Joshua 2:14

2:14 The men said to her, “If you ¹  die, may we die too! ²  If you do not report what we’ve been up to, ³  then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance ⁴  to you.” ⁵ 

Joshua 7:5

7:5 The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them and chased them from in front of the city gate all the way to the fissures ⁶  and defeated them on the steep slope. ⁷  The people’s ⁸  courage melted away like water. ⁹ 

Joshua 8:14

8:14 When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. ¹⁰  But he did not realize ¹¹  men were hiding behind the city. ¹² 

Joshua 10:24

10:24 When they brought the kings out to Joshua, he ¹³  summoned all the men of Israel and said to the commanders of the troops who accompanied him, “Come here ¹⁴  and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came up ¹⁵  and put their feet on their necks.

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¹ tn The second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that Rahab’s entire family is in view.

² tn 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.

³ tn Heb “If you do not report this matter of ours.”

⁴ tn Heb “allegiance and faithfulness.” These virtual synonyms are joined in the translation as “unswerving allegiance” to emphasize the degree of promised loyalty.

⁵ tn The second person pronoun is feminine singular, referring specifically to Rahab.

⁶ tn The meaning and correct translation of the Hebrew word שְׁבָרִים (shÿvarim) is uncertain. The translation “fissures” is based on usage of the plural form of the noun in Ps 60:4 HT (60:2 ET), where it appears to refer to cracks in the earth caused by an earthquake. Perhaps deep ravines or gorges are in view, or the word is a proper noun (“all the way to Shebarim”).

⁷ sn The precise geographical location of the Israelite defeat at this “steep slope” is uncertain.

⁸ tn Or “army’s.”

⁹ tn Heb “and the heart of the people melted and became water.”

¹⁰ tn 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.”

¹¹ tn Or “know.”

¹² tn Heb “that (there was) an ambush for him behind the city.”

¹³ tn Heb “Joshua.” The translation has replaced the proper name with the pronoun (“he”) because a repetition of the proper name here would be redundant according to English style.

¹⁴ tn Or “Draw near.”

¹⁵ tn Or “drew near.”