Joshua10:29–43

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיַּעֲבֹ֣ר BSB's moved on softens way·ya·‘ă·ḇōr (H5674, ʻâbar, "to cross over, pass through"). It is the same verb used of crossing the Jordan; the army does not merely "move" but traverses from one fallen city to the next, a campaign measured in border-crossings.
• וַיִּלָּ֖חֶם way·yil·lā·ḥem (H3898, lâcham) is Nifal — a reflexive/reciprocal stem here meaning "engaged in battle, did battle." The smooth English fought against loses the middle-voice nuance that Hebrew uses for joining in combat.
• עִם־ The same preposition ‘im (H5973) renders both with him (Israel with Joshua) and against Libnah in this one verse — the Hebrew sets fellowship and hostility side by side under a single word.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיִּתֵּן֩ BSB delivered renders way·yit·tên (H5414, nâthan, "to give"). The plain verb is "gave" — Yahweh hands over the city as a gift; the victory is grammatically God's act, not Israel's seizure.
• לְפִי־ The idiom lə·p̄î-ḥereḇ is literally "to the mouth of the sword" (H6310, peh, "mouth"). English to the sword erases the vivid image of a devouring mouth — fitting, since lâcham ("fight") shares a root with "to eat."
• הַנֶּ֙פֶשׁ֙ han·ne·p̄eš (H5315, nephesh) is "the soul / breathing thing," rendered collectively the people. Poole insists it means "human souls; for all the cattle they had for a prey" — the singular noun stands for every living person.
• שָׂרִ֑יד śā·rîḏ (H8300, a rare word, only 28 verses) is "a survivor, one who escapes." "Leaving no survivors" is the recurring death-knell of this unit; the same noun closes vv. 33, 37, 39, 40.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיִּ֣חַן BSB laid siege renders way·yi·ḥan (H2583, chânâh), which properly means "to incline, pitch a tent, encamp." The verb is the ordinary word for setting up camp; the siege is implied, not stated — Lachish alone in this unit requires a camp before its fall.
• לָכִ֑ישָׁה The locative -âh ending on lā·ḵî·šāh (H3923) means "to Lachish, toward Lachish" — direction baked into the noun itself, which English must spell out with the preposition to.
• וַיַּעֲבֹ֣ר Again way·ya·‘ă·ḇōr (H5674, ʻâbar, "cross over") is flattened to moved on; the itinerary verb marks each leg of the march as a deliberate traverse, not casual movement.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַֽיִּלְכְּדָהּ֙ BSB captured renders way·yil·kə·ḏāh (H3920, lâkad), which carries the image "to catch in a net, trap, or pit." Lachish is not merely taken but snared — the hunting metaphor underlies the conquest vocabulary.
• הַשֵּׁנִ֔י haš·šê·nî (H8145, "the second") is the one chronological note in the whole sweep. Cambridge marks it: "Of Lachish, and Lachish alone, is it said that he took it on the second day" — every other city fell in one day, so this single word records the campaign's one hard fight.
• וַיִּתֵּן֩ Once more way·yit·tên (H5414) is "gave," not delivered — even the city that took two days is framed as Yahweh's gift, lest the delay be read as Israel's own labor.

Where the English smooths the original

• עָלָ֗ה BSB went to help renders ‘ā·lāh (H5927, "to go up, ascend"). Keil notes the verb need not imply higher ground — "going up often signifies nothing more than making a hostile attack upon a fortification." The Hebrew pictures a marching-up to relieve a besieged ally.
• לַעְזֹ֖ר la‘·zōr (H5826, ʻâzar, "to help, succour") — the only relief mission in the unit. Horam's help is the single act of solidarity among the doomed kings, and it is precisely what brings his own people to slaughter.
• בִּלְתִּ֥י Verse 33 swaps the usual lōʼ for bil·tî (H1115, "so as not, failing of") before survivor — a slightly more emphatic negation, literally "to the point of leaving him none, without a survivor." English flattens both negations to a plain no.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיַּחֲנ֣וּ BSB laid siege renders way·ya·ḥă·nū (H2583, chânâh, "encamp") — now plural ("they encamped"), unlike Lachish's singular in v. 31. The shift to plural verbs through this section keeps Israel, not Joshua alone, as the acting body.
• וַיִּֽלָּחֲמ֖וּ way·yil·lā·ḥă·mū (H3898, lâcham, Nifal plural) — "they did battle." The verse pairs encamping and fighting exactly as v. 31, marking Eglon as another city that resisted enough to need a camp.
• מִלָּכִ֖ישׁ The prefixed mi- on mil·lā·ḵîš ("from Lachish") and the locative on Eglon-ward compress "from X to toward Y" into the bare nouns; English must unfold the directional logic the Hebrew carries in its affixes.

Where the English smooths the original

• הֶחֱרִ֑ים BSB devoted to destruction renders he·ḥĕ·rîm (H2763, châram, Hifil) — the technical term for ḥerem, "to ban, set apart by utter destruction as devoted to God." The root means "to seclude, shut off"; the slaughter is not vengeance but consecration — the city handed over wholly to Yahweh.
• וַֽיִּלְכְּד֜וּהָ way·yil·kə·ḏū·hā (H3920, lâkad, "to snare") is plural here — "they trapped her." The English captured loses the net-and-pit imagery native to the verb.
• בַּיּ֤וֹם The doubled "on that day" (vv. 35a and 35b both have bay·yō·wm, H3117) gives an emphasis BSB renders only once with That day; the Hebrew brackets the whole act inside a single day, in contrast to Lachish's two.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיַּ֣עַל BSB went up correctly renders way·ya·‘al (H5927, ʻâlâh), and the change of verb is deliberate: the itinerary verb shifts from ʻâbar ("pass over," used in the plain) to ʻâlâh ("go up") precisely because Hebron sits in the hill country. The Pulpit Commentary flags this: "He 'goes up' to Hebron, which is situated among the hills."
• חֶבְר֑וֹנָה The locative -âh on ḥeḇ·rō·w·nāh (H2275) means "to/toward Hebron"; the noun's own ending supplies the directional sense English carries with to.
• וַיִּֽלָּחֲמ֖וּ way·yil·lā·ḥă·mū (Nifal plural) — "they did battle." Unlike Lachish and Eglon, no "encamping" verb precedes; Hebron is engaged directly, though the Pulpit Commentary notes it "made some resistance at first."

Where the English smooths the original

• עָרֶ֜יהָ BSB villages renders ‘ā·re·hā (H5892, ʻîyr), which simply means "cities, towns." Barnes and the Geneva translators read "the smaller towns dependent upon Hebron" — the word marks Hebron a metropolis with subject cities, but it is "cities," not the lesser "villages."
• וַיַּחֲרֵ֣ם way·ya·ḥă·rêm (H2763, châram, Hifil) — the ḥerem-verb returns, here in wayyiqtol singular ("and he banned her"). The verse uses both nâkâh ("struck") and châram ("devoted"): the city is killed and then formally consecrated to destruction.
• הִשְׁאִ֣יר hiš·’îr (H7604, shâʼar, Hifil, "to cause to remain, leave over") with negated survivor — the recurring "he left no survivor." The Hifil makes leaving-a-remnant an action one deliberately withholds.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיָּ֧שָׁב BSB turned toward renders way·yā·šāḇ (H7725, shûwb, "to turn back, return"). The KJV reads "returned," but Keil insists "shûwb does not mean only to turn round or turn back: it signifies turning generally" — Joshua had not been to Debir before; he simply changes direction. The verb is the same one v. 43 uses for the genuine return to Gilgal.
• דְּבִ֑רָה də·ḇi·rāh (H1688) — Debir, the locative ending again carrying "toward." The commentators link the name to dâbâr ("word"); its older name Kirjath-sepher means "city of the book," hinting at a Canaanite seat of writing or oracle.
• וַיִּלָּ֖חֶם way·yil·lā·ḥem (H3898, Nifal singular) — "and he did battle." The singular returns (against vv. 34–37's plurals), keeping Joshua the named combatant as the unit nears its close.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיַּכּ֣וּם BSB put them to the sword renders way·yak·kūm (H5221, nâkâh) with a masculine-plural object suffix — "he struck them," embracing king, cities, and people together. The English singularizes; the Hebrew sweeps all the objects into one blow.
• וַֽיַּחֲרִ֙ימוּ֙ way·ya·ḥă·rî·mū (H2763, châram, Hifil plural) — "and they banned." The triple chain of comparison ("as to Hebron... as to Libnah") makes Debir the verbal knot tying the whole campaign together; the ḥerem-verb is the thread.
• כֵּן־ kên (H3651, "so, thus") in "as he did... so he did" is the formal correlative the English leaves implicit. The repeated kaʼăsher... kên structure makes v. 39 a summary-in-miniature before the grand summary of v. 40.

Where the English smooths the original

• הַנְּשָׁמָה֙ BSB everything that breathed renders han·nə·šā·māh (H5397, nᵉshâmâh, "a puff, breath") — the very word for the breath God breathed into Adam (Gen 2:7). Keil equates it with nephesh, but the choice of nᵉshâmâh here makes the ban total down to the last living breath, echoing Deut 20:16.
• הֶחֱרִ֔ים he·ḥĕ·rîm (H2763, châram) — the ḥerem-verb gathers the whole region under one act of consecrated destruction; this is the summary verb of which each city's death was an instance.
• צִוָּ֔ה ṣiw·wāh (H6680, tsâvâh, Piel, "commanded, enjoined") closes the verse. Poole and Benson seize on it: this is the text's own vindication of Israel — the killing is ascribed not to Israel's hatred but to Yahweh's command (Deut 20:16–17).
• וְהָאֲשֵׁד֗וֹת wə·hā·’ă·šê·ḏō·wṯ (H794, ʼăshêdâh) is rendered the slopes, but the word is rare and contested — Barnes and the Geneva note prefer "slopes / declivities," while the LXX and KJV took it as a place-name ("the springs"). The geography of the verb is uncertain in the English.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיַּכֵּ֧ם BSB conquered the area renders way·yak·kêm (H5221, nâkâh) with a plural object suffix — "and he struck them." The English smooths the harsh "struck them" into the neutral "conquered the area," softening the blow the verb names.
• גֹּ֖שֶׁן gō·šen (H1657, Goshen) — every voice insists this is not the Goshen of Egypt but a district in southern Judah. The shared name across two lands is itself a divergence the translation cannot resolve; Gill and Benson offer rival theories for the duplication.
• וְעַד־ The twice-repeated wə·‘aḏ (H5704, ʻad, "as far as, even unto") frames two parallel south-to-north lines — Kadesh-Barnea→Gaza (west) and Goshen→Gibeon (east). The structural symmetry of the boundary markers is carried entirely by this one preposition.

Where the English smooths the original

• פַּ֣עַם BSB in one campaign renders ’e·ḥāṯ pa·‘am (H6471, paʻam, "a stroke, beat, time"). The word is literally "one stroke / one beat" — not a duration but a single blow. KJV's "at one time" and the commentators' "one campaign" expand what the Hebrew compresses into the image of a single concussion.
• נִלְחָ֖ם nil·ḥām (H3898, lâcham, Nifal participle) — "was fighting / kept fighting for Israel." The participle makes Yahweh's combat ongoing and durative, the sustained reason behind the swift result; the BSB's past-tense fought loses the continuous force.
• כִּ֗י kî (H3588, "because, for") supplies the verse's whole logic: not Joshua's speed but the causal because explains the conquest. The Targum, Gill notes, expands it: "because the Lord God of Israel fought by his Word for Israel."

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיָּ֤שָׁב BSB returned rightly renders way·yā·šāḇ (H7725, shûwb) — and here, unlike v. 38, it is a true return: to the same Gilgal base from which he set out. The identical verb in v. 38 ("turned toward Debir") and v. 43 ("returned to Gilgal") frames the whole campaign as one out-and-back arc.
• הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖ה ham·ma·ḥă·neh (H4264, machăneh, "encampment of travellers or troops") — "the camp" with the article, the fixed base where the ark and the people remained. Gill and the Geneva note add that there they "gave public praise and thanksgiving" — supplied by the commentators, not the bare text.
• הַגִּלְגָּֽלָה The locative -âh on hag·gil·gā·lāh (H1537, Gilgal) again means "to/toward Gilgal"; the directional ending closes the unit's long chain of "-ward" motions back at the starting point.