Joshua 2:19

2:19 Anyone who leaves your house will be responsible for his own death – we are innocent in that case! But if anyone with you in the house is harmed, we will be responsible.

Joshua 4:5

4:5 Joshua told them, “Go in front of the ark of the Lord your God to the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to put a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the Israelite tribes.

Joshua 7:6

7:6 Joshua tore his clothes; he and the leaders of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening and threw dirt on their heads.

Joshua 8:18-19

8:18 The Lord told Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand. 8:19 When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

Joshua 10:27

10:27 At sunset Joshua ordered his men to take them down from the trees. They threw them into the cave where they had hidden and piled large stones over the mouth of the cave. (They remain to this very day.) 10 

Joshua 12:3

12:3 His kingdom included 11  the eastern Arabah from the Sea of Kinnereth 12  to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), 13  including the route to Beth Jeshimoth and the area southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

Joshua 17:3

17:3 Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Joshua 20:5-6

20:5 When the avenger of blood comes after him, they must not hand over to him the one who committed manslaughter, for he accidentally killed his fellow man without premeditation. 14  20:6 He must remain 15  in that city until his case is decided by the assembly 16  and the high priest dies. 17  Then the one who committed manslaughter may return home to the city from which he escaped.” 18 

Joshua 22:20

22:20 When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged, 19  though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!’” 20 


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

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

sn Tearing one’s clothes was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Gen 37:34; 44:13).

tn Or “elders.”

tn Heb “and fell on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel.”

sn Throwing dirt on one’s head was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Lam 2:10; Ezek 27:30).

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

tn Heb “and ran.”

sn For the legal background of the removal of the corpses before sundown, see Deut 21:22-23.

10 tn Heb “to this very day.” The words “They remain” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

11 tn The words “his kingdom included” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

12 sn The Sea of Kinnereth is another name for the Sea of Galilee. See the note on the word “Kinnereth” in 11:2.

13 sn The Salt Sea is another name for the Dead Sea.

14 tn Heb “for without knowledge he killed his neighbor, and he was not hating him prior to that.”

15 tn Or “live.”

16 tn Heb “until he stands before the assembly for judgment.”

17 tn Heb “until the death of the high priest who is in those days.”

18 tn Heb “may return and enter his city and his house, the city from which he escaped.”

19 tn Heb “Is it not [true that] Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful with unfaithfulness concerning what was set apart [to the Lord] and against all the assembly of Israel there was anger?”

20 tn The second half of the verse reads literally, “and he [was] one man, he did not die for his sin.” There are at least two possible ways to explain this statement: (1) One might interpret the statement to mean that Achan was not the only person who died for his sin. In this case it could be translated, “and he was not the only one to die because of his sin.” (2) Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to take the words וְהוּא אִישׁ אֶחָד (vÿhu’ ’ishekhad, “and he [was] one man”) as a concessive clause and join it with what precedes. The remaining words (לֹא גָוַע בַּעֲוֹנוֹ, logavabaavono) must then be taken as a rhetorical question (“Did he not die for his sin?”). Taking the last sentence as interrogative is consistent with the first part of the verse, a rhetorical question introduced with the interrogative particle. The present translation has converted these rhetorical questions into affirmative statements to bring out more clearly the points they are emphasizing. For further discussion, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 240.