Good News Translation places verses 17-18 together because 18 merely repeats the last part of verse 17, except for the additional information “made war a long time” (see Revised Standard Version). It is possible, however, to translate these verses in a way that sounds natural without joining them together: “17 … Joshua and his army finally captured and put to death all the kings of this territory, 18 even though the war against the kings took a long time.” Verse 18 may also be translated either “even though the war lasted a long time” or “even though it took them a long time (to defeat the kings).”

The limits of the territory are given in verse 17: the southern limit was Mount Halak, near Edom, south of the Dead Sea; the northern limit was the town of Baalgad, not far from Mount Hermon.

The territory extended from of Good News Translation translates the preposition “from” of the Hebrew text. In Hebrew verse 17a continues the listing of territories begun in verse 16, and the restructuring of Good News Translation is necessary only because Good News Translation breaks the sentence at the end of verse 16. A sentence break may still be maintained, and the relationship between the two verses made even clearer, if verse 17 begins: “They captured all the territory from Mount Halak in the south near Edom and as far north as the city of Baalgad, in the valley of Lebanon south of Mount Hermon.” Or, 16-17a may be translated as a unit:

• Joshua and his army captured all the land as far south as Mount Halak near Edom and as far north as the city of Baalgad in the valley between Mount Hermon and the Lebanon Mountains. They captured the central hill country, the western slopes, the dry country in the south, and the Jordan Valley.

Although all the area of Goshen is not mentioned explicitly in this restructuring, it is included in the phrase “all the dry country to the south.”

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 .