7:1 But the Israelites disobeyed the command about the city’s riches. 1 Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, 2 son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, stole some of the riches. 3 The Lord was furious with the Israelites. 4
22:21 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders 23 of the Israelite clans: 22:22 “El, God, the Lord! 24 El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth! 25 Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord, 26 don’t spare us 27 today! 22:23 If we have built 28 an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making 29 burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering 30 tokens of peace 31 on it, the Lord himself will punish us. 32 22:24 We swear we have done this because we were worried that 33 in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel? 34 22:25 The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.’ 35 In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying 36 the Lord. 22:26 So we decided to build this altar, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices,
21:1 The tribal leaders of the Levites went before Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the Israelite tribal leaders
24:1 Joshua assembled all the Israelite tribes at Shechem. He summoned Israel’s elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and they appeared before God.
1 tn Heb “But the sons of Israel were unfaithful with unfaithfulness concerning what was set apart [to the
2 tn 1 Chr 2:6 lists a “Zimri” (but no Zabdi) as one of the five sons of Zerah (cf. also 1 Chr 7:17, 18).
3 tn Heb “took from what was set apart [to the
4 tn Heb “the anger of the
5 tn The meaning and correct translation of the Hebrew word שְׁבָרִים (shÿvarim) is uncertain. The translation “fissures” is based on usage of the plural form of the noun in Ps 60:4 HT (60:2 ET), where it appears to refer to cracks in the earth caused by an earthquake. Perhaps deep ravines or gorges are in view, or the word is a proper noun (“all the way to Shebarim”).
6 sn The precise geographical location of the Israelite defeat at this “steep slope” is uncertain.
7 tn Or “army’s.”
8 tn Heb “and the heart of the people melted and became water.”
9 tn Heb “what is set apart [to destruction by the
10 tn Heb “remove what is set apart [i.e., to destruction by the
11 tn Heb “What is this unfaithfulness with which you have been unfaithful against the God of Israel, turning today from after the
12 tn Heb “Was the sin of Peor too insignificant for us, from which we have not made purification to this day? And there was a plague in the assembly of the
13 tn Heb “you are turning back.”
14 tn Or “he will be angry with.”
15 tn Heb “the land of your possession.”
16 sn The western tribes here imagine a possible motive for the action of the eastern tribes. T. C. Butler explains the significance of the land’s “impurity”: “East Jordan is impure because it is not Yahweh’s possession. Rather it is simply ‘your possession.’ That means it is land where Yahweh does not live, land which his presence has not sanctified and purified” (Joshua [WBC], 247).
17 tn Heb “the land of the possession of the
18 tn Heb “where the dwelling place of the
19 tn Heb “and take for yourselves in our midst.”
20 tc Heb “and us to you rebel.” The reading of the MT, the accusative sign with suffix (וְאֹתָנוּ, vÿ’otanu), is problematic with the verb “rebel” (מָרַד, marad). Many Hebrew
21 tn Heb “Is it not [true that] Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful with unfaithfulness concerning what was set apart [to the
22 tn The second half of the verse reads literally, “and he [was] one man, he did not die for his sin.” There are at least two possible ways to explain this statement: (1) One might interpret the statement to mean that Achan was not the only person who died for his sin. In this case it could be translated, “and he was not the only one to die because of his sin.” (2) Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to take the words וְהוּא אִישׁ אֶחָד (vÿhu’ ’ish ’ekhad, “and he [was] one man”) as a concessive clause and join it with what precedes. The remaining words (לֹא גָוַע בַּעֲוֹנוֹ, lo’ gava’ ba’avono) must then be taken as a rhetorical question (“Did he not die for his sin?”). Taking the last sentence as interrogative is consistent with the first part of the verse, a rhetorical question introduced with the interrogative particle. The present translation has converted these rhetorical questions into affirmative statements to bring out more clearly the points they are emphasizing. For further discussion, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 240.
23 tn Heb “answered and spoke to the heads of.”
24 sn Israel’s God is here identified with three names: (1) אֵל (’el), “El” (or “God”); (2) אֱלֹהִים (’elohim), “Elohim” (or “God”), and (3) יְהוָה (yÿhvah), “Yahweh” (or “the
25 tn Heb “he knows.”
26 tn Heb “if in rebellion or if in unfaithfulness against the
27 tn Heb “do not save us.” The verb form is singular, being addressed to either collective Israel or the Lord himself. The LXX translates in the third person.
28 tn Heb “by building.” The prepositional phrase may be subordinated to what precedes, “if in unfaithfulness…by building.”
29 tn Heb “or if to offer up.”
30 tn Heb “or if to make.”
31 tn Or “peace offerings.”
32 tn Heb “the
33 tn Heb “Surely, from worry concerning a matter we have done this, saying.”
34 tn Heb “What is there to you and to the
35 tn Heb “You have no portion in the
36 tn Heb “fearing.”
37 tn Heb “You have kept all which Moses, the