Translation commentary on Joshua 4:4 - 4:5

Joshua does as the Lord commands: he chooses twelve men and gives them their instructions. They are to enter the Jordan ahead of the priests carrying the Covenant Box. The difficulty here is that in the final text of the book the crossing has already taken place (3.17; 4.1). Accordingly, Soggin takes these instructions to mean that the twelve men were to carry twelve stones from the east bank of the Jordan into the river and place them there for the priests to stand on; but certainly the Hebrew text as it now stands does not say this. Some scholars have suggested that the confusion arises because the writer joined two separate traditions about two different sets of twelve stones. The translator, however, can only translate the text as we have it.

Frequently the translator is torn between the desire to maintain the integrity of the text as it stands and the desire to “make sense” of the text (either logically, chronologically, or historically). Upon close reading, one discovers a “gap” between the end of verse 3 and the beginning of verse 4. In verses 1-3 the Lord commands Joshua to choose twelve men, but there is no statement in the text indicating that Joshua did choose these men. Then verse 4 begins “Then Joshua called the twelve men he had chosen….” The sequence of events which is suggested is that somewhere between verses 3 and 4 Joshua did choose the twelve men, but as of verse 4 he still had not called them together to give them their orders. For some readers this lack of connection between verses 3 and 4 can be quite confusing.

The translator may solve this problem by simply stating at the end of verse 3 “Joshua did as the LORD had commanded him,” since it is stated explicitly in verse 4 that Joshua did choose twelve men according to the Lord’s command. The dilemma may otherwise be resolved by placing together verses 4-5 and beginning the paragraph, “Joshua chose twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel…” An alternative solution, and one which may be less problematic, is to retain the text as it is, except for inverting the order of the verbs in verse 4. This verse may then be translated, “Then Joshua chose the twelve men and called them together.”

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 4:5

4:5a

and: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and indicates the next action in the story. Use a word or particle in your language to show that the story line is progressing.

said to them: The phrase said to them indicates that Joshua told God’s command to the twelve men. In other words, Joshua repeated to the men what God said to him in 4:3. It may be more natural in some languages to use a word such as:

Joshua ordered them
-or-
Joshua commanded them

4:5b

Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan: The phrase Cross over before the ark means that the twelve men must go into the middle of the riverbed, where the priests stood holding the ark of Yahweh.

ark: See 3:3 for ideas of how to translate the word ark.

4:5c

Each of you is to take a stone upon his shoulder: The clause Each of you is to take a stone upon his shoulder means that each of the twelve men must pick up one stone and carry it across the river to the other side.

There is implied information here that is not made explicit until 4:8. The men were told to carry the stones to the camping place and put them down there. You may find it helpful to include this implied information here.

Here is another way to translate this part of the verse:

each of you should take a stone on his shoulder, ⌊and carry them to the camp and put them down there⌋

4:5d

according to the number of the tribes of Israel: The phrase according to the number of the tribes means that the twelve stones which the men carried across the river each represented one of the Israelite tribes.

General Comment on 4:5

There is some uncertainty about how 4:5 (and 4:8) fits into the sequence of events of chapters 3–4.

(1) The Israelites finished crossing the Jordan River. Then the twelve men went back into the river to get the stones from where the priests were still holding the ark of covenant.

(2) The twelve men picked up the stones while they were crossing the river with the other Israelites. Chapter 4 is a flashback that focuses on one aspect of the crossing, namely, the memorial stones.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). In 4:1–5 it seems that Joshua talked to the twelve men after the Israelites finished crossing the river. It was after everyone was across that the ceremony of gathering the memorial stones was done.

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