8:1 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! 7 Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! 8 See, I am handing over to you 9 the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.
19:51 These are the land assignments which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the Israelite tribal leaders 19 made by drawing lots in Shiloh before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 20 So they finished dividing up the land.
1 tn 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
2 tn Heb “rises up and builds.”
3 tc The LXX omits “Jericho.” It is probably a scribal addition.
4 tn The Hebrew phrase אָרוּר לִפְנֵי יְהוָה (’arur lifney yÿhvah, “cursed [i.e., condemned] before the
5 tn 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.
6 tn Or “Trouble” The name is “Achor” in Hebrew, which means “disaster” or “trouble” (also in v. 26).
7 tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”
8 tn Heb “Take with you all the people of war and arise, go up against Ai!”
9 tn 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.
10 tn Heb “on a tree until evening.” The words “leaving him exposed” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
11 sn For the legal background of this action, see Deut 21:22-23.
12 tn Heb “to this day.”
13 tn Heb “your servants.”
14 tn Or “we were very afraid.”
15 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.
16 tn Or “Draw near.”
17 tn Or “drew near.”
18 tn Heb “If you are a great people.”
19 tn Heb “the leaders of the fathers of the tribes.”
20 tn Heb “at the entrance of the tent of assembly.”
sn On the tent of meeting see Exod 33:7-11.