Joshua 6:2-5

6:2 The Lord told Joshua, “See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you, ¹  along with its king and its warriors. 6:3 Have all the warriors march around the city one time; ²  do this for six days. 6:4 Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns ³  in front of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns. 6:5 When you hear the signal from the ram’s horn, ⁴  have the whole army give a loud battle cry. ⁵  Then the city wall will collapse ⁶  and the warriors should charge straight ahead.” ⁷ 

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¹ tn Heb “I have given into your hand Jericho.” The Hebrew verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, “I have given”) is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action. The Hebrew pronominal suffix “your” is singular, being addressed to Joshua as the leader and representative of the nation. To convey to the modern reader what is about to happen and who is doing it, the translation “I am about to defeat Jericho for you” has been used.

² tn Heb “and go around the city, all [you] men of war, encircling the city one time.” The Hebrew verb וְסַבֹּתֶם (vÿsabbotem, “and go around”) is plural, being addressed to the whole army.

³ tn Heb “rams’ horns, trumpets.”

⁴ tn Heb “and it will be at the sounding of the horn, the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn.” The text of Josh 6:5 seems to be unduly repetitive, so for the sake of English style and readability, it is best to streamline the text here. The reading in the Hebrew looks like a conflation of variant readings, with the second (“when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn”) being an interpolation that assimilates the text to verse 20 (“when the army heard the sound of the horn”). Note that the words “when you hear the sound of the ram's horn” do not appear in the LXX of verse 5.

⁵ tn Heb “all the people will shout with a loud shout.”

⁶ tn Heb “fall in its place.”

⁷ tn Heb “and the people will go up, each man straight ahead.”