11:18

Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long period of time: The clause Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long period of time indicates that it took a long time for Joshua and his army to defeat the enemy kings and kill them.Some commentators believe this was about seven years.

This verse adds more information to the summary statements of verses 16–17. In some languages it may be clearer to combine verses 17 and 18. For example:

Joshua was at war with the kings of this territory for a long time, but he captured them all and put them to death. (Good News Translation)

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Paragraph 13:15-23

13:15

This verse begins with a Hebrew word that is often translated as “and.” This word introduces the next event in the story. Many English versions do not translate this word.

This is what Moses had given to the clans of the tribe of Reuben: The Hebrew text is more literally “Moses gave to the tribe of the sons of Reuben.” The phrase This is what is not in the Hebrew text. The Berean Standard Bible has supplied this phrase to make clear what Moses gave to the tribe of Reuben. Moses assigned land to the tribe of Reuben in Numbers 32.

to the clans: The phrase to the clans indicates that each clan or group of families within the tribe of Reuben received their own portion of land. See how you translated the words “clan” and “family” in Joshua 7:14.

Here are some other ways to translate this verse:

Moses had given each family group from the tribe of Reuben some land. (New Century Version)
-or-
Moses had assigned the following area to the clans of the tribe of Reuben. (New Living Translation (2004))

the tribe of Reuben: The phrase the tribe of Reuben indicates the people who were descended from Reuben, one of the sons of Jacob.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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14:14a

Therefore Hebron belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance to this day: There is some implied information here. Caleb conquered the town of Hebron.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

The town of Hebron became the possession of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the son of Kenaz up to today
-or-
So Caleb ⌊conquered⌋ the town of Hebron, and it still belongs to his descendants

14:14b

because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel: The expression wholly followed translates the same Hebrew words as were found in verses 14:8c (“remained loyal” in the Berean Standard Bible) and 14:9d (“wholly followed” in the Berean Standard Bible). Translate this expression the same way as you did in those verses.

the LORD, the God of Israel: The phrase the LORD, the God of Israel is slightly different from the way that God was referred to in verses 8c and 9d. There the phrase “the LORD, my God” was used.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

because he was completely loyal to Yahweh the God of Israel
-or-
because Caleb followed Yahweh the God of Israel with all his heart

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

15:31

Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah:

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Paragraph: 15:63

This paragraph talks about the Jebus people, whom the people of Judah could not drive out.

15:63a

But the descendants of Judah could not drive out: Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

the people of Judah were not able to make them leave
-or-
The tribe of Judah could not force them to leave Jerusalem.

15:63b

the Jebusites living in Jerusalem: Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

But as for the Jebus people who lived in the town of Jerusalem
-or-
The people of Jebus lived in Jerusalem

15:63c

So to this day the Jebusites live there among the descendants of Judah: The phrase this day refers to the time when the book of Joshua was written.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

Because of this, the Jebus people still live with the Judah people in the town of Jerusalem up to today
-or-
Therefore, the people of Jebus live with the people of Judah in Jerusalem till this present day

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

18:4a

Appoint three men from each tribe: The phrase each tribe probably refers to the seven clans that had not yet received their share of land.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

Choose three men from each ⌊of the seven⌋ clans
-or-
Appoint three men per clan

18:4b

There is a Hebrew verb at the beginning of this clause that the Berean Standard Bible leaves untranslated. This verb means “and they will arise.” This is a Hebrew idiom which is used to indicate the beginning of an action. Translate this in a way that is natural in your language to indicate the beginning of an action.

to survey the land and map it out: The Hebrew verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as survey the land and map it out is more literally “they will walk back and forth in the land.”

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

they will walk all around the land
-or-
they will go through the land

18:4c

according to the inheritance of each: This indicates that the men wrote a description of the land that they wanted to receive for their own clan. The description may have been in the form of a map.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

so that they can make a map of the area they want to receive as their inheritance
-or-
They will write a report. The report will show the boundaries of the land that their clan wishes to receive

18:4d

Then they will return to me: Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

Then they must come back to me
-or-
Then they must return to me ⌊with the report⌋

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

19:8a

and all the villages surrounding these cities as far as Baalath-beer: Baalath-beer was a town in the southern part of Judah’s territory.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

They also received all the villages that were near these towns, as far ⌊to the south⌋ as the town of Baalath-beer
-or-
Simeon’s land also included all the other towns and villages as far south as Baalath-Beer (Contemporary English Version)

19:8b

Ramah of the Negev: The phrase Ramah of the Negev is another name for the town of Baalath-beer. The term Negev means “south” in Hebrew.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

This town also had the name Ramah of the South
-or-
which is also called Ramah of the South (Contemporary English Version)

19:8c

This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Simeon: This is similar to verse 18:20b.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

This was the land which the family groups of the clan of Simeon received as their inheritance
-or-
That described the land that the Simeon clan received as its permanent possession. Each family received some land.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Section 19:40-48

The clan of Dan received their land

Paragraph 19:40-48

19:40

The seventh lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Dan: This verse is similar to verse 19:24. It is recommended that you translate it in a similar way to that verse.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

The seventh lot belonged to the tribe of Dan, by its clans (NET Bible)
-or-
Joshua threw the lot a seventh time. Each of the families of the clan of Dan received land

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Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.