Paragraph 23:14–16

23:14a

Now: The connector that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now is the Hebrew conjunction that joins sentences. Many English versions do not translate this connecting word. Use a connecting word that is natural in your language.

behold: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as behold calls attention to the next statement. Some languages may have grammatical markers that fulfill this function.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Look
-or-
Pay attention (God’s Word)

I am going the way of all the earth: This is a Hebrew idiom which means that Joshua will soon die.

Here are some other ways to translate this idiom:

I will soon die, like everyone else does
-or-
I will not live much longer

23:14b

and you know with all your heart and soul: The Hebrew verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as you know is plural. It refers to all the Israelites.

your heart and soul: The phrase your heart and soul is a Hebrew idiom that refers to the entire being of a person. In this context it emphasizes the completeness of their knowledge.

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

You (plur.) know in your hearts and in your souls
-or-
You (plur.) know with all your being
-or-
Each one of you truly knows this:

23:14c

that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed is more literally “not one thing has fallen.” In some languages it may be more natural to express this in a positive statement. For example, “Everything has happened.”

not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you: Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

none of the good words that Yahweh your God has spoken concerning you has failed to happen
-or-
Every one of the promises that Yahweh your God gave to you has happened

23:14d

Everything was fulfilled for you: This means that every word or promise that Yahweh has spoken to them has happened.

not one promise has failed: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as not one promise has failed is more literally “not one word has fallen from them.”

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

All his promises have been fulfilled. None have failed to happen.
-or-
Every single one of the words he spoke to you has come true.

General Comment on 23:14c–d

The negative and positive statements in 14c and 14d mean the same thing. The repetition functions to emphasize that nothing that Yahweh has promised has failed to happen. Every promise he made has come true. Use a natural way in your language to indicate this emphasis.

© 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.