Translation commentary on Joshua 24:21 - 24:22

The No! with which the people answer Joshua is a denial of the possibility that they will reject the Lord and serve foreign gods. For many readers the response No will indicate denial or rejection of Joshua’s advice. It may be better to translate No! as “What you have said is true” or “That is indeed true!”

The verb will is placed in italics by Good News Translation for the sake of emphasis. Such a device is of no advantage for the person who must depend upon hearing the Scripture read.

So Joshua puts them under solemn oath, You are your own witnesses, and they voluntarily affirm the fact. To the fact that makes a somewhat awkward structure in English. In the present context its function is to indicate that the speaker, Joshua, is quoting indirectly what the other speakers, the people, have said. Accordingly one may shift to direct discourse: “You are your own witnesses. You said, ‘We have chosen to serve the LORD!’ ”

Yes … we are witnesses may also be translated “That is true” or “What you have said is true.”

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 24:22

24:22a

Then: The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then introduces the next event in the storyline. Introduce the next event in a natural way in your language.

You are witnesses against yourselves: There is an interpretation issue with the Hebrew preposition that the Berean Standard Bible translates as against.

(1) It means against. This indicates that the Israelites will be asked in the future to testify whether they have kept their covenant with Yahweh. If they have not kept the covenant, they will have to testify that they are wrong. For example:

Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord ? (NET Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, NET Bible, Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New International Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, King James Version)

(2) It means for or about. This indicates that the Israelites are affirming that they have said that they will serve Yahweh. It does not imply any consequences for the future. For example:

You have testified that you have chosen to serve the Lord. (God’s Word)

(God’s Word, Good News Translation, New Living Translation (2004), New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Contemporary English Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This is followed by many English versions and Bible commentaries.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

You (plur.) will give evidence against yourselves
-or-
You are witnesses who may have to condemn yourselves

that you have chosen to serve the LORD: Here are some other ways to translate this:

that you have chosen to serve Yahweh
-or-
that you chose to worship and obey Yahweh

24:22b

“We are witnesses!” they said: Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

They answered, “Yes, we (excl.) agree to be our own witnesses.”
-or-
They said, “Yes, we will testify ⌊against ourselves⌋ .”

© 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.