The two and one-half tribes start back, leaving their fellow Israelites in Shiloh (see 18.1).

In Good News Translation the movement homeward of the two and one-half eastern tribes is described as went back home … started out for their own land. This sequence may be a problem for some readers, since went back home suggests arrival, while started out for their own land signifies the beginning of their journey. Therefore it may be more satisfactory to translate:

• So the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh left the rest of the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, and started back home. Their land lay east of the Jordan River. Long ago Moses had told them, “This is the land that the LORD wants you to take for your own.”

Or:

• … in the land of Canaan. They started back home to their land east of the Jordan River. Before Moses died, he had told them, “The LORD wants you to take this land for your own.”

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 .

Joshua ends his exhortation with a final warning (verses 14-16). He prefaces it by saying that he hasn’t long to live (“I am about to go the way of all the earth,” Revised Standard Version; see similar language in 1 Kgs 2.2), which adds weight to his instruction. He reminds them that the Lord has kept all his promises (verse 14); in the same way, if they disobey him, he will carry out all his threats (verse 15).

Now my time has come to die may also be rendered, “I do not have much longer to live.” Many languages, such as the Hebrew, will have idiomatic expressions; however, as always, care must be taken to assure that the idioms are of the proper language level.

Every one of you is an attempt on the part of Good News Translation to represent the plural form of “you” in the Hebrew text.

In his heart and soul is literally “in all your hearts and in all your souls.” Revised Standard Version attempts both to retain the idiom and to indicate the plural form by rendering “in your hearts and souls, all of you.” For a Hebrew writer the expression “heart and soul” is no less and no more than a means of indicating the totality of a person’s being. The same effect may be achieved by dropping the idiom and shifting to an imperative: “Never forget that the LORD our God has given us all the good things that he promised.” A positive form may be preferable: “Always remember that….”

Every promise he made has been kept may be difficult to render in a number of languages, because promise refers to an event rather than an object. It is also conceivable that a reader may have difficulty with the passive has been kept. To resolve these two problems, one may shift to an active and translate “The LORD has done everything that he promised to do.”

The additional affirmation not one has failed may not have the effect of further stressing the Lord’s faithfulness, as it would have done for the Hebrew readers. Rather than speaking of the Lord’s faithfulness in both a positive and negative fashion, it may be more effective to choose one or the other.

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 .

You and your soldiers are to march around translates a plural form of the Hebrew verb “march around” (Revised Standard Version “You shall march around”). Good News Translation has translated this way in order to indicate that the form of the verb is plural and that the reference is to Joshua and his men. But even for languages which distinguish between the singular and plural forms of “you,” it still may be helpful to mark explicitly the participants: “You with your battle-ready men.”

The verb march around is here used of a religious or cultic procession, which would have been formal and solemn, but which would not have required strict marching in step such as in a modern day parade or military procession. One may wish to translate “I command you and your fighting men to go in procession around….”

For six days may require a separate statement: “Do this for six days,” or “… for six consecutive days,” or “… for six days in a row.”

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 .

Israel has sinned may be translated “The people of Israel have sinned.” Achan’s disobedience involved all Israel, and as a result Israel suffered defeat.

The Lord’s accusation, then, is that the Israelites have broken the agreement and have taken some of the things condemned to destruction; they stole, … lied, and hid those things among their own belongings. In this context the agreement (Revised Standard Version “covenant”) refers specifically to the Lord’s command about the attack on Jericho (6.17-18); it does not refer to the basic covenant at Mount Sinai.

In order to indicate specifically that the agreement refers to the Lord’s command not to take anything from the city of Jericho, considerable restructuring may be necessary. For example, They have broken … condemned to destruction may be translated, “I commanded them to destroy everything in the city of Jericho. This was my agreement with them. But they kept back for themselves some of the things from the city.” Moreover, if it is felt that the agreement (the agreement with me) and the command (I ordered them to keep) are synonymous, one may even render “I commanded them to destroy everything in the city. But they disobeyed my command and kept back some of the things for themselves.”

The three events described in the last sentence of this verse (stole … lied … put them with) may need to be arranged in chronological sequence: “They stole them, put them with their own things, and then lied about what they had done.”

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 21 essentially repeats the information in verse 20, but this time the focus is on the Israelites, while in verse 20 it is on the enemy.

Because of the duplication of information in verses 20-21, the two may be translated as a unit. Such restructuring may be advisable, since there is already a good deal of repetition in the narrative. One pattern might be:

• When the men from Ai looked back, they saw the smoke from their city rising to the sky. Joshua and his men also saw the smoke, and they knew that the other Israelite soldiers had captured the city and set it on fire. Now there was no place where the men of Ai could run for safety. So Joshua and his men turned around and began killing 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 .

Adonizedek proposes they attack Gibeon for having made peace, that is, alliance, with the Israelites. It may be beneficial to reverse the order of the two clauses: “The people of Gibeon have made peace with Joshua and the Israelites. So come and help me attack 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 .