In some languages it may be impossible to say when the Covenant … crosses, since inanimate objects cannot “cross.” If this is the case, the clause may be translated, “when the priests carrying the Covenant Box cross…” or “when the priests cross over with the Covenant Box….”

The Lord of all the earth translates the title of God, not the proper name “Yahweh.”The Hebrew text is not normal; in the phrase translated “the ark of the covenant” (Revised Standard Version) the word for “the covenant” is not in the form normally used (the Hebrew seems to be “the ark, the covenant of the Lord…”), and so some (Soggin; New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible) introduce the name Yahweh (as in verse 17), “the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Masoretic text, saying that it means “the ark of the covenant, (i.e. that) of the lord of all the earth.” The phrase may be rendered, “the Lord who rules all the earth” or “the Lord who rules all people on earth.”

For choose twelve men, one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel see comments at verse 10. Nothing more is said of them until 4.1-8.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .