In place of And Joshua said, it may be better to translate “When they got there, Joshua said.”
Why have you brought such trouble on us? may be more effective if rendered as a statement and combined with the following statement: “You have brought trouble on us, and now the LORD will bring trouble on you!”
Although the Hebrew does not state that the people burned Achan after stoning him, it is implicit and should be clearly indicated: “So all the people stoned Achan and his family to death. Then the people burned up the bodies together with all Achan’s possessions.”
The Hebrew text has two different verbs for “to stone”; first, “they stoned Achan” and then “they burned them with fire” and then (another verb) “they stoned them with stones.” Many scholars believe that the writer used two different sources, in one of which only Achan was stoned, and the other in which all his family were stoned. It is unlikely that the Israelites first burned them (the people and the animals) to death and then stoned them (as the Revised Standard Version literal translation of the Hebrew says). New English Bible, New American Bible, following the Septuagint, omit “they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.” The Hebrew Old Testament Text Project retains the Hebrew, but it translates the second verb as “heap stones upon.”The Masoretic text is literally “and all Israel stoned (verb ragam) him with stones, and they burned them with fire, and they stoned (verb tsaqal) them with stones.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says that ragam means “throw stones at,” “stone,” and that tsaqal means “heap stones upon.” This distinction can hardly be maintained. The verb tsaqal occurs twenty times in the Old Testament; twice (Isa 5.2; 62.10) it means “to clear of stones,” as the context makes perfectly clear; in all seventeen other instances (besides the present passage) it means “to throw stones at” in order to kill someone; see K-B, BDB, Holladay. The verb ragam occurs fifteen times in the Old Testament; in every place it also means “to throw stones at” in order to kill someone. It is most unlikely that in this one passage, Joshua 7.25, tsaqal means something different from the other places in which it is used. In all instances which describe stones being piled on a dead body, other expressions are used (as in the following verse). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project also says that “him” (singular) in “stoned him” refers to Achan and his family, whereas the “them” in the second “and they stoned them” refers to the objects which Achan had stolen and to his own property. This may be so, but it is difficult to see on what basis Hebrew Old Testament Text Project decides that “him” refers to Achan and his family. Therefore many scholars believe that the text combines two different traditions. This may be correct but does not relieve the text of difficulties, since the following verse begins “and they also placed a heap of stones on them.” Bright would omit the first “they stoned him,” so that the text would mean that Achan, his family, animals, and belongings were all destroyed by fire, after which a huge pile of stones was heaped over the charred remains.
Whereas Good News Translation interprets them to mean “Achan’s family and possessions,” it is possible also to limit it to his family: “All Israel stoned Achan and his relatives to death, and then they burned their bodies.” Either this translation or that of Good News Translation may be followed.
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 .