Joshua 2:5

2:5 When it was time to shut the city gate for the night, the men left. ¹  I don’t know where they were heading. Chase after them quickly, for you have time to catch them!”

Joshua 2:7

2:7 Meanwhile ²  the king’s men tried to find them on the road to the Jordan River ³  near the fords. ⁴  The city gate was shut as soon as they set out in pursuit of them. ⁵ 

Joshua 2:15

2:15 Then Rahab ⁶  let them down by a rope ⁷  through the window. (Her ⁸  house was built as part of the city wall; she lived in the wall.) ⁹ 

[2:5]  ¹ tn Heb “And the gate was to be shut in the darkness and the men went out.”

[2:7]  ² tn Another way to translate vv. 6-7 would be, “While she took them up to the roof and hid them…, the king’s men tried to find them….” Both of the main clauses have the subject prior to the predicate, perhaps indicating simultaneous action. (On the grammatical point, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 42, §235.) In this case Rahab moves the Israelite spies from the hiding place referred to in v. 4 to a safer and less accessible hiding place.

[2:7]  ³ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “And the men chased after them [on] the road [leading to] the Jordan to the fords.” The text is written from the perspective of the king’s men. As far as they were concerned, they were chasing the spies.

[2:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “And they shut the gate after – as soon as the ones chasing after them went out.” The expressions “after” and “as soon as” may represent a conflation of alternate readings.

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:15]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “For her house.”

[2:15]  ⁶ tc These explanatory statements are omitted in the LXX and probably represent a later scribal addition.