1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: 1:2 “Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! 1 Cross the Jordan River! 2 Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them. 3 1:3 I am handing over to you every place you set foot, as I promised Moses. 4 1:4 Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north. It will extend all the way to the great River Euphrates in the east (including all of Syria) 5 and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea 6 in the west. 7 1:5 No one will be able to resist you 8 all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone. 1:6 Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them. 9 1:7 Make sure you are 10 very strong and brave! Carefully obey 11 all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! 12 Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful 13 in all you do. 14 1:8 This law scroll must not leave your lips! 15 You must memorize it 16 day and night so you can carefully obey 17 all that is written in it. Then you will prosper 18 and be successful. 19 1:9 I repeat, 20 be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, 21 for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.” 22
1:10 Joshua instructed 23 the leaders of the people: 1:11 “Go through the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your supplies, for within three days you will cross the Jordan River and begin the conquest of the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to you.’” 24
1:12 Joshua told the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh: 1:13 “Remember what Moses the Lord’s servant commanded you. 25 The Lord your God is giving you a place to settle and is handing this land over to you. 26 1:14 Your wives, children and cattle may stay in the land that Moses assigned to you east of the Jordan River. But all you warriors must cross over armed for battle ahead of your brothers. 27 You must help them 1:15 until the Lord gives your brothers a place like yours to settle and they conquer the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to them. Then you may go back to your allotted land and occupy the land Moses the Lord’s servant assigned you east of the Jordan.” 28
1:16 They told Joshua, “We will do everything you say. We will go wherever you send us. 1:17 Just as we obeyed 29 Moses, so we will obey you. But 30 may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses! 1:18 Any man who rebels against what you say and does not obey all your commands will be executed. 31 But 32 be strong and brave!”
1 tn Heb “Get up!”
2 tn Heb “this Jordan”; the word “River” has been supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in v. 11).
3 tc Heb “Cross over this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land that I am giving to them, to the children of Israel.” The final phrase, “to the children of Israel,” is probably a later scribal addition specifying the identity of “these people/them.”
4 tn Heb “Every place on which the sole of your foot walks, to you I have given it, as I said to Moses.” The second person pronouns in vv. 3-4 are plural, indicating that all the people are addressed here. The verbal form נְתַתִּיו (nÿtattiv, “I have given it”) is probably a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Another option is to translate, “I have already assigned it.” In this case the verb would probably refer to the
5 tn Heb “all the land of the Hittites.” The expression “the land of the Hittites” does not refer to Anatolia (modern Turkey), where the ancient Hittite kingdom of the second millennium
6 tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.
7 tn Heb “From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, even to the great sea [at] the place where the sun sets, your territory will be.”
8 tn Heb “A man will not stand before you.” The second person pronouns in this verse are singular, indicating Joshua is the addressee.
9 tn Heb “For you will cause these people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give to them.” The pronoun “them” at the end of the verse refers to either the people or to the fathers.
10 tn Or “Only be.”
11 tn Heb “so you can be careful to do.” The use of the infinitive לִשְׁמֹר (lishmor, “to keep”) after the imperatives suggests that strength and bravery will be necessary for obedience. Another option is to take the form לִשְׁמֹר as a vocative lamed (ל) with imperative (see Isa 38:20 for an example of this construction), which could be translated, “Indeed, be careful!”
12 tn Heb “commanded you.”
13 tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.
14 tn Heb “in all which you go.”
15 tn Heb “mouth.”
16 tn Heb “read it in undertones,” or “recite it quietly” (see HALOT 1:237).
17 tn Heb “be careful to do.”
18 tn Heb “you will make your way prosperous.”
19 tn Heb “and be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.
20 tn Heb “Have I not commanded you?” The rhetorical question emphasizes the importance of the following command by reminding the listener that it is being repeated.
21 tn Or perhaps, “don’t get discouraged!”
22 tn Heb “in all which you go.”
23 tn Or “commanded.”
24 tn Heb “to enter to possess the land which the
25 tn Heb “remember the word which Moses, the
26 tn Heb “is providing rest for you and is giving to you this land.”
27 tn Heb “But you must cross over armed for battle before your brothers, all [you] mighty men of strength.”
28 tn Heb “Then you may return to the land of your possession and possess it, that which Moses, the
29 tn Heb “listened to.”
30 tn Or “Only.” Here and in v. 18 this word qualifies what precedes (see also v. 7).
31 tn Heb “any man who rebels against your mouth and does not listen to your words, to all which you command us, will be put to death.”
32 tn Or “Only.” Here and in v. 17 this word qualifies what precedes (see also v. 7).