וַיִּשְׁלַח֩ יְהוֹשֻׁ֨עַ אֲנָשִׁ֜ים מִירִיח֗וֹ הָעַ֞י אֲשֶׁ֨ר עִם־בֵּ֥ית אָ֙וֶן֙ מִקֶּ֣דֶם לְבֵֽית־אֵ֔ל וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר עֲל֖וּ וְרַגְּל֣וּ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַֽיַּעֲלוּ֙ הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים וַֽיְרַגְּל֖וּ אֶת־הָעָֽי׃
Joshua sent some men from Jericho to Ai, which lies close to Beth-aven—east of Bethel—with orders to go up and spy out the country. So the men went up and spied out Ai.
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term containing אִישׁ — or in this case, its plural אֲנָשִׁים.)
Implicit in the referential usage of a bare Hebrew plural noun like אֲנָשִׁים is the individuation of an unquantified set. It is like the meaning expressed by the indefinite quantifier ‘some’ in English.
As for rendering into English, the new insertion of some before the NJPS rendering men better evokes the classic usage of men to label essential participants as such. In contrast, the NJPS notice that Joshua simply sent men nowadays sounds like an explicit specification of their gender—which is not the meaning here. The distinction in effect between the two renderings is subtle yet worthwhile.