1 tn Heb "Joshua, son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spies, secretly, saying."

2tn Heb "go, see the land, and Jericho."

map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

3tn Heb "they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab, and they slept there."

4tn Or "look."

5tn Heb "men have come here tonight from the sons of Israel."

6tn Heb "and the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying."

7tn Heb "bring out."

8tn 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.

9tn 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.

10tn 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).

11tn Heb "the men came to me." See the note on this phrase in v. 3.

12tn Heb "And the gate was to be shut in the darkness and the men went out."

13tn Heb "arranged in rows by her."

14tn Another way to translate vv. 6-7 would be, "While she took them up to the roof and hid them…, the king's men tried to find them…." Both of the main clauses have the subject prior to the predicate, perhaps indicating simultaneous action. (On the grammatical point, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 42, §235.) In this case Rahab moves the Israelite spies from the hiding place referred to in v. 4 to a safer and less accessible hiding place.

15tn The word "River" is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.

16tn Heb "And the men chased after them [on] the road [leading to] the Jordan to the fords." The text is written from the perspective of the king's men. As far as they were concerned, they were chasing the spies.

17tn Heb "And they shut the gate after – as soon as the ones chasing after them went out." The expressions "after" and "as soon as" may represent a conflation of alternate readings.

18tn Heb "they."

19tn Heb "she"; the referent (Rahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

20tn The Hebrew text adds, "to them." This is somewhat redundant in English and has not been translated.

21tn Heb "has given the land to you." Rahab's statement uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.

22tn Heb "terror of you has fallen upon us."

23tn Or "melting away because of."

24tn Both of these statements are actually subordinated to "I know" in the Hebrew text, which reads, "I know that the Lord…and that terror of you…and that all the inhabitants…."

25tn Heb "and what you did to the two Amorite kings who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, how you annihilated them."

26tn Heb "And we heard and our heart[s] melted and there remained no longer breath in a man because of you."

27tn Heb "Now, swear to me by the Lord."

sn To swear an oath in the Lord's name would make the Lord the witness and guarantor of the promise attached to the oath. If the person making the oath should go back on the promise, the Lord would judge him for breaking the contract.

28tn Heb "with the house of my father."

29tn Heb "true sign," that is, "an inviolable token or pledge."

30tn Or "our lives."

31tn The second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that Rahab's entire family is in view.

32tn Heb "Our lives in return for you to die." If the lives of Rahab's family are not spared, then the spies will pay for the broken vow with their own lives.

33tn Heb "If you do not report this matter of ours."

34tn Heb "allegiance and faithfulness." These virtual synonyms are joined in the translation as "unswerving allegiance" to emphasize the degree of promised loyalty.

35tn The second person pronoun is feminine singular, referring specifically to Rahab.

36tn Heb "she"; the referent (Rahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

37tc The phrase "by a rope" is omitted in the LXX. It may be a later clarifying addition. If original, the omission in the LXX is likely due to an error of homoioarcton. A scribe's or translator's eye could have jumped from the initial ב (bet) in the phrase בַּחֶבֶל (bakhevel, "with a rope") to the initial ב on the immediately following בְּעַד (b˙'ad, "through") and accidentally omitted the intervening letters.

38tn Heb "For her house."

39tc These explanatory statements are omitted in the LXX and probably represent a later scribal addition.

40tn Heb "Go."

41tn Heb "so that the pursuers might not meet you."

42tn Heb "the pursuers." The object ("you") is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.

43tn Heb "We are free from this oath of yours which you made us swear." The words "unless the following conditions are met" are not in the Hebrew text, but are added for clarification.

44tn Heb "Look! We are about to enter the land."

45tn Heb "the cord of this red thread."

46tn Heb "and your father and your mother and your brothers and all the house of your father gather to yourself to the house."

47tn Heb "Anyone who goes out from the doors of your house to the outside, his blood is on his head. We are innocent."

48tn Heb "But anyone who is with you in the house, his blood is on our head if a hand should be on him."

49tn Heb "and if you report this matter of ours."

50tn Heb "According to your words, so it [will be]."

51tn Heb "she sent them away and they went."

52tn Heb "they went and came."

53tn Heb "the pursuers." The object ("them") is added for clarification.

54tn Heb "the ones chasing them." This has been rendered as "their pursuers" in the translation to avoid redundancy with the preceding clause.

55tn Heb "The pursuers looked in all the way and did not find [them]."

56tn The words "the river," though not in the Hebrew text, are added for clarification.

57tn Heb "Surely the Lord has given into our hand all the land." The report by the spies uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.

58tn Heb "are melting away because of us."