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The conquest of Jericho (Joshua 6) is an intriguing biblical story that provides examples of word forms and syntactical constructions useful for learning more about Hebrew. We will study the Hebrew of verses 1–4 in detail (consult any standard English Bible for a translation of the entire passage):
.aB; ÷yaewÒax~?~E/y ÷yae la=er;c]yI yn¤EB] yn£emi tr,G<±sumeW tr,°g 6:1 /j~?~yriyÒAta, ò+d]~?~y:b] yTit¢’n: h~aer] [‘vu+/hyÒAla, h~r;hyÒ rm,aY»”Iw 2 hm;+j;l]Pih’ yv°enÒa’ lKi~?~ ry[ioh;Ata, µt°,Bok’wÒ 3 .lyIj;h, yr~?~e/BGI HK=;l]m’Ata,wÒ h[°;b]viwÒ 4 .µymiy: tv,ve hc~?~,[}t’ hKo tj=;a, µ[‘P¢’ ry[~?~ih;Ata, ¹yQeh’ y[i+ybiV]h’ µ~/b’W ÷/r+a;h; y¤emeli µ~ylib]/Y”h’ t/r~?~g]/v h[;b]vi W¡ac]yI µynIßh}ko .t/rp;/ViB’ W[~?~q]yI µynI±h}Ki°h’wÒ µym=i[;P] [b’v°, ry[ªh;Ata, WBsoT;
6:1 ve-ri-cho so-ge-ret u-msoog-ge-ret mip-pney bney yis-ra-el ain yo-tseh ve-ain bah (2) vah-yoh-mer YHWH el-yeho-shuah re-eh na-tat-ti byah-dekah et yeri-cho ve-et mal-kah gib-boh-rey he-chah-yil (3) ve-sab-boh-tem et-hah-ir kol an-shey ham-mil-chah-mah haq-qef pah-ahm eh-chat koh tah-ah-seh sheh-shet ya-mim (4) ve-shiv-ah ko-hanim yi-se-u shevi-ee tah-sob-bu et-hah-ir she-vah pe-ah-miym ve-hak-koh-hanim yit-qe-ooh bash-sho-fah-roht
The story begins wjoyriy”wI ve-ri-cho, “and Jericho,” which consists of a vov followed by a noun rather than by a verb, as in rm,aoyIw va-yoh-mer “and (he) said,” in verse 2. That’s because this vov is not a narrative vov, which connects a phrase or verse with what came before (as does the vov in verse 2), but rather serves to set off an incident from what precedes it.
ax~?~wIy ÷ya~?~ la=e~r;c]yI y¤nEB] y£nEP]ybi tr,G±sumW tre¢G,si w~?~Jyriy”wI aB; ÷yaewÒ ve-ri-cho so-ge-ret u-msoog-ge-ret mip-pney bney yis-ra-el ain yo-tseh ve-ain bah, “Now (and) Jericho was tightly closed because of the Israelites (sons of Israel); none went out, and none came in,” is notable because it lacks a regular verb. Such verbless expressions are called nominal clauses. In English translation we supply an understood “was” as the verb to connect the subject w~?~JyriyyI and the predicate formed by the two feminine participles tr,G ±sum]W tr,¤so.
Interestingly, although the first of the participles is a Qal form and the second is a Pual form, they come from the same root. The use of the same root twice provides emphasis. Note the parallel construction between ax~?~EwIy ÷ya~?~e and aBÉ ÷ya~?~ewÒ at the end of the verse. Each begins with the negative particle ÷ya~?~e and is followed by a Qal masculine participle. Altogether, the verse sets the stage for the subsequent action.
With [‘vu+wIhyÒAla, J~y;hyÒ rm,aYI¥® we return to a verbal sentence with a narrative vov, which indicates the past tense. As expected in biblical Hebrew, the verb, rm,aYI»w® is followed by the subject h~?~w:hyÒ. “To Joshua” is the indirect object.
h~?~aer] is the imperative, “look!” and stands by itself. The verb yTiT¢¾n: “I have given,” consists of the first person pronominal suffix attached to the past tense even though the action is yet to come. This use of the past tense in the mouth of God is sometimes referred to as the “prophetic perfect,” the idea being that God’s word is as good as done. The verb is the Qal form of ÷tn “to give.” Because Nun is a “weak” letter, the final Nun has been assimilated into the following t. The loss of the Nun is marked, however, by a dot, a dagesh. ò~?~y:b] is a prepositional phrase consisting of b] “in” + ûy: “hand” + ò “your”. Now notice the use of ta,, to mark the two definite, direct objects—wIJ~?~yriyÒ and HK=;l]m’. HK=;l]m’ is the noun Jl,m, with a third person feminine singular pronominal suffix attached. lyIj;h, yr~?~wIBGI “mighty men of valor” is a phrase describing the men of Jericho and the city’s king. It is in apposition—that is, it follows and expands upon the preceding word or phrase—to the nouns described. Note that yre/BGI is a shortened, construct form of the plural absolute µyri/BG.
µt¢,Bis’w , a Qal perfect second masculine plural verb form of bbs is attached to a narrative vov, giving the verb a future meaning: “You all shall go round.” hm;±j;l]Mid’ yv°enÒa’ lSO “all the men of war,” another appositive, explains more clearly who is intended by the “you” of the verb. tj=;a, µ[‘P°’ ry[~?~ij;Ata, ¹yQ“eh’ “to go around the city one time” is an infinitive phrase further specifying the intent of µt°,Bos’wÒ. The root of the Hiphil infinitive ¹yQ~?~eh’. is ¹qn. Once again, the “weak” letter Nun has been assimilated, leaving behind the dagesh in the Qoph. ¹[‘P°’ is a noun followed by a feminine form of the number one. ¹ymiy: tv,ve hc~?~,[}t’ hSo “thus shall you do six days” is in apposition to the preceding infinitive phrase, explaining it more precisely. hc~?~,[}t’ is a second person masculine singular Qal future verb from the root hc[. tv,ve is the masculine construct form of the number six; the absolute form is hC;vi. µymiy: is the plural of µ!/y “day.”
Verse 4 continues with the specifics of marching around the city:
µÙylib]/Y”h¾ t/r~?~p]v h[;!b]vi W~?~ac]yI µynI~?~k h[¢b]viw ÷/r+a;d; y¤nEp]li “Seven priests shall carry seven rams’ horns of signaling before the ark.” The Qal imperfect third masculine plural verb, W¡ac]yI from the root acn, matches the subject, “seven priests”. t/r¥p]/v is a feminine plural noun in the construct form. Words in construct are closely bound to the following word. (We will find the absolute form of this word at the end of verse 4.)
Having given the specific actions required of the Israelites during the first six days, the remainder of the verse specifies the actions for the seventh day: W[~?~q]t]yI µynI±h}K¢h’wÒ µym=i[;P] [b’v¢, ry[~?~ij;Ata] WBsoT; t/r~?~p;VB’ “you (all) shall go around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow on the horns.”
In our next lesson we will complete studying the plan of attack and see how it was carried out.
The conquest of Jericho (Joshua 6) is an intriguing biblical story that provides examples of word forms and syntactical constructions useful for learning more about Hebrew. We will study the Hebrew of verses 1–4 in detail (consult any standard English Bible for a translation of the entire passage): .aB; ÷yaewÒax~?~E/y ÷yae la=er;c]yI yn¤EB] yn£emi tr,G
