Paragraph: 22:13–14
22:13a
There is a Hebrew conjunction at the beginning of this verse that the Berean Standard Bible leaves implicit. This conjunction is often translated as “and.” It introduces the next event in the storyline. Translate this in a natural way in your language. It may be clearer to include some implied information. For example:
⌊Before they went to war⌋
-or-
⌊The first thing they did was to⌋ send a group of people…
The Israelites: The phrase The Israelites refer to the clans of Israel who lived on the west side of the Jordan River.
sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest: This is the first time that Phinehas has been mentioned in the book of Joshua. He was mentioned in Numbers 25:7.
sent Phinehas: The people of the western clans sent some of their leaders along with Phinehas to talk to the people of the eastern clans. It may be clearer to state this explicitly, for example:
Then the people of Israel sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest with a group of people to talk
22:13b
to the land of Gilead: The phrase the land of Gilead refers to a region on the east side of the Jordan River. The eastern clans built their altar on the west side of the river. Then they crossed the river to join their families on the east side. Phinehas also had to cross the river when he went to talk to them.
General Comment on Joshua 22:13
It may be more natural in some languages to reorder the parts of this verse. For example:
First, the people of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to ⌊talk with⌋ the clans of Reuben, Gad and the half clan of Manasseh
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