Translation commentary on Joshua 2:22

After a fruitless search lasting three days, the king of Jericho’s men return to the city; the Israelite spies come down out of the hills, cross the Jordan to the east side, return to the Israelite camp at Acacia, and report to Joshua. They conclude their report by saying that victory is assured: everyone in Jericho is terrified of the Israelites.

The directions and the movement of events in this verse are somewhat difficult. The hills suggest that these spies went and hid themselves in the hills west of Jericho, while their pursuers went searching for them eastward, in the direction of the Jordan River. On the other hand, it is possible that the hills is intended to contrast with travel along the roads. The Hebrew phrase “in all the way” is somewhat ambiguous and may mean either “everywhere” (as in Good News Translation all over the countryside) or “every road.” Accordingly the verse may be translated, “The two men hid themselves in the hills for three days, until their pursuers returned to the city. The guards had searched along every road in the region, but had found no one.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Joshua 5:3

Did as the LORD had commanded, and he may be omitted from translation on the grounds that the information is clearly implicit. One may render “So Joshua circumcised….” Although in verse 2 the command is to Joshua (Make some knives) and in the present verse it is stated that Joshua circumcised the Israelites, it is difficult to imagine that he alone did these actions. Rather one must assume that he was the responsible person, given the command by God to see that it was done. If the language has a causative form, then it is possible to render “Cause (some men) to make some knives (of flint) and cause them to circumcise the Israelites” or “… and cause the Israelites to be circumcised.” Otherwise one may render

• “Command some men to make knives out of flint and circumcise those Israelites who have not yet been circumcised.” 3 So Joshua obeyed the LORD’s command, and the place where the Israelites were circumcised is now called Circumcision Hill.

A place called Circumcision Hill obviously means that the place got its name from this event, not that it was called that before the mass circumcision of the Israelites. Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, New American Bible transliterate the Hebrew name; Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translate “the Hill of the Foreskins.” In order to indicate that this place was not previously called Circumcision Hill, one may translate “a place which since that time has been called Circumcision Hill.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Joshua 6:25

Verse 25 brings the matter to a close, with a summary statement of how and why the lives of Rahab and all her family were spared. Good News Translation and a number of other translations begin this verse with a conjunction equivalent to But in order to make an immediate contrast between the fate of Rahab and her family and the rest of the people of Jericho. Here again it may not be necessary to refer to Rahab as the prostitute; the emotive impact of this upon modern day readers may be quite different from the connotation it carried among the original readers. Because she had hidden the two spies may be better rendered as a complete statement: “Joshua did this because she had hidden the two spies.”

Before giving the reason why (because she hid the Israelite spies), the writer inserts “and she has lived in Israel to this day.” This obviously does not mean that Rahab herself was alive at the time of the writing of the account; it means, as Good News Translation expresses it, Her descendants have lived in Israel to this day. Rahab is usually identified as Rahab the mother of Boaz, and so the great-great-grandmother of King David (Matt 1.5-6; see Ruth 4.18-22; and see also references to her in Heb 11.31; James 2.25). In translating the sentence which Good News Translation places in parentheses, one should be careful not to leave the impression that the writer himself was not an Israelite. For example, one modern translation renders “Her descendants still live today among the Israelites,” from which the reader could assume that the writer is disassociating himself from the people called Israelites. It is probably better also not to introduce the parentheses as Good News Translation has done. If it is felt necessary to separate this statement from what precedes, it can be into a separate paragraph in place of putting it within parentheses.

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 .

Translation commentary on Joshua 8:8

The first sentence of this verse in Good News Translation is very similar in structure to that of the Hebrew. The order is both logical and chronological, and in this respect should cause no basic translational difficulties.

These are your orders is literally “see, I have commanded you” (Revised Standard Version). The meaning may also be rendered, “strictly obey my orders!”

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 .

Translation commentary on Joshua 9:14 - 9:15

The trick worked; the Israelites partook of the food of the Gibeonites (even though it was dry and moldy!); this meal was part of the ceremony by which a treaty was ratified.The Masoretic text begins verse 14 “and the men took of their provisions,” which seems to mean, as Good News Translation has it, The men of Israel accepted some food from them. But the Septuagint has “the leaders” (the same word used in verse 15b), which New English Bible Bible de Jérusalem Jerusalem Bible New American Bible prefer. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project An American Translation Revised Standard Version Good News Translation translate the Masoretic text. Therefore accepted some food from them is inadequate as a translation, since the reader does not know (1) that the men of Israel actually ate the food, and (2) that the act of eating was the means by which the treaty was ratified. It will help to translate “The Israelites ate some of their provisions as a sign of fellowship” or “… as a sign that they had agreed to the treaty.”

The reason why the Israelites were deceived is given in verse 14: they did not consult the LORD, as they should have done. This would be done by the use of the sacred lots, the Urim and Thummim (see comments on 7.14). This clause may be translated as a complete sentence: “They agreed to this before they asked the LORD about it.” Or, in chronological order, “They should have consulted the LORD about this, but they did not do so.”

In verse 15 the Hebrew noun means not only “peace” (Revised Standard Version) as the absence of armed conflict, but friendship, thereby guaranteeing their safety (allowed them to live; New English Bible is better: “promising to spare their lives”). If the matter of making a treaty is mentioned in verse 14, then the first sentence of this verse may be translated, “Joshua promised the people of Gibeon that the Israelites would let them live in peace.”

The treaty was ratified also by the leaders of the community,The Hebrew phrase is unusual in this material, and some scholars believe it seems to indicate a different, later, writer. who are not otherwise identified; they gave their solemn promise to keep the treaty. The concept of a solemn promise may be too abstract. One may translate either “took an oath and promised” or “promised with an oath.” Many languages will also have idiomatic ways of describing a binding oath, such as the Hebrew, which frequently uses “place one’s hands between another’s thighs.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Joshua 10:34 - 10:35

From Lachish the Israelite army proceeded to Eglon, about 16 kilometers west of Lachish. There the capture of the city and the slaughter of its people took only one day. “That day” (Revised Standard Version) is said twice and should be emphatically stated in translation. Again the verb meaning “condemn to destruction” is used. The destruction and slaughter in Eglon are compared to that inflicted on Lachish.

The restructuring of verse 34 will be similar to that of 31, as will the restructuring of verse 35 be somewhat similar to the last part of verse 32. The Hebrew readers would have found these accounts of the destruction of the various cities exciting, because it was their ancestors who had won these important victories. But this is not the case with the contemporary reader, for whom the repetition may tend to be boring. Therefore, without adding to or deleting from the accounts of defeat of the cities, one should aim to translate as interestingly as possible.

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 .

Translation commentary on Joshua 13:2 - 13:3

Verses 2-3 give part of the land yet to be conquered. At the end of verse 3 some information is given which Good News Translation takes as not explicitly part of the yet unconquered territory. That is why Good News Translation puts this within parentheses. Notice also that the first words of verse 4 (Revised Standard Version “in the south”) go with the Avvim of verse 3; so Good News Translation has placed all this before the parenthetical material in verse 3.

Philistia was west of Canaan, along the Mediterranean coast; Geshur, according to 1 Samuel 27.8, was southeast of the Philistine city of Gaza. (This Geshur is not to be confused with the Geshur east of the Jordan in 12.5 and 13.11) The Avvim in the south seem also to have lived in the region around Gaza (see Deut 2.23).

The stream Shihor is located by the biblical writer at the Egyptian border, to the southeast (perhaps the same as “the stream on the border of Egypt” in 15.4, 47). Ekron was one of the five Philistine cities along the Mediterranean coast. The word translated kings is used only of the Philistine rulers.

As already indicated, there is considerable confusion regarding the part of verse 3 placed in parentheses by Good News Translation. Although the Good News Translation interpretation follows sound scholarly opinion, it is still quite possible that the regions mentioned in the Good News Translation parenthetical statement were considered by the author to be portions of the yet unconquered territories. If this is the case, the following restructuring may be useful as a guideline:

• You have yet to conquer all the territory of the Philistines with their five cities of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. You also must conquer the territory of the Geshurites east of Egypt and the territory of the Avvim in the south. And you have not yet conquered the land from the stream Shihor, at the Egyptian border, as far north as the city of Ekron.

Following this cue, verse 4 may be rendered, “You have as yet to conquer the entire territory of the Canaanite, from the city of Mearah, which belongs to Sidon, to the city of Aphek, at the Amorite border.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Joshua 15:1

In tracing the southern border of Judah, Good News Translation tries to make the geographical data easier to understand by using modern names (Dead Sea in verse 2 for “Salt Sea”; Mediterranean Sea in verse 4, not “the sea”; compare Revised Standard Version) and by indicating, as much as possible, the directions the border took, from the southern end of the Dead Sea, on the east, as far south as the frontier with Egypt, and ending at the Mediterranean Sea, on the west. All the place-names in verses 1-4 can be located on biblical maps; such maps will help the translator indicate directions in the translated text.

The word families would more accurately be expressed as “clans,” but for many English the word “clan” is not very familiar. Many other languages, however, will have a word equivalent to “clan” which is in current and widespread usage. However, there is another option which the translator may follow: the phrase the families of the tribe of Judah represents an attempt on the part of the Hebrew author to include everyone who was a member of the tribe. The same idea may be expressed either “The people of the tribe of Judah” or “The tribe of Judah.” The focus is not upon the distribution of land to each of the individual clans within the tribe, but rather upon the borders marking the edge of the land which the whole tribe received. Moreover, the phrase a part of may make the statement somewhat confusing to the reader, since the biblical writer apparently assumes that all the territory within the region described was assigned to the tribe of Judah. Therefore verse 1 may be translated, “The tribe of Judah received the land which reached south to the southernmost point of the wilderness of Zin, which was the northern border of Edom.” Or, to allow for a different interpretation of the text, the second half of the verse may be translated, “In the south their territory bordered on the wilderness of Zin, which belonged to Edom.”

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 .