They is literally “young men” (Revised Standard Version), which may be taken to mean that they were in their early twenties; the Hebrew word is used sometimes of unmarried males, but it does not necessarily imply that the young male so indicated is in fact a bachelor. However, if the receptor language requires a choice between “unmarried young men” and “married young men,” it would be better to use “unmarried young men.” There are indications elsewhere in the Old Testament that married men, or men with families, were occasionally released from the responsibilities of warfare. In the Hebrew text an appositional is attached to “young men” so that the text is literally “the young men, the spies.” However, they were identified as spies in verse 22, and many languages will prefer not to repeat this information so soon. Here, as elsewhere, one must be alert to the demands of the larger discourse unit, and not merely to the sentence as an isolated entity.

Rahab and all her family are brought out of Jericho and taken to a place near the Israelite camp. The significance of their being brought near, that is, not into the camp, is that they are all Gentiles and cannot enter the camp of Israel, which is holy.

All, family and slaves translates two phrases in Hebrew, “and all who belonged to her and all her group (or, clan)”; most translations, like Revised Standard Version, translate the second phrase “and all her kindred,” thus taking this Hebrew phrase to be completely equivalent in meaning to the preceding phrase. Some take it to be a summary statement (see New English Bible), “so they took out all her family (clan).” Good News Translation has made explicit the fact that the slaves would also be included in the group; but no other translation uses the word “slaves” here.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .