SIL Translator’s Notes on Joshua 23:2

23:2a

he summoned all Israel: This can also be translated:

Joshua called all the Israelites together

including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers: The terms in this list are similar to the list in 8:33. Look to see how you translated these terms there.

elders: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as elders refers to the heads of families who represented their clan on special occasions. This Hebrew term occurred in 8:33.

leaders: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as leaders was used in chapter 22, verses 14 and 30. It refers to the heads of families.

judges: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as judges refers to people who judged disputes between Israelites. See Exodus 18:17-26 where Moses first appointed judges. This term was used in 8:33.

officers: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as officers refers to people who had both military and administrative responsibilities. This term occurred in 1:10 and in 8:33.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

Then Joshua called all the Israelites together. He called the elders, the heads of families, the judges and the officers.
-or-
So Joshua gathered all the Israelite people together: their tribal leaders, their family leaders, their judges and their officials.

23:2b

“I am old and well along in years,” he said: The sentence that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “I am now old and well advanced in years,” uses almost the same Hebrew words as in verse 23:1c.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

and said to them, “I am an old man now
-or-
Then Joshua told them, “I am very old

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Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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