Paragraph: 15:48-51

This paragraph is a list of the towns in the hill country that were given to the tribe of Judah.

15:48

These were in the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh: The phrase hill country refers to the mountainous region in the land that Judah received. This phrase occurred in Joshua 9:1 and you should translate it the same way in both places.

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

The towns that the people of Judah received in the hill country were Shamir, Jattir, Socoh…
-or-
The tribe of Judah received the following towns in the mountainous region: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh…

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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.

Paragraph 17:7–13

17:7a

Now the border of Manasseh went from Asher to Michmethath near Shechem: The term Asher refers to the clan of Asher. Their land was northwest of the land belonging to the clan of Manasseh.

Michmethath: The town of Michmethath was on the northern border of Ephraim, near the town of Shechem. The exact location is unknown. This town was mentioned in Joshua 16:6b.

Shechem: The town of Shechem was in the territory assigned to Ephraim.

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

Manasseh’s land bordered on the clan of Asher’s land ⌊in the northwest⌋ , and reached to the town of Michmethath ⌊in the south⌋ . Michmethath was east of Shechem town
-or-
The territory of the clan of Manasseh went from the border of Asher’s land in the northwest to the town of Michmethath which was east of Shechem

17:7b

then southward to include the inhabitants of En-tappuah: The town of Tappuah was mentioned in Joshua 16:8. The Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as En-tappuah can also be translated as “the spring of Tappuah.” The inhabitants of En-tappuah lived in the area near Tappuah spring, which was outside the town of Tappuah.

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

Then the border went south to the people who lived near the spring of Tappuah
-or-
The border then continued south. It went past the people who lived near the spring of Tappuah

© 2001, 2011, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
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.

Paragraph 18:21–28

18:21a

These were the cities of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin: This introduces a list of the towns that were within Benjamin’s land.

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

The following towns belonged to the families of the clan of Benjamin
-or-
The families of the Benjamin clan received these towns. ⌊In the eastern part of their territory⌋ there were:

18:21b

Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz: The towns listed in verses 21–24 were in the eastern part of Benjamin’s territory. The town of Beth-hoglah was mentioned in Joshua 18:19a. The town of Emek-keziz is mentioned only here in the Bible, and its location is unknown.

© 2001, 2011, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
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.

19:25

Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph: The clan of Asher received land in the northwest area of Israel. These towns were in the southwest part of Asher’s land. The town of Achshaph was mentioned in chapter 11:1. It was at the south edge of the plain of Acco, near the foot of Mount Carmel.

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

Their land included the towns of Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph
-or-
Their area included Helkath and Hali and Beten and Achshaph

© 2001, 2011, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
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.

20:6a

The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible leaves untranslated but some English versions translate as “and” can also be translated as “but.” Choose the connecting words that are most natural in your language. Some English versions do not translation this conjunction.

He is to stay in that city: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He is to stay in that city can also be translated “he must live in that town.”

until he stands trial before the assembly: The clause until he stands trial before the assembly indicates that there will be a trial for the person who was accused of killing someone. The trial will be conducted by the assembly which was composed of all the adult males of the town.

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

But he must live in that town until his trial before the assembly.
-or-
He should stay in that town until the people gather and judge his case.

20:6b

until the death of the high priest serving at that time: There is implicit information in this part of the verse. First the congregation must decide that the person who killed someone was innocent of murder. If they decided he was innocent he could stay in the town of refuge until the high priest died. It may be clearer in some languages to include this implicit information.

high priest: The high priest was the leader of all the priests. The priests offered sacrifices on behalf of the people, but the high priest offered certain sacrifices that no other priest could offer. He represented the Israelite people to God.

If you have translated the gospels you should translate high priest the same way you did there. See for example John 18:19.

Here are some other ways to translate the term high priest:

the chief/leader of all the priests
-or-
the main/principal priest
-or-
the highest/leading priest

at that time: The Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as at that time is more literally “in those days.” The high priest continued his duties until he died or could not carry them out. Then a new person was chosen.

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

⌊If he is innocent⌋ he must continue to stay there until the high priest of that time has died.
-or-

⌊After he is judged to be not guilty⌋ he should live there until the chief priest in those days has died.

20:6c

Then the manslayer may return to his own home: This clause indicates that the person who killed unintentionally could then return to his home.

in the city from which he fled: the city from which he fled is the same town as is indicated in the phrase “to his own home.” In some languages it may be clearer to combine these two phrases. For example:

to his own home in the town from which he fled

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

Then the person who killed unintentionally may return to his own house in his town.
-or-
After that the person may go back to his home in the town that he ran away from.

© 2001, 2011, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
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.

21:29

Jarmuth: The town of Jarmuth was south of Kishion.

and En-gannim: The town of En-gannim was mentioned in 19:21. It was southwest of the Sea of Galilee.

four cities: The clan of Issachar gave four cities in all to the Kohath families of the Levi people.

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

the town of Jarmuth with the grazing lands around it and the town of En-gannim with the grazing lands around it. They gave four towns in all.
-or-
Jarmuth town with its grasslands and En-gannim town with its grasslands. The total was four towns.

© 2001, 2011, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
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.