open

In Gbaya, the notion of being open (including speaking plainly in conversations) is emphasized in the referenced verses with bóóŋ, an ideophone that means to be wide open, to be completely clear.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Joshua 8:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 8:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “There was no single soldier who remained in Ai. Those people abandoned the city so no soldier was guarding it.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “All the men of Ai and Bethel went to pursue the Israelites. They went to pursue the Israelites, leaving the city wide open.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “All the men of Ai, as-well-as of Betel, pursued the Israelinhon, so there-were no ones who-defend remaining in the city.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “All the men of Ai and the men of Bethel pursued the Israeli army. They did not leave even one man in Ai to defend it. The gates of the city were left wide open.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Joshua 8:17

The Hebrew of this verse speaks of “Ai and Bethel” (see Revised Standard Version; Good News Translation footnote); the Septuagint omits “and Bethel,” which Good News Translation, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible follow; there seems to be no reason for supposing that the men of Bethel were involved in this campaign. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project favors the Hebrew text, and a translator should feel free to follow it. Ai was left unprotected, an easy target for the Israelite troops lying in ambush west of the city.

Went after represents two verbs in Hebrew (Revised Standard Version “go out after … pursued”). Some languages will require the retention of two verbs, one indicating departure from the city and the other the actual pursuit of the Israelites.

The city was left wide open refers specifically to the city gates. One may then translate the verse “Every man in Ai left the city and ran after the Israelites. There was no one left to defend the city, and the gates of the city were left wide open.” Or “… and the men of the city had left the gates wide open.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Joshua 8:17

8:17a

Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel: The clause Not a man was left refers to the men who were able to fight. Every fighting man went out.

Not a man was left…who did not go out: This use of Not and not is an example of a double negative in English. These two negative words together have an emphatic positive sense. In other words, every man went after Israel.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

every man in Ai went (Good News Translation)
-or-
not a man stayed (New Century Version)

in Ai or Bethel: The word Bethel is in the Hebrew text and in most English versions. Some versions omit the word Bethel because this town was not mentioned in the preceding verses.

It is recommended that you include the word Bethel. The towns of Ai and Bethel were close together. The people of Bethel went to help the men of their neighboring town.

8:17b

leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel: The soldiers of Ai ran out of the town gates and left them open, so that anyone could enter.

© 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.