Verse 23 lists the three main kinds of sacrifices: (1) burnt offerings, in which the whole animal was burned on the altar; (2) offerings of various kinds of cereals and grains; and (3) fellowship offerings (see 8.31). In verse 27, the second word of the three used there, sacrifices, is a general term for all kinds of offerings on the altar.

The evident intention of listing these three types of sacrifice is to be comprehensive; therefore they may be combined into something like “any kind of sacrifices.”

Verses 22-23 may be placed together in such a way as to avoid some of the overlap, and at the same time to make a more logical presentation:

• “We appeal to the LORD, the Almighty God, as our witness. He knows why we did this, and we want all of Israel to know it too! If we built this altar in order to rebel against the LORD or to break our covenant with him, then may the LORD himself turn us over to you so that you can kill us today. We did not build this altar with the intention of burning any kind of sacrifices on it….”

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 .