Yosua 1:1

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:

Yosua 2:2

2:2 The king of Jericho received this report: “Note well! ¹  Israelite men have come here tonight ²  to spy on the land.”

Yosua 4:1

Israel Commemorates the Crossing

4:1 When the entire nation was on the other side, ³  the Lord told Joshua,

Yosua 4:21

4:21 He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’ ⁴ 

Yosua 5:9

5:9 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have taken away ⁵  the disgrace ⁶  of Egypt from you.” So that place is called Gilgal ⁷  even to this day.

Yosua 6:2

6:2 The Lord told Joshua, “See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you, ⁸  along with its king and its warriors.

Yosua 6:16

6:16 The seventh time around, the priests blew the rams’ horns and Joshua told the army, ⁹  “Give the battle cry, ¹⁰  for the Lord is handing the city over to you! ¹¹ 

Yosua 7:20

7:20 Achan told Joshua, “It is true. I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel in this way: ¹² 

Yosua 9:7

9:7 The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live near us. ¹³  So how can we make a treaty with you?”

Yosua 10:8

10:8 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, for I am handing them over to you. ¹⁴  Not one of them can resist you.” ¹⁵ 

Yosua 10:22

10:22 Joshua said, “Open the cave’s mouth and bring the five kings ¹⁶  out of the cave to me.”

Yosua 13:1

The Lord Speaks to Joshua

13:1 When Joshua was very old, ¹⁷  the Lord told him, “You are very old, and a great deal of land remains to be conquered.

Yosua 15:16

15:16 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Acsah as a wife.”

Yosua 15:18

15:18 One time Acsah ¹⁸  came and charmed her father ¹⁹  so that she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”

Yosua 22:2

22:2 and told them: “You have carried out all the instructions of Moses the Lord’s servant, and you have obeyed all I have told you. ²⁰ 

Yosua 23:2

23:2 So Joshua summoned all Israel, including the elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and told them: “I am very old.

Yosua 24:22

24:22 Joshua said to the people, “Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord?” ²¹  They replied, “We are witnesses!” ²² 

[2:2]  ¹ tn Or “look.”

[2:2]  ² tn Heb “men have come here tonight from the sons of Israel.”

[4:1]  ³ tn Heb “And when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”

[4:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “What are these stones?”

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “rolled away.”

[5:9]  ⁶ sn One might take the disgrace of Egypt as a reference to their uncircumcised condition (see Gen 34:14), but the generation that left Egypt was circumcised (see v. 5). It more likely refers to the disgrace they experienced in Egyptian slavery. When this new generation reached the promised land and renewed their covenantal commitment to the Lord by submitting to the rite of circumcision, the Lord’s deliverance of his people from slavery, which had begun with the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea, reached its climax. See T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 59.

[5:9]  ⁷ sn The name Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew verb “roll away” (גַּלַל, galal).

[6:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “I have given into your hand Jericho.” The Hebrew verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, “I have given”) is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action. The Hebrew pronominal suffix “your” is singular, being addressed to Joshua as the leader and representative of the nation. To convey to the modern reader what is about to happen and who is doing it, the translation “I am about to defeat Jericho for you” has been used.

[6:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “the people.”

[6:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the shout.”

[6:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for the Lord has given to you the city.” The verbal form is a perfect, probably indicating certitude here.

[7:20]  ¹² tn Heb “like this and like this I did.”

[9:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “in our midst.”

[10:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I have given them into your hand.” The verbal form is a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of the action.

[10:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and not a man [or “one”] of them will stand before you.”

[10:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “these five kings.”

[13:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “was old, coming into the days.” This expression, referring to advancing in years, also occurs in the following clause.

[15:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Acsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “him.” The referent of the pronoun could be Othniel, in which case the translation would be, “she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field.” This is problematic, however, for Acsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 19. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18//Judges 1:14,” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. This incident is also recorded in Judg 1:14.

[22:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “You have kept all which Moses, the Lord’s servant, commanded you, and you have listened to my voice, to all which I commanded you.”

[24:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve him.”

[24:22]  ²² sn Like witnesses in a court of law, Israel’s solemn vow to worship the Lord will testify against them in the divine court if the nation ever violates its commitment.