Paragraph 24:21–24

24:21

The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible leaves untranslated but some English versions translate as “and” introduces the next event in the storyline. Introduce the next event in a way that is natural in your language.

“No!” replied the people: The people answered “No, we will not serve other gods.” They were accepting Joshua’s advice. They were not rejecting it. You may need to add some words to make the meaning clear.

We will serve the LORD!: The Hebrew words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as We will serve the LORD are more literally “but Yahweh we will serve.” The Hebrew sentence puts the word “Yahweh” at the front to indicate emphasis. Use a natural way in your language to mark this emphasis.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

No, ⌊we will not serve other gods⌋ . It is Yahweh whom we will worship and obey.
-or-

⌊We will never honor other gods⌋ . We will honor and obey only Yahweh.

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