After this, Joshua and his army went on from Makkedah may be translated “From Makkedah Joshua and his army went on to.” From Makkedah Joshua goes about 11 kilometers southwest to Libnah, where the same thing happens. By this time in the narrative most readers should expect the place-names to be those of cities, but for some languages it may be important to say “to the city of Libnah.”

The language is stylized; in verse 30 the statement is made again that the Lord gave … victory to the Israelites (literally “gave … into the hand of,” Revised Standard Version), as at verse 19 and elsewhere.

The verbs continue in the singular, without an explicit change of subject, and “he smote … he left … he did” (Revised Standard Version) could be read as having the Lord as subject. Probably Joshua or the Israelite army is to be understood as the subject.

They spared no one, but killed every person in it may be translated without the repetition of information: “They killed everyone in the city.”

Here, as in verse 39, the statement is made that the king of Libnah was put to death, just as the king of Jericho had been (see 8.2). The last sentence of verse 30 may be translated, “They killed the king of Libnah, just as they had killed the king of Jericho.”

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 .