translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JOS

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “Joshua, son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spies, secretly, saying.”


text: Heb “go, see the land, and Jericho.” map For location see Map5-B2 ; Map6-E1 ; Map7-E1 ; Map8-E3 ; Map10-A2 ; Map11-A1 .


text: Heb “they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab, and they slept there.”


text: Or “look.”


text: Heb “men have come here tonight from the sons of Israel.”


text: Heb “and the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying.”


text: Heb “bring out.”


text: The idiom “come to” ( בוֹא אֶל , bo ’ ’ el ) probably has sexual connotations here, as it often does elsewhere when a man “comes to” a woman. If so, the phrase could be translated “your clients.” The instructions reflect Rahab’s perspective as to the identity of the men.


text: The words “the ones who came to your house” ( Heb “who came to your house”) may be a euphemistic scribal addition designed to blur the sexual connotation of the preceding words.


text: Heb “The woman took the two men and hid him.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix on “hid” has to be a scribal error (see GKC §135. p ).


text: Heb “the men came to me.” See the note on this phrase in v. 3 .


text: Heb “And the gate was to be shut in the darkness and the men went out.”


text: Heb “arranged in rows by her.”


text: 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.


text: The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.


text: 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.


text: 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.


text: Heb “they.”


text: Heb “she”; the referent (Rahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The Hebrew text adds, “to them.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has not been translated.


text: Heb “has given the land to you.” Rahab’s statement uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.


text: Heb “terror of you has fallen upon us.”


text: Or “melting away because of.”


text: Both of these statements are actually subordinated to “I know” in the Hebrew text, which reads, “I know that the Lord …and that terror of you…and that all the inhabitants….”


text: Heb “and what you did to the two Amorite kings who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, how you annihilated them.”


text: Heb “And we heard and our heart[s] melted and there remained no longer breath in a man because of you.”


text: Heb “Now, swear to me by the Lord .” sn To swear an oath in the Lord ’s name would make the Lord the witness and guarantor of the promise attached to the oath. If the person making the oath should go back on the promise, the Lord would judge him for breaking the contract.


text: Heb “with the house of my father.”


text: Heb “true sign,” that is, “an inviolable token or pledge.”


text: Or “our lives.”


text: The second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that Rahab’s entire family is in view.


text: 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.


text: Heb “If you do not report this matter of ours.”


text: Heb “allegiance and faithfulness.” These virtual synonyms are joined in the translation as “unswerving allegiance” to emphasize the degree of promised loyalty.


text: The second person pronoun is feminine singular, referring specifically to Rahab.


label: NET textual note

text: 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.


text: Heb “For her house.”


text: These explanatory statements are omitted in the LXX and probably represent a later scribal addition.


text: Heb “Go.”


text: Heb “so that the pursuers might not meet you.”


text: Heb “the pursuers.” The object (“you”) is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.


text: 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.


text: Heb “Look! We are about to enter the land.”


text: Heb “the cord of this red thread.”


text: Heb “and your father and your mother and your brothers and all the house of your father gather to yourself to the house.”


text: Heb “Anyone who goes out from the doors of your house to the outside, his blood is on his head. We are innocent.”


text: Heb “But anyone who is with you in the house, his blood is on our head if a hand should be on him.”


text: Heb “and if you report this matter of ours.”


text: Heb “According to your words, so it [will be].”


text: Heb “she sent them away and they went.”


text: Heb “they went and came.”


text: Heb “the pursuers.” The object (“them”) is added for clarification.


text: Heb “the ones chasing them.” This has been rendered as “their pursuers” in the translation to avoid redundancy with the preceding clause.


text: Heb “The pursuers looked in all the way and did not find [them].”


text: The words “the river,” though not in the Hebrew text, are added for clarification.


text: Heb “Surely the Lord has given into our hand all the land.” The report by the spies uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.


text: Heb “are melting away because of us.”