Verses 12-13 report the fulfillment of the agreement described in 1.12-15 (see also Deut 3.18-20). Verse 12 of Good News Translation has a complex structure. As Moses had told them to do represents a flashback which in some languages may be better introduced at the beginning of the verse. For example, “Moses had told the men of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and of the half tribe of Manasseh to cross ahead of the rest of the people. So they did this. They got themselves ready for battle and crossed ahead of the rest of the people.” For ready for battle see the similar expression in 1.14.

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 .

The city and everything in it must be totally destroyed may require the shift to an active construction, identifying the persons who are to destroy the city: “You must totally destroy the city and everything in it. In this way you will dedicate it to the LORD.” Or “… In this way you will show that it is an offering to the LORD.” The reader may find it difficult to reconcile the giving of the city to the people by the Lord with the requirement to give it to him as an offering. Therefore it would help at the end of verse 16 to translate “The LORD will let you conquer the city” or “The LORD has placed the city in your power.”

The noun everything may also be misunderstood to include only inanimate objects. But the word is intended to be comprehensive, to include buildings, people, and animals. It may then be translated, “Destroy every building in the city, and kill all its people and their animals.” Or “Completely destroy the city, and kill every living thing in it, people and animals alike.”

Must be totally destroyed as an offering translates the Hebrew expression “shall be a dedicated offering” (Revised Standard Version “shall be devoted … for destruction”); the Hebrew noun “dedicated offering” qualifies an object (or a person) that has been dedicated exclusively to the Lord’s use; and since it cannot be used for ordinary purposes it can only be completely destroyed (see Lev 27.28-29). So all the inhabitants and all the animals in Jericho are killed (verse 21), with the exception of Rahab and her family (verses 17b, 22-25).

The last sentence of this verse may need to be inverted and her household made explicit: “But remember that the prostitute Rahab hid our spies. So we promised to spare her and everyone who is in her house.”

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 .

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 .

Attack them from the rear translates a verb found only here and in Deuteronomy 25.18. The sense in this context is better expressed by Soggin: “cut off their retreat” (so Jerusalem Bible “cut off their line of retreat”). The enemy would obviously be fleeing in retreat back to their fortified cities, where they would be safe, and Joshua orders his men to prevent them from reaching their cities, not simply to harass them from the rear.

The entire sentence (Keep on after the enemy and attack them from the rear; don’t let them get to their cities!) may be more briefly translated, “Keep on pursuing the rest of the enemy. Do not let them escape to their cities!”

Has given you victory over them once again translates the Hebrew idiom “has given them into your hand” (Revised Standard Version). The terminology of Good News Translation may be less abstractly translated as “has placed them in your power” or “will cause you to defeat them.”

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 .

The land conquered on the east side of the Jordan had for its southern limit the Arnon Valley; the Arnon River flows into the Dead Sea about halfway between the southern and northern ends of the sea; and the city of Aroer (verse 2) is on the Arnon River. The northern limit was Mount Hermon (see 11.3).

The verb tense had already conquered and occupied may leave the reader guessing as to the time reference intended, especially if the reading is begun with this chapter. In order to help the reader, and on the basis of verse 6, one may translate “Moses had (already) led the people of Israel to conquer and occupy….”

They defeated two kings may easily be fitted into the earlier part of the verse:

• Moses had led the people of Israel to defeat two kings east of the Jordan and to take over their territory, which went from the Arnon Valley up the Jordan River and as far north as Mount Hermon.

Or, if two sentences are more satisfactory:

• Moses had already led the people of Israel to conquer two kings east of the Jordan and to take over their territory. The territory of these two kings ran from the Arnon Valley up the Jordan River and as far north as Mount Hermon.

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 .

I was forty years old when may be translated as a complete statement: “At that time I was forty years old.” If this is done, then the remainder of the verse may be rendered as one sentence: “The Lord’s servant…, and I brought an honest report back to him.” Or, if a restructuring similar to Good News Translation is maintained, the last sentence of this verse may be connected with the first sentence of verse 8 in order to underscore the contrast: “I brought an honest report back to him, 8 but the men….”

To spy out translates a different verb from that used at 2.2, 3, but the meaning is essentially the same, and the translation problems are identical.

An honest report translates the Hebrew “word according to my heart” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “according to my conscience”; New American Bible “a conscientious report”). But it may be necessary to translate this noun structure as a verb phrase: “And I told the truth (about what we had seen)” or “And I told the people what we really had seen.” The account emphasizes Caleb’s faithfulness in obeying the Lord (verses 8, 14).

Verses 7, 10 give the most precise statement in the record of the time that elapsed between the events as Kadesh Barnea and the completion of the invasion of Canaan: a total of forty-five years, which would, presumably, mean forty years’ wandering in the wilderness (verse 10) plus five years for the conquest.

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 .