Yosua 24:27

24:27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. ¹  It will be a witness against you if ²  you deny your God.”

Rut 4:10

4:10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife to raise up a descendant who will inherit his property ³  so the name of the deceased might not disappear ⁴  from among his relatives and from his village. ⁵  You are witnesses today.”

Yesaya 8:2

8:2 Then I will summon ⁶  as my reliable witnesses Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”

[24:27]  ¹ tn Heb “all the words of the Lord which he spoke with us.”

[24:27]  ² tn Or “lest,” “so that you might not.”

[4:10]  ³ tn Heb “in order to raise up the name of the deceased over his inheritance” (NASB similar).

[4:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “be cut off” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “may not perish.”

[4:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the gate of his place” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “from the court of his birth place”; NIV “from the town records.”

[8:2]  ⁶ tn The form in the text is a cohortative with prefixed vav (ו), suggesting that the Lord is announcing what he will do. Some prefer to change the verb to an imperative, “and summon as witnesses,” a reading that finds support from the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a. Another option is to point the prefixed conjunction as a vav consecutive and translate, “So I summoned as witnesses.” In this case Isaiah is recalling his response to the Lord’s commission. In any case, the reference to witnesses suggests that the name and the child who bears it will function as signs.