4:8 The Israelites did just as Joshua commanded. They picked up twelve stones, according to the number of the Israelite tribes, from the middle of the Jordan as the Lord had instructed Joshua. They carried them over with them to the camp and put them there.
5:1 When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they 1 crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites. 2
1 tc Another textual tradition has, “while we crossed.”
2 tn Heb “their heart[s] melted and there was no longer in them breathe because of the sons of Israel.”
3 tn 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.
4 tn Heb “and there was not in them hands to flee here or there.” The Hebrew term יָדַיִם (yadayim, “hands”) is idiomatic for “strength.”
5 tn Heb “on the descent of.”
6 tn Or “heaven” (also in v. 13). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
7 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.
8 tn Or “Draw near.”
9 tn Or “drew near.”
10 tn Heb “be a trap and a snare to you.”
11 tn Heb “in.”
12 tn Heb “thorns in your eyes.”
13 tn Or “perish.”