Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 6:1:
Kupsabiny: “The gates of Jericho were shut so no one could go out or come in to the city because, those people had become scared of the people of Israel.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “By reason of the Israelites all the gates of Jericho were firmly closed. No one came out, no one went in.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Jerico was shut-up tightly/[lit. very well] by the ones who-were-living there because of the Israelinhon. No people could-go-in or could-go-out of the city.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Meanwhile, the guards of Jericho shut the gates of the city tightly, because they were afraid of the Israeli army. No one was allowed to go into the city or go out of it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The city is described as being completely closed to all outgoing or incoming traffic. Were kept shut and guarded translates two verbal participles, one active and the other passive; a literal rendering would be “had shut and was shut.” This suggests that a siege has been going on for some time as the narrative begins. It may be necessary to indicate who shut and guarded the gates of Jericho. For example, “The men of Jericho kept the city gates shut and guarded so that the Israelites could not get in.”
Similarly the second sentence may be rendered, “The men would not let anyone enter or leave the city.” A literal rendering of the text such as Revised Standard Version (“none went out, and none came in”), if interpreted according to strict rules of English grammar, would mean “none of the people of Israel went out or came in.” But the reference is to the people of the city, as New English Bible also makes explicit: “No one went out, no one came in.”
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 .
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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