Paragraph 6:1–5

6:1a

Now: The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now introduces a parenthetical comment about Jericho.

Jericho was tightly shut up: The phrase Jericho was tightly shut up means that the gates in the wall around the town were closed so that they could not be opened from the outside.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

they closed the gates in the town wall

Jericho: Jericho was a town with a wall built around it for protection against its enemies.

tightly shut up: The Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tightly shut up is more literally “was shutting and shut up.” This is an idiom. It means that the gates were locked securely.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the gates were shut and locked securely
-or-
the gates were locked/barred tightly

6:1b

because of the Israelites: The phrase because of the Israelites indicates that they closed the town gates because they were afraid of the Israelites. They were afraid that the Israelite army would conquer their town.

6:1c

No one went out and no one came in: The clause No one went out and no one came in indicates that the Jericho people didn’t allow anybody to enter or leave their town. It shows how fearful the people of Jericho were of the Israelites.

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