Verses 15-19 trace the southern boundary from Kiriath Jearim eastward to the Dead Sea. The southern border was the northern border of Judah (see 15.5b-10 for much of the same data describing the land).

After Kiriath Jearim, the Masoretic text has “and the boundary westward and it went to the springs of the waters of Nephtoah.” The direction “westward” is wrong (see 15.9), and there are various ways in which the matter has been handled. Good News Translation, New English Bible, New American Bible omit; Soggin, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible transliterate the Septuagint “towards Gasin”; Revised Standard Version gets its solution from 15.9 “to Ephron.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends a solution here which is similar to what it arrives at in 15.9, where instead of “to the cities of Mount Ephron” it proposes “towards Iyyim (or, the ruins) of Mount Ephron”; here it recommends “towards Iyyim (or, the ruins).”

Whatever alternative is followed as a solution to the textual problem, a footnote will be required (as in Good News Translation). Moreover, one may wish to specify in the text the geographical movement: “and went eastward to….”

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 .