Yosua 6:5

6:5 When you hear the signal from the ram’s horn, ¹  have the whole army give a loud battle cry. ²  Then the city wall will collapse ³  and the warriors should charge straight ahead.” ⁴ 

Yosua 6:20

6:20 The rams’ horns sounded ⁵  and when the army ⁶  heard the signal, ⁷  they gave a loud battle cry. ⁸  The wall collapsed ⁹  and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. ¹⁰ 

Yosua 8:20

8:20 When the men of Ai turned around, they saw ¹¹  the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. ¹²  In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.

Yosua 20:4

20:4 The one who committed manslaughter ¹³  should escape to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and present his case to the leaders of that city. ¹⁴  They should then bring him into the city, give him a place to stay, and let him live there. ¹⁵ 

[6:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and it will be at the sounding of the horn, the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn.” The text of Josh 6:5 seems to be unduly repetitive, so for the sake of English style and readability, it is best to streamline the text here. The reading in the Hebrew looks like a conflation of variant readings, with the second (“when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn”) being an interpolation that assimilates the text to verse 20 (“when the army heard the sound of the horn”). Note that the words “when you hear the sound of the ram's horn” do not appear in the LXX of verse 5.

[6:5]  ² tn Heb “all the people will shout with a loud shout.”

[6:5]  ³ tn Heb “fall in its place.”

[6:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the people will go up, each man straight ahead.”

[6:20]  ⁵ tc Heb “and the people shouted and they blew the rams’ horns.” The initial statement (“and the people shouted”) seems premature, since the verse goes on to explain that the battle cry followed the blowing of the horns. The statement has probably been accidentally duplicated from what follows. It is omitted in the LXX.

[6:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “the people.”

[6:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “the sound of the horn.”

[6:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “they shouted with a loud shout.”

[6:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “fell in its place.”

[6:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead, and they captured the city.”

[8:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they saw, and look.” The Hebrew term הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) draws attention to the scene and invites the audience to view the events from the perspective of the men of Ai.

[8:20]  ¹² tn Heb “and there was not in them hands to flee here or there.” The Hebrew term יָדַיִם (yadayim, “hands”) is idiomatic for “strength.”

[20:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the one who accidentally kills another, cf. v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and speak into the ears of the elders of that city his words.”

[20:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and they should gather him into the city to themselves, give to him a place, and he will live with them.”