Translation commentary on Joshua 1:16

Verse 16 reports how the men of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh promptly agreed to Joshua’s demand. They may need to be identified as “The tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh,” since the last mention of them was in verse 12.

It may be helpful to change the order of the command and responses in the clauses We will do everything you have told us and will go everywhere you send us. For example, “You have given us commands, and we will obey them all, and when you command us to go somewhere, we will go there.” Or, since the initial response immediately follows Joshua’s speech, it may be necessary to reorder only the second in the series: “We will do all the things that you have told us to do, and when you send us somewhere, we will go there.” In these two proposed restructurings, it should be noted that the subject “we” is repeated before the second verb of which it is the subject; this is because in Good News Translation We will do is a closely bound unit, whereas We will do … and will go has the subject We at some distance from the second verb will go.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Joshua 11:6

11:6a

Then: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then indicates the continuing action of the narrative. Yahweh gave instructions to Joshua after the armies gathered to fight against the Israelites.

Do not be afraid of them: Yahweh told Joshua not to be afraid of the enemies. Yahweh gave him this same encouragement before the battle of Ai (Joshua 8:1) and the battle at Gibeon (Joshua 10:8).

11:6b

for by this time tomorrow: The phrase by this time tomorrow indicates the time that Yahweh will help the Israelites to defeat the armies of the northern kings.

I will deliver all of them slain before Israel: The clause I will deliver all of them slain before Israel indicates that Yahweh will kill the enemies of the Israelites. It is evident from verses 6–7 that the Israelites had a part in pursuing their enemies and killing them. However, this happened only because Yahweh enabled them to do it.

slain: The word slain is from the verb “to slay” which means “to kill.” Yahweh said that he would kill the enemies.

before Israel: Yahweh said he would give the Canaanite soldiers before Israel. Since Yahweh was talking to Joshua, it may be clearer in some languages to translate this:

to you
-or-
to you Israelites

11:6c

You are to hamstring their horses: The word to hamstring means to cut the large tendon, the “hamstring,” that runs down the back of the horse’s hind leg. The Israelites were to cut the hamstrings of the Canaanite horses so that they would not be able to walk. They did this so that the enemy armies could not use the horses that survived.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

cut the hamstrings of their horses
-or-
cut the legs of their horses ⌊so that they cannot be used to fight⌋

11:6d

and burn up their chariots: The Hebrew text includes the words “with fire”, which may be helpful to specific in some languages. For example:

and burn their chariots with fire

In other languages, adding this might make it redundant, because it is already implied in the verb burn.

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