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Having studied Joshua 6:1–4 in our previous lesson, let’s complete our look at the plan of attack against Jericho. Again, consult any standard English Bible for the translation of these verses.
Joshua 6:5 states:
µk,[}m]v;B] lbeoYh’ ÷ r,q°,B] ó Jvo°m]Bi hy:Èh;wÒ 5 µ[‘h;Alk; W[yriy: rp;+/Vh; l/q°Ata, [µk,[}m]v;K]] h;yT,+T’ r~y[ih; tm¥’/j hl;@p]n:!wÒ hl=;/dgÒ h[°;WrT] /DgÒn< vyai µ[ª;h; Wl[;w
(5) ve-ha-yah bi-meshok be-qe-ren hah-yoh-vehl be-shom-ahkem [ke-shom-ahkem] et-qolhash-sho-fahr yah-ri-ooh kol-ha-ahm te-roo-ah ge-doh-lah ve-na-fe-lah cho-mat hah-ir tach-teh-hah ve-ah-looh ha-ahm ish neg-doh.
hy:Èh;wÒ, “and it shall be,” begins with a narrative vov, which continues the future tense of the preceding verse. lbe%/h’ … Jvo°m]Bi is a prepositional phrase that describes when the event under discussion shall happen, literally: “in the drawing near of [the priests—understood from the previous verse] with the horn(s) of jubilee.” rp+/Vh’ … µk,[}m]v;B], “in the hearing of you (all) the sound of the shofar horn,” is a similar construction. Both these infinitive phrases act as temporal adverbs, describing the time when a related event is to happen. The event expected is hl=;/dg h[¢;WrT] µ[;h;Alk; W[yriy:, “all the people shall shout a great shout.” hl;@p]n:!wÒ “and shall fall,” is also future because of the nrrative vov. The subject is r!y[ih; tm¥’/j, “the wall of the city,” a construct chain. h;yT,+j]T’ is a phrase consisting of the preposition Tj’T’&, “under, beneath” with a pronominal suffix, –eha, “it,” agreeing with the feminine gender and number of its antecedent, hm;/j, “wall.” µ[ª;h; Wl[;wÒ continues with a narrative vov, “and (the people/army) shall go up” /D”gÒn< vyai “(each) man opposite himself,” that is, through the breach in the wall in front of him. This is the plan. Now go to Joshua: 6:15–16 and 20 to follow the action.
t/l°[}B’ W~m!Kiv]Y”Ów”Ó y[i%ybiV]h’ µ/Y¤B yh°iyÒÓ 15 qr’ µym=i[;P] [b’v¢, hªG 16 W[yri+d; ~µ[;h;Ala []v¥uwhyÒ rm,aOY!Ów t/r=p;/VB’.ry[ih; Ata, µk,l; hØw:hyÒ ÷t’n:AyKi
(15) va-yehi ba-yom ha-shevi-i va-yash-ki-mu ba-aloht ha-sha-char va-yah-sob-bu et-ha-ir kam-mish-pat ha-zeh she-vah pe-a-mim raq ba-yom ha-hu sa-ve-vu et-ha-ir she-va pe-a-mim (16) va-yehi ba-pa-am ha- she-vt-it ta-qe-u ha-ko-ha-nim ba-sho-fa-roht va-yo-mer ye-ho-shu-a el ha-am ha-ri-u ki-na-tan a-do-nay la-kem et-ha-ir
These verses form a part of the report what happened, so they are in the past tense. (The change from the future to the past occurred in verse 6.) Unlike verse 5, where the narrative vov changes the past form to the future tense, the narrative vov is here prefixed to yh¢iyÒ, a short form of hy, “it shall be.” The narrative vov of verse 15 switches the future form of “to be” into the past tense; the verb now means, “And it happened.” The thing that happened was a string of events described with the following verbs joined to narrative vovs: W~m~KivÓY”w”, “And they arose early,” WBsoY:w”, “and they went round (the city).” The remaining words in the verse modify these actions. How early did they arise? rj’V’h’ t/l¢[}B’, “in the rising of the morning star;” how did they go around the city? µymi[;P] [b’v, hZª, “according to (this) custom, seven times.” In fact, … aWhoh’ µ/Y¤B’ qr’Óé µymi[;P] [b’v, … Wbb]s; “only on this day … they went around … seven times.”
In verse 16, yh¢iyÒÓw continues the past narrative tense. It happened ty[i+ybiV]h’ µ[ÔP¢’B’, “in the seventh time,” (that) W[q]T; … “they (the priests) blew,” and “Joshua said to the people/army,” µ~[;h;Ala []v¥u/hyÒ rm,aOYÙÓw. What he said to the people follows as the direct object of the verb, rm,aOYÙÓ: “Shout! for the Lord has given to you the city.”
t/r=p;V”B’ W[ªq]t]YI”Ów µ[;+h; [r’ÓY¤;w”Ó 20 rp;%/Vh’ l/q¢Ata, µ[;@h; [mo!v]ki ~hiyÒÓw hl]+/dgÒ h[¢;WrT] ~µ[;h; W[yr¥iY;Ów ~hr;y![ih; µ[¥h; l[‘ÓY”Ów” h;yT,%jT’ hm;@/jh’ lPo!Tiw”Ó ry[ih;Ata, WdªK]l]YI”Ó /D+gÒn< vyai
(20) va-ya-ra ha-am va-yit-qe-u ba-sho-fa-roht va-yehi ki-shmo-a ha-am et-qol ha-sho-far va-ya-ri-u ha-am te-ru-ah ge-do-lah va-ti-pol ha-cho-mah tach-te-ha va-ya-al ha-am ha-i-rah ish neg-do va-yil-ke-du et-ha-ir.
The narrative past tense continues here as we reach the climax of the story. The army followed orders and shouted ([r’°ÓY:Ów”), as did the priests (W[ªq]t]YI”w”Ó). “And it happened (~yhiyÒÓw) … (that) the wall fell down (lPo!Tiw”) beneath it/in its place (h;yT,%jT’) and the army went up (l[Y”!Ów”Ó) into the city (~hr;y![ih;).” Notice how rp;%/Vh’ … [m’o!v]ki, a prepositional phrase, specifies when the action occurred. Note also the h suffixed to hr;y