A witness to all of us is literally “a witness between us” (Revised Standard Version). The meaning is “between the eastern tribes and the western tribes,” not between the tribes of Reuben and Gad; the translation of Good News Translation is intended to avoid ambiguity. The noun witness may be transformed into a verb: “(This altar is) to remind all of us….”

The Masoretic text has “and the people of Reuben and of Gad named the altar, for it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.” The name of the altar is missing, but a few Hebrew manuscripts and the Syriac add the noun “witness” as a name for the altar, and so Witness is the name given in Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New English Bible. Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible use ellipses, without a name. New American Bible has “gave the altar its name.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates “the Reubenites and the Gadites named the altar: ‘It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.’ ” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Masoretic text on the grounds that the inclusion of the name represents a scribal attempt to ease the difficulty of the Hebrew text.

If the Masoretic text is followed, then the following restructuring is allowable: “The people of Reuben and Gad then gave the altar a name. They explained, ‘This altar stands here to show all of us that the LORD is our God.’ ” It is, of course, obvious that the possessive pronoun “our” would have to be inclusive, referring to all the tribes of Israel.

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 .