The Hebrew of verse 11 begins literally “And he caused ‘the ark of the LORD’ to go around the city”; at Joshua’s order the procession begins, and the most important part of the procession is the LORD’s Covenant Box, which symbolizes the presence of the Lord with his people. It is he who gives victory to the Israelites. The Hebrew is repetitious, as can be seen from Revised Standard Version (“and they came into the camp, and spent the night in the camp”). In Good News Translation, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible the adverb there substitutes for “in the camp” of the Hebrew text (see Revised Standard Version, end of verse 11). The march accomplished, the Israelites return to camp, where they spent the night.

Although the Lord’s Covenant Box is in focus in the first sentence of this verse, it will be obligatory in most languages (as in English) to indicate how the Covenant Box went around the city. Implied in the verse is an agent or agents who see to it that Joshua’s command to carry the Covenant Box around the city is obeyed. This is the basis for Good News Translation So he had this group of men take the LORD’s Covenant Box around the city one time. Without the specific mention of the persons who transported the Lord’s Covenant Box, it is possible that the translation may sound somewhat ridiculous: “At Joshua’s command, the ark of Yahweh went around the town and made the circuit once” (Jerusalem Bible). Moreover, in the second half of the verse the pronoun they is without clear antecedent, unless the people who carried the Covenant Box are mentioned in the first half of the verse. Note, for example, the rendering of the verse in Revised Standard Version.

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 .