translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JOS

label: NET translator note

text: Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”


text: Heb “Take with you all the people of war and arise, go up against Ai!”


text: Heb “I have given into our hand.” The verbal form, a perfect, is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action.


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


text: “And Joshua and all the people of war arose to go up [against] Ai.”


text: Heb “the people.”


text: Heb “come out after.”


text: Heb “from the ambush.”


text: Heb “take possession of.”


text: Heb “the city.”


text: Heb “I have commanded you.”


text: Or “the place of ambush.”


text: For location see Map4-G4 ; Map5-C1 ; Map6-E3 ; Map7-D1 ; Map8-G3 .


text: Heb “and they stayed between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai.”


text: Heb “in the midst of the people.”


text: Or “summoned, mustered.”


text: Or “elders.”


text: Heb “went up.”


text: Heb “them” (referring to “the people” in the previous clause, which requires a plural pronoun). Since the translation used “army” in the previous clause, a singular pronoun (“it”) is required in English.


text: Heb “All the people of war who were with him went up and approached and came opposite the city.”


text: Heb “and the valley [was] between them and Ai.”


text: Some Hebrew mss read, “spent the night in.”


text: Heb “When the king of Ai saw, the men of Ai hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people at the meeting place before the Arabah.”


text: Or “know.”


text: Heb “All the people.”


label: NET textual note

text: Some textual witnesses read “the city.”


text: Or “were summoned”; or “were mustered.”


text: The LXX omits the words “or Bethel.” map For location see Map4-G4 ; Map5-C1 ; Map6-E3 ; Map7-D1 ; Map8-G3 .


text: Heb “who did not go out after Israel.”


text: Heb “it”; the referent (the city of Ai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “and ran.”


text: Heb “and they saw, and look.” The Hebrew term הִנֵּה ( hinneh , “look”) draws attention to the scene and invites the audience to view the events from the perspective of the men of Ai.


text: Heb “and there was not in them hands to flee here or there.” The Hebrew term יָדַיִם ( yadayim , “hands”) is idiomatic for “strength.”


text: Heb “and that the smoke of the city ascended.”


text: Heb “and these went out from the city to meet them and they were for Israel in the middle, some on this side, and others on the other side.”


text: Heb “residents.”


text: Heb “in the field, in the desert in which they chased them.”


text: Heb “and all of them fell by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed.” The LXX omits the words, “and all of them fell by the edge of the sword.” They may represent a later scribal addition.


text: Heb “fell.”


text: Heb “Joshua did not draw back his hand which held out the curved sword until he had annihilated all the residents of Ai.”


text: Heb “according to the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua.”


text: Heb “and made it a permanent mound, a desolation, to this day.”


text: Heb “on a tree until evening.” The words “leaving him exposed” are supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “to this day.”


text: Heb “as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones on which no one had wielded iron.” The expression “whole stones” refers to stones in their natural condition, i.e., not carved or shaped artificially with tools (“wielded iron”).


text: Or “peace offerings.”


text: Heb “and he wrote there on the stones a duplicate of the law of Moses which he wrote before the sons of Israel.”


text: Heb “All Israel.”


text: Or “elders.”


text: Heb “like the resident alien, like the citizen.” The language is idiomatic, meaning that both groups were treated the same, at least in this instance.


text: Heb “as Moses, the Lord ’s servant, commanded to bless the people, Israel, formerly.” sn Moses’ earlier instructions are found in Deut 11:29 .


text: Or “afterward.”


text: Heb “There was not a word from all which Moses commanded that Joshua did not read aloud.”


text: Heb “walked in their midst.”