Discovery BoxJoshua 2:3-5 
Context2:3 So the king of Jericho sent this order to Rahab: 1 “Turn over 2 the men who came to you 3 – the ones who came to your house 4 – for they have come to spy on the whole land!” 2:4 But the woman hid the two men 5 and replied, “Yes, these men were clients of mine, 6 but I didn’t know where they came from. 2:5 When it was time to shut the city gate for the night, the men left. 7 I don’t know where they were heading. Chase after them quickly, for you have time to catch them!”
1 tn Heb “and the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying.”
2 tn Heb “bring out.”
3 tn The idiom “come to” (בוֹא אֶל, bo’ ’el) probably has sexual connotations here, as it often does elsewhere when a man “comes to” a woman. If so, the phrase could be translated “your clients.” The instructions reflect Rahab’s perspective as to the identity of the men.
4 tn The words “the ones who came to your house” (Heb “who came to your house”) may be a euphemistic scribal addition designed to blur the sexual connotation of the preceding words.
5 tn Heb “The woman took the two men and hid him.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix on “hid” has to be a scribal error (see GKC §135.p).
6 tn Heb “the men came to me.” See the note on this phrase in v. 3.
7 tn Heb “And the gate was to be shut in the darkness and the men went out.”
