SIL Translator’s Notes on Joshua 6:23

6:23a

So the young spies: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the young spies refers to young, unmarried men.

went in: It may be more natural in some languages to include the implied information:

went into ⌊Rahab’s house

6:23b

and brought out Rahab: They brought Rahab out of the house.

6:23c

her father and mother and brothers, and all who belonged to her: There are two ways to understand the phrase all who belonged to her.

(1) It refers to Rahab’s other relatives. For example:

all her kin (New American Bible)

(New American Bible, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version)

(2) It refers to Rahab’s slaves. For example:

family and slaves (Good News Translation)

(Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The Hebrew text does not mention Rahab’s slaves. If the phrase belonged to her implies ownership (such as owning a slave) in your language, then it would be better to make the meaning clear. For example, you could say:

her father, her mother, her brothers and her other relatives

Many English versions translate it literally and leave its meaning unclear.

6:23d

They brought out her whole family: The clause They brought out her whole family is a summary statement that emphasizes that they rescued her entire family. For example:

They moved her whole family to a safe place (New Living Translation (2004))

her whole family: The phrase her whole family refers to her extended family. This refers to the people listed in 6:23c, and not a different group of relatives.

6:23e

and settled them outside the camp of Israel: The men found a safe place for Rahab and her family to stay outside the camp of Israel. Rahab and her family could not enter the Israelite camp because they were not ceremonially clean. The Israelite camp was a holy place and only Israelites could enter it.

© 2001, 2011, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments