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The Hebrew version of Joshua 2 includes extra details about Rahab’s actions not found in the Greek Septuagint translation, which suggests the Greek version represents an earlier, simpler form of the story.
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Joshua 2:15
Hebrew Bible
14 The men said to her, “If you die, may we die too! If you do not report what we’ve been up to, then we will show unswerving allegiance to you when the Lord hands the land over to us.” 15 Then Rahab let them down by a rope through the window. (Her house was built as part of the city wall; she lived in the wall.) 16 She told them, “Head to the hill country, so the ones chasing you don’t find you. Hide from them there for three days, long enough for those chasing you to return. Then you can be on your way.”
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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LXX Joshua 2:15
Septuagint
13 and spare my father’s house, my mother, my siblings, and all my house and everything that is with them, and rescue my soul from death. 14 And the men said to her, “Our life in return for yours, unto death.” And she said, “As the Lord should give the city over to you, show me compassion and truth.” 15 And she let them down through the window. 16 And she said to them, “Go to the mountains, so that those who pursue you might not meet you. And you must hide there for three days until those pursuing you return home. And after this, go on your way.”
Date: 2nd Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The merit of Holmes' contribution is that he has drawn attention to the fact that many divergencies between LXX and the Masoretic text are interrelated and therefore point to a systematic revision, rather than to a chain of textual corruptions. Nevertheless, whereas Dillmann placed exclusive emphasis on the priority of the Masoretic, Holmes seems to have taken the other extreme position in order to defend the priority of the postulated Hebrew Vorlage of LXX Joshua ... Holmes did not make any explicit statements about the textual history of Joshua. His thesis presupposes a two-stage model: an original Hebrew text, still represented by the Greek text, was later revised by a Hebrew scribe. G. A. Cooke in his small 1918 Cambridge commentary on Joshua formulated this model as follows: 'Apparently the Hebrew text of Joshua was once current in two forms: the one which lay before the Greek translators, and perhaps was generally accepted in Egypt; the other which is represented by the Masoretic Text, and perhaps was best known in Palestine. The latter form of the text remained open, possibly as late as 200 BC to additions which never found a place in the text used by the LXX<' ..."
Meer, Michaël N. van der
Formation and Reformulation: The Redaction of the Book of Joshua in the Light of the Oldest Textual Witnesses
(pp. 40-41) Brill, 2004
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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