JOS 2:14 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) “Our lives for your lives,” the two men agreed. “If you don’t tell anyone about our agreement, then when Yahweh gives us this land, we’ll show kindness and faithfulness to you.”

Key: khaki:verbs, red:negative, green:YHWH.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX Καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῇ οἱ ἄνδρες, ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν ἀνθʼ ὑμῶν εἰς θάνατον· καὶ αὐτὴ εἶπεν, ὡς ἂν παραδῷ Κύριος ὑμῖν τὴν πόλιν, ποιήσετε εἰς ἐμὲ ἔλεος καὶ ἀλήθειαν.
(Kai eipan autaʸ hoi andres, haʸ psuⱪaʸ haʸmōn anthʼ humōn eis thanaton; kai autaʸ eipen, hōs an paradōi Kurios humin taʸn polin, poiaʸsete eis eme eleos kai alaʸtheian. )

BrTr And the men said to her, Our life for yours even to death: and she said, When the Lord shall have delivered the city to you, ye shall deal mercifully and truly with me.

ULT And the men said to her, “Our lives in place of yours to die! If you do not tell this matter of ours, then it will happen, in Yahweh’s giving the land to us, that we will do kindness and faithfulness with you.”

UST The two men told her, “May Yahweh cause us to die if we let anyone kill you or your family! If you do not tell others what we are planning to do, then we will act kindly toward you and all your family. We will not kill you when Yahweh enables us to conquer this land.”

OEB The men replied, ‘Our lives for yours – only you must not breathe a word about our errand. Then we will deal kindly and honestly with you when the Lord gives us the country.’

WEBBE The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when the LORD gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

WMBB (Same as above)

NET The men said to her, “If you die, may we die too! If you do not report what we’ve been up to, then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance to you.”

LSV And the men say to her, “Our soul to die for yours; if you do not declare this—our matter, then it has been, in YHWH’s giving this land to us, that we have done kindness and truth with you.”

FBV “Our lives for yours!” the men told her. “If you don't tell anyone about this, we will treat you honestly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”

T4T The two men replied, “We desire that God will cause us to die if we do not do as we say! If you do not tell others what we are planning to do, we will act kindly toward you all when Yahweh enables us to possess the land.”

LEB And the men said to her, “_⌊Our lives for yours_⌋.[fn] If you do not report this business of ours, _⌊we will show you loyalty and faithfulness_⌋[fn] when Yahweh gives us the land.”

2:14 Literally “Our lives in place of yours to die”

2:14 Literally “we will do with you loyal love and faithfulness”

BBE And the men said to her, Our life for yours if you keep our business secret; and when the Lord has given us the land, we will keep faith and be kind to you.

Moff The men replied, ‘Our lives for yours — only you must not breathe a word about our errand; then we will deal kindly and honestly with you when the Eternal gives us the country.”

JPS And the men said unto her: 'Our life for yours, if ye tell not this our business; and it shall be, when the LORD giveth us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.'

ASV And the men said unto her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business; and it shall be, when Jehovah giveth us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

DRA They answered her: Be our lives for you unto death, only if thou betray us not. And when the Lord shall have delivered us the land, we will shew thee mercy and truth.

YLT And the men say to her, 'Our soul for yours — to die; if ye declare not this our matter, then it hath been, in Jehovah's giving to us this land, that we have done with thee kindness and truth.'

Drby And the men said to her, Our lives shall pay for yours, if ye do not make this our business known; and it shall be when Jehovah shall give us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

RV And the men said unto her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business; and it shall be, when the LORD giveth us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
(And the men said unto her, Our life for yours, if ye/you_all utter not this our business; and it shall be, when the LORD giveth/gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee/you. )

SLT And the men will say to her, Our soul instead of yours to die if ye shall not announce this our word. And it being in Jehovah’s giving to us the land, and we did with thee mercy and truth.

Wbstr And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

KJB-1769 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.[fn]
(And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye/you_all utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath/has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee/you. )

2.14 for…: Heb. instead of you to die

KJB-1611 And the men answered her, Our life [fn]for yours, if yee vtter not this our businesse. And it shall bee when the LORD hath giuen vs the land, that wee will deale kindely and truely with thee.
(And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye/you_all utter not this our business. And it shall be when the LORD hath/has given us the land, that we will deal kindely and truly with thee/you.)

2:14 Hebr. in stead of you to die.

Bshps And the men aunswered her: Our lyues for you to dye, yf ye vtter not this our busynesse. And when the Lorde hath geuen vs the lande, we wyll deale mercyfully and truely with thee.
(And the men answered her: Our lives for you to dye, if ye/you_all utter not this our busyness. And when the Lord hath/has given us the land, we will deal mercyfully and truly with thee/you.)

Gnva And the men answered her, Our life for you to die, if ye vtter not this our businesse: and when the Lord hath giuen vs the lande, we will deale mercifully and truely with thee.
(And the men answered her, Our life for you to die, if ye/you_all utter not this our business: and when the Lord hath/has given us the land, we will deal mercifully and truly with thee/you. )

Cvdl The men sayde vnto her: Yf we shewe not mercy and faithfulnesse vpon the, whan the LORDE geueth vs the londe, then let oure soule dye for you, so farre as thou betrayest not oure deuyce.
(The men said unto her: If we show not mercy and faithfulness upon them, when the LORD giveth/gives us the land, then let our soul dye for you, so far as thou/you betrayest not our deuyce.)

Wycl Whiche answeriden to hir, Oure lijf be for you in to deeth, if netheles thou bitraiest not vs; and whanne the Lord hath bitake to vs the lond, we schulen do mercy and treuthe in thee.
(Which answered to her, Our life be for you in to death, if nevertheless thou/you bitraiest not us; and when the Lord hath/has betake/give/grant to us the land, we should do mercy and truth in thee/you.)

Luth Die Männer sprachen zu ihr: tun wir nicht Barmherzigkeit und Treue an dir, wenn uns der HErr das Land gibt, so soll unsere SeeLE für euch des Todes sein, sofern du unser Geschäft nicht verrätest.
(The men said to/for you(pl)/their/her: do/put we/us not compassion and loyalty/faithfulness at/to you/to_you(sg), when us/to_us/ourselves the/of_the LORD the country gives, so should our soul for/in_favour_of you the death be, sofern you(sg) our business not revealsest.)

ClVg Qui responderunt ei: Anima nostra sit pro vobis in mortem, si tamen non prodideris nos: cumque tradiderit nobis Dominus terram, faciemus in te misericordiam et veritatem.
(Who they_answered to_him: Soul our be for to_you(pl) in/into/on death, when/but_if nevertheless not/no prodideris us: how_come tradiderit us Master the_earth/land, we_will_do in/into/on you(sg) mercy and the_truth. )

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 2:1–24 Joshua sent men to explore Jericho secretly

Joshua sent two men to look at Jericho, a town in the land of Canaan. A woman of Jericho called Rahab hid the two men so that the king’s soldiers could not find them. She did this because she believed that Yahweh would help the Israelites conquer their land. The men promised Rahab that if she did not betray them, they would rescue her and her family when the Israelites conquered the town. Rahab helped the men escape from Jericho and they hid in the hills for three days. When the soldiers of Jericho stopped looking for them, they returned to Joshua.

Here are some other possible section headings:

The spies went to Jericho

The spies and Rahab

Rahab helped the spies

Paragraph 2:12–14

Rahab asked the spies to spare her and her family. The spies promised to do this if she helped them escape.

2:14a

“Our lives for your lives!”

“We^(dual)(excl) offer our own lives as a guarantee for your lives,”
“We will give up our lives to protect your lives,”

The Hebrew conjunction that some English versions translate as “And” indicates the next event in the story. Use a connecting word that is natural in your language to indicate this. Some English versions, like the BSB, do not translate this connecting word.

Our lives for your lives: The Hebrew clause that the BSB translates as Our lives for your lives is more literally “Our lives instead of you^(plur) to die.” The two spies promised to protect Rahab and her family even if it means that they must die themselves.2:14 Dallaire p. 869; Woudstra p. 74.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety (NLT)

We^(dual)(excl) will give our lives to protect your lives

2:14b

the men agreed.

the men said:
the two men answered her.

the men agreed: Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

So the two men answered her

The men told her

2:14c

“If you do not report our mission,

“But you^(plur) must not talk about our plans to anyone.
“But you must not tell anyone what we have been doing.

If: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as If introduces the condition on which the Israelites will keep Rahab’s family safe.

you do not report: The Hebrew inflection that the BSB translates as you is second person plural. It refers to Rahab and her family.

our mission: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as mission can refer to any kind of matter or happening. In this context it refers to the men’s exploring the land so that the Israelites could attack it.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

If you do not tell anyone what we have been doing (GNT)

If you do not tell anyone about this matter of ours

2:14d

we will show you kindness and faithfulness when the LORD gives us the land.”

If you do that, we will treat you^(sing) with kindness and faithfulness when Yahweh gives us this land.”
Then we will be loyal and true to you when Yahweh helps us take this land.”

This verse part starts with a Hebrew conjunction that the BSB leaves untranslated. This conjunction introduces result. It explains what the men promised to do if Rahab did what they asked her to do. (They asked her not to tell anybody about them). One way to translate this transition would be as the RSV does:

Then (RSV)

we will show you kindness and faithfulness: The Hebrew sentence that the BSB translates as we will show you kindness and faithfulness is more literally, “we will do with you loyalty and faithfulness.” This phrase describes acts that are done because people have made a covenant, or agreement, between each other. For example, it is used in Genesis 24:27.2:14 Woudstra p. 74.

The term kindness translates the Hebrew word ḥesed that was used in verse 2:12 (12b and 12c). You should translate it the same way in each place. The term faithfulness indicates that the two men would be trustworthy in their relationship with Rahab.

you: The pronoun you is singular. The men referred only to Rahab.

when the LORD gives us the land: The clause when the LORD gives us the land refers to the time when Yahweh will help the Israelites to conquer the land of Canaan.

Here are some other ways to translates this part of the verse:

Then we^(excl) will act with kindness and faithfulness towards you^(sing) when Yahweh gives us this land.

We will be loyal and true to you when Yahweh helps us to take over the land.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-oathformula

נַפְשֵׁ֤⁠נוּ תַחְתֵּי⁠כֶם֙ לָ⁠מ֔וּת

life_of,our [is]_for,you(pl) to,die

This is an oath formula in which the two spies are promising to give their lives (allow themselves to be killed) if they do not keep their promise and spare the lives of Rahab and her family when the Israelites conquer Jericho and kill its inhabitants. Alternate translation: [If we do not do what we promise, may Yahweh take our lives] or [If you and your family are killed when we conquer Jericho, may Yahweh kill us as well]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular

תַחְתֵּי⁠כֶם֙

[is]_for,you(pl)

The word yours is plural and refers to Rahab and her family. Alternate translation: [in place of the lives of you and your family]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

וְ⁠עָשִׂ֥ינוּ עִמָּ֖⁠ךְ חֶ֥סֶד וֶ⁠אֱמֶֽת

and,we_will_do with,you kindly and,faithfulness

If your language does not use abstract nouns for the ideas of kindness and faithfulness, you could express the same ideas with adjectives or in some other way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [that we will act kindly and faithfully towards you]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet