another example of the figure of apostrophe (the turning aside from description about someone to addressing them directly; cf., e.g., Ps 6:8-9 (6:9-10 HT). Earlier examples of this figure have been seen in 6:20; 9:4; 11:13; 12:13; 15:6.

[18:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “One moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to…” So also in v. 9. The translation is structured this way to avoid an awkward English construction and to reflect the difference in disposition. The constructions are, however, the same.

[18:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”

[18:8]  ⁴² tn There is a good deal of debate about how the word translated here “revoke” should be translated. There is a good deal of reluctance to translate it “change my mind” because some see that as contradicting Num 23:19 and thus prefer “relent.” However, the English word “relent” suggests the softening of an attitude but not necessarily the change of course. It is clear that in many cases (including here) an actual change of course is in view (see, e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9; Jer 26:19; Exod 13:17; 32:14). Several of these passages deal with “conditional” prophecies where a change in behavior of the people or the mediation of a prophet involves the change in course of the threatened punishment (or the promised benefit). “Revoke” or “forgo” may be the best way to render this in contemporary English idiom.