Joshua 1:4-18

Context
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)¹ and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea² in the west.³ 1:5 No one will be able to resist you⁴ 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.⁵ 1:7 Make sure you are⁶ very strong and brave! Carefully obey⁷ all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep!⁸ Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful⁹ in all you do.¹⁰ 1:8 This law scroll must not leave your lips!¹¹ You must memorize it¹² day and night so you can carefully obey¹³ all that is written in it. Then you will prosper¹⁴ and be successful.¹⁵ 1:9 I repeat,¹⁶ be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic,¹⁷ for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.”¹⁸

Joshua Prepares for the Invasion

1:10 Joshua instructed¹⁹ 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.’”²⁰

1:12 Joshua told the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh: 1:13 “Remember what Moses the Lord’s servant commanded you.²¹ The Lord your God is giving you a place to settle and is handing this land over to you.²² 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.²³ 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.”²⁴

1:16 They told Joshua, “We will do everything you say. We will go wherever you send us. 1:17 Just as we obeyed²⁵ Moses, so we will obey you. But²⁶ 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.²⁷ But²⁸ be strong and brave!”

[1:4] ¹tn 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 b.c. was located, but rather to Syria, the “Hatti land” mentioned in inscriptions of the first millennium b.c. (see HALOT 1:363). The phrase is omitted in the LXX and may be a scribal addition.

[1:4] ²tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

[1:4] ³tn 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.”

[1:5] ⁴tn Heb “A man will not stand before you.” The second person pronouns in this verse are singular, indicating Joshua is the addressee.

[1:6] ⁵tn 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.

[1:7] ⁶tn Or “Only be.”

[1:7] ⁷tn 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!”

[1:7] ⁸tn Heb “commanded you.”

[1:7] ⁹tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

[1:7] ¹⁰tn Heb “in all which you go.”

[1:8] ¹¹tn Heb “mouth.”

[1:8] ¹²tn Heb “read it in undertones,” or “recite it quietly” (see HALOT 1:237).

[1:8] ¹³tn Heb “be careful to do.”

[1:8] ¹⁴tn Heb “you will make your way prosperous.”

[1:8] ¹⁵tn Heb “and be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

[1:9] ¹⁶tn 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.

[1:9] ¹⁷tn Or perhaps, “don’t get discouraged!”

[1:9] ¹⁸tn Heb “in all which you go.”

[1:10] ¹⁹tn Or “commanded.”

[1:11] ²⁰tn Heb “to enter to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving to you to possess it.”

[1:13] ²¹tn Heb “remember the word which Moses, the Lord’s servant, commanded you.”

[1:13] ²²tn Heb “is providing rest for you and is giving to you this land.”

[1:14] ²³tn Heb “But you must cross over armed for battle before your brothers, all [you] mighty men of strength.”

[1:15] ²⁴tn Heb “Then you may return to the land of your possession and possess it, that which Moses, the Lord’s servant, gave to you beyond the Jordan toward the rising of the sun.”

[1:17] ²⁵tn Heb “listened to.”

[1:17] ²⁶tn Or “Only.” Here and in v. 18 this word qualifies what precedes (see also v. 7).

[1:18] ²⁷tn 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.”

[1:18] ²⁸tn Or “Only.” Here and in v. 17 this word qualifies what precedes (see also v. 7).