Joshua 1:7

1:7 Make sure you are ¹  very strong and brave! Carefully obey ²  all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! ³  Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful ⁴  in all you do. ⁵ 

Joshua 3:8

3:8 Instruct the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, ‘When you reach the bank of the Jordan River, ⁶  wade into the water.’” ⁷ 

Joshua 4:3

4:3 Instruct them, ‘Pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests ⁸  stand firmly, and carry them over with you and put them in the place where you camp tonight.’”

¹ tn Or “Only be.”

² 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!”

³ tn Heb “commanded you.”

⁴ tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

⁵ tn Heb “in all which you go.”

⁶ tn Heb “the edge of the waters of the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “stand in the Jordan.” Here the repetition of the word “Jordan” would be redundant according to contemporary English style, so it was not included in the translation.

¹¹ tn Heb “the feet of the priests.”