translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JOS

label: NET translator note

text: For location see Map5-B2 ; Map6-E1 ; Map7-E1 ; Map8-E3 ; Map10-A2 ; Map11-A1 .


text: Heb “was shutting and shut up.” HALOT 2:743 paraphrases, “blocking [any way of access] and blocked [against any who would leave].”


text: Heb “there was no one going out and there was no one coming in.”


text: 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.


text: Heb “and go around the city, all [you] men of war, encircling the city one time.” The Hebrew verb וְסַבֹּתֶם ( vÿsabbotem , “and go around”) is plural, being addressed to the whole army.


text: Heb “rams’ horns, trumpets.”


text: Heb “and it will be at the sounding of the horn, the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn.” The text of Josh 6:5 seems to be unduly repetitive, so for the sake of English style and readability, it is best to streamline the text here. The reading in the Hebrew looks like a conflation of variant readings, with the second (“when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn”) being an interpolation that assimilates the text to verse 20 (“when the army heard the sound of the horn”). Note that the words “when you hear the sound of the ram's horn” do not appear in the LXX of verse 5 .


text: Heb “all the people will shout with a loud shout.”


text: Heb “fall in its place.”


text: Heb “and the people will go up, each man straight ahead.”


text: An alternative reading is “and they said.” In this case the subject is indefinite and the verb should be translated as passive, “[the army] was told.”


text: Heb “the people.”


text: Heb “pass by.”


text: Heb “when Joshua spoke to the people.”


text: Or “the shout.”


text: Heb “do not let a word come out of your mouths.”


text: Heb “and he made the ark of the Lord go around the city, encircling one time.”


text: Heb “and they entered the camp and spent the night in the camp.”


text: Heb “Joshua rose early in the morning and the priests picked up the ark of the Lord .”


text: Heb “On the seventh day they rose early, when the dawn ascended.”


text: Heb “and they went around the city according to this manner seven times, only on that day they went around the city seven times.”


text: Heb “for the Lord has given to you the city.” The verbal form is a perfect, probably indicating certitude here.


text: Or “dedicated to the Lord .” sn To make the city set apart for the Lord would involve annihilating all the people and animals and placing its riches in the Lord ’s treasury (vv. 19, 21, 24 ).


text: Heb “messengers.”


text: Heb “Only you keep [away] from what is set apart [to the Lord ] so that you might not, as you are setting [it] apart, take some of what is set apart [to the Lord ] and make the camp of Israel set apart [to destruction by the Lord ] and bring trouble on it.”


text: Heb “it is holy to the Lord .”


label: NET textual note

text: Heb “and the people shouted and they blew the rams’ horns.” The initial statement (“and the people shouted”) seems premature, since the verse goes on to explain that the battle cry followed the blowing of the horns. The statement has probably been accidentally duplicated from what follows. It is omitted in the LXX.


text: Heb “the sound of the horn.”


text: Heb “they shouted with a loud shout.”


text: Heb “fell in its place.”


text: Heb “and the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead, and they captured the city.”


text: Heb “all which was in the city.”


text: Heb “the house of the woman, the prostitute.”


text: Heb “and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her as you swore on oath to her.”


text: Or “placed them outside.”


text: The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”


text: 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.


text: Heb “kept alive.”


text: Heb the house of her father.”


text: Or “among the Israelites”; Heb “in the midst of Israel.”


text: For location see Map5-B2 ; Map6-E1 ; Map7-E1 ; Map8-E3 ; Map10-A2 ; Map11-A1 .


text: 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.


text: Heb “rises up and builds.”


text: The LXX omits “Jericho.” It is probably a scribal addition.


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


text: 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.


text: Heb “and the report about him was in all the land.” The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’ erets , “land”) may also be translated “earth.”