Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 2:23:
Kupsabiny: “Then right away, those spies went down from the hills and crossed the river Jordan.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then they came down from the hills, crossed over the river and came to Joshua, son of Nun. Then they told him all the things that had happened.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The two spies went-down-(the-mountain) and crossed the river and returned to Josue. They told Josue all that had-happened.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then the two men started back toward their camp. They went down from the hills, went down to the river, crossed it at the place where people can walk across it, and returned to their camp. They told Joshua everything that had happened to them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Came down from the hills may be taken to mean “went down into the Jordan Valley.”
The Hebrew of this verse contains four verbs of motion (“returned”; “came down”; “crossed”; “came to”). Good News Translation combines the force of the first (“returned”) and last (“came to”) verbs in the series by rendering went back.
Everything that had happened is more literally “everything that had happened to them”; the clause may also be translated “everything that they had done” or “everything that they had experienced.”
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 .
Then: The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then indicates the next event in the story.
the two men started back, came down from the hill country: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the two men started back, came down from the hill country is more literally “and the two men returned, and they came down from the hills.” The phrase the two men refers to the Israelite spies.
from the hill country: It may be helpful to include the implicit information “where they were hiding.” For example:
they came down from the mountains ⌊where they hid⌋
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
Then the two Israelite men came back down from the hilly country -or-
Then the two spies went down from the hills ⌊where they had been hiding⌋
2:23b
and crossed the river: That Hebrew verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as crossed the river can also be translated “crossed.” On their way back to Joshua, the men had to cross the Jordan River. You may need to make the term Jordan River explicit in your translation.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
and they crossed ⌊the Jordan River⌋ -or-
they crossed ⌊the river⌋
2:23c
So they came to Joshua son of Nun: See the note about Joshua at verse 1:1b. It may be helpful to supply implicit information about the location.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
They returned ⌊to the camp⌋ and went to see Joshua, the son of Nun -or-
They came to Joshua the son of Nun ⌊at the Israelite camp⌋
2:23d
and reported all that had happened to them: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as all that had happened to them is more literally “all the things finding them.” This is a Hebrew idiom. It means “everything that had happened to them.” The word happened is an older way to say “happen.”
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
They told him everything that had happened to them -or-
They told him all the things that they had learned
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