Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship takes the Hebrew “This book of the Law is not to depart from your mouth” to refer to the use of the Scriptures in public worship and proclamation, and not just in private reading. If the command is believed to be addressed to Joshua alone, then one may translate “Read the book of the Law to the people every time they worship”; if it is understood to be addressed to the people, “Be sure that someone reads the book of the Law to you every time you worship.” It must be made clear that “the book of the Law” of this verse refers to the “whole Law” of verse 7.

The command to “meditate on it day and night” (Revised Standard Version) recalls the language of Psalm 1.2. The same Hebrew verb (literally “mutter, read in a low voice”) is used here; it means to study (Good News Translation), “pore over” (Moffatt); “keep it in mind” (New English Bible).

At the end of verse 8 two synonymous verbs are used: “cause to prosper” and “be successful” (as in verse 7); Good News Translation you will be prosperous and successful; New English Bible “you will prosper and be successful in all that you do.” The combination prosperous and successful reflects the Hebrew practice of placing together two modifiers in what appears to be a coordinate relationship. However, the use of “and” in such structures is deceptive, for a coordinate relationship is not really intended. In reality one adjective is meant to qualify the other. For example, “wicked and sinful” would mean “very wicked (sinful).” So then, prosperous and successful may be understood to have the meaning “very prosperous” or “very successful.”

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 .

Verse 4 in Hebrew gives first the instruction for the people to stay a certain distance away from the Covenant Box, after which comes the explanation of why they were to follow the Box. For clarity and ease of understanding, Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version have reversed the order. The priests carrying the Covenant Box would lead the way, and the people were to follow at a distance of 2,000 cubits, about 3,000 feet (a little more than half a mile) or 914 meters (almost one kilometer). This care was needed because of the holiness of the Box; it was dangerous for ordinary people to be exposed to its holiness (see 2 Sam 6.6-7).

It may make a more natural arrangement if the two clauses in the first sentence of this verse are inverted. For example, “3 … and follow them. 4 They will show you the way to go, since you have never been here before.” Show you the way to go may be translated, “lead you where you are to go,” since show you might imply that the priests are standing along the road and pointing the way.

About half a mile may be rendered “about a kilometer” or even “about a thousand steps.” Many languages have idiomatic ways of expressing distance (for example, “the distance that one can walk in the time it takes a pot of bananas to boil”), and the translator should look for a term that is neither a modern term not appropriate for that time, nor a term outside the cultural expectations of the readers.

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 .

On the evening of 14 Nisan (or Abib; see 4.19) the Israelites celebrated the Passover for the first time in Canaan. This festival commemorated their deliverance from slavery in Egypt (see Exo 12.1-14).

The Jewish day began at sunset, and so the time notice, on the evening, is important. In some cultures there is a distinction between “on the evening of the fourteenth day” (meaning “the evening before the fourteenth day”) and “the fourteenth day evening” (meaning “the evening of the fourteenth day,” as we would understand it in English). If such a distinction does exist in the receptor language, it should be taken into consideration in the translation. The Festival of Unleavened Bread lasted a week (15-22 Nisan; see Exo 12.14-20); here the text does not explicitly say that the Israelites also celebrated this festival, but the mention of unleavened bread implies it (verse 11).

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 .

As in the case of Jericho (2.1), Joshua sends spies to find out what they can about the land. On their return, they report that Ai is not a large city and can easily be taken by some two or three thousand men.In light of the number of Israelites killed—36—some scholars believe that instead of 3,000 men, only some 300 men were sent; but the Hebrew text has “about three alaphim” (plural of eleph). Many believe that eleph does not mean 1,000 but indicates a much smaller number; as yet, however, there is no scholarly consensus on the matter.

In verse 3 Revised Standard Version “do not make the whole people toil up there” translates a verb which means “to have trouble, to be difficult.” The meaning could be expressed by “Don’t go to the trouble of having the whole army go up there.”

Both the Hebrew (note Revised Standard Version) and Good News Translation contain a considerable amount of repetition in verse 3. In order to avoid the redundancy, one may render the words of the spies: “Ai is not a large city. There is no need to send all our men to attack it. Send only about two or three thousand men.”

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 .