Joshua 2:7

2:7 Meanwhile ¹  the king’s men tried to find them on the road to the Jordan River ²  near the fords. ³  The city gate was shut as soon as they set out in pursuit of them. ⁴ 

Joshua 2:15

2:15 Then Rahab ⁵  let them down by a rope ⁶  through the window. (Her ⁷  house was built as part of the city wall; she lived in the wall.) ⁸ 

Joshua 4:14

4:14 That day the Lord brought honor to Joshua before all Israel. They respected ⁹  him all his life, ¹⁰  just as they had respected ¹¹  Moses.

Joshua 5:5

5:5 Now ¹²  all the men ¹³  who left were circumcised, but all the sons ¹⁴  born on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt were uncircumcised.

Joshua 9:4

9:4 they did something clever. They collected some provisions ¹⁵  and put worn-out sacks on their donkeys, along with worn-out wineskins that were ripped and patched.

[2:7]  ¹ 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]  ² tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.

[2:7]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:15]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “For her house.”

[2:15]  ⁸ tc These explanatory statements are omitted in the LXX and probably represent a later scribal addition.

[4:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “feared.”

[4:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the days of his life.”

[4:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “had feared.”

[5:5]  ¹³ tn Or “indeed.”

[5:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “people.”

[5:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the people.”

[9:4]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “and they went and [?].” The root and meaning of the verb form יִצְטַיָּרוּ (yitstayyaru) are uncertain. The form is most likely a corruption of יִצְטַיָּדוּ (yitstayyadu), read by some Hebrew mss and ancient versions, from the root צוּד (tsud, “take provisions,” BDB 845 s.v. II צוד) which also occurs in v. 11. Note NRSV “they went and prepared provisions”; cf. NEB “They went and disguised themselves”; NIV “they went as a delegation.”