Joshua4:1–18

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיְהִי֙ BSB drops the opening way·hî (H1961, “and it came to pass / and it was”) entirely. The Hebrew narrative formula fronts a temporal hinge before the action; an old pre-Masoretic piska (paragraph break) actually splits this verse in the middle, marking a new section right after “crossing the Jordan.”
• כָל־הַגּ֔וֹי The English “the whole nation” renders kāl-haggōw using gōwy (H1471), the word usually reserved for foreign nations / the Gentiles. Israel is here named with the term ordinarily applied to the peoples it is about to dispossess.
• תַּ֣מּוּ “Had finished” flattens tammū (H8552, tāmam, to be complete / wholly spent). The verb stresses totality — not one Israelite is left behind in the riverbed; the crossing is consummated.

Where the English smooths the original

• קְח֤וּ “Choose” softens qəḥū (H3947, lāqaḥ, to take / seize / fetch). The verb is plain “take” — the act of selection is implied, not stated; the men are to be taken and put to a task.
• אִישׁ־אֶחָ֥ד אִישׁ־אֶחָ֖ד The Hebrew doubles the phrase — ʼîš ʼeḥāḏ, ʼîš ʼeḥāḏ, literally “one man, one man” — a distributive repetition the BSB collapses into “one from each tribe.” The Pulpit Commentary names this “the common Hebrew practice of repetition.”
• מִשָּֽׁבֶט “Tribe” renders miššāḇeṭ from šēḇeṭ (H7626), whose root sense is a rod / scion / staff. The branches of one stock are each given a stone — tribe as living shoot, not bureaucratic unit.

Where the English smooths the original

• שְׂאֽוּ “Take up” is weaker than śəʼū (H5375, nāsāʼ, to lift / bear / carry a burden). The same verb describes the priests bearing the ark (v. 9–10, 16); the men and the priests are doing the one act of lifting and carrying.
• מִמַּצַּב֙ רַגְלֵ֣י “Where the priests were standing” smooths the concrete mim·maṣṣaḇ raḡlê — “from the standing-place (maṣṣāḇ, H4673, a fixed military post) of the feet” of the priests. The stones come from the exact footprint of the bearers.
• הָכִ֖ין BSB “were standing” conceals a famously disputed word, hāḵîn (H3559, kûn). The Pulpit Commentary notes the LXX read it “ready,” the Vulgate “hardest,” and the Masoretes pointed it as “to set up” — an infinitive (“the firm-setting / setting-up of twelve stones”), as Keil takes it.
• וְהִנַּחְתֶּ֣ם “Set them down” renders wəhinnaḥtem (H5117, nûaḥ, to rest). The stones are brought to rest in the lodging-place — a quiet anticipation of Israel's coming rest in the land.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיִּקְרָ֣א “Summoned” is a fair gloss, but way·yiqrā (H7121, qārāʼ) is the ordinary verb “to call / call out” — the same root behind “proclaim” and “name.” Joshua calls the men by the authority just conferred on him.
• הֵכִ֖ין “He had appointed” renders hêḵîn (H3559, kûn, to establish / make ready / fix). It is the same root as the crux hāḵîn in v. 3; the men were “made ready” / fixed for this in advance, as Poole says, “appointed or chosen for that work.”
• מִבְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל “From the Israelites” loses the idiom mib·bənê yiśrāʼêl — “from the sons of Israel.” The patriarchal kinship language is constant in this chapter and matters to the “when your children ask” theme of v. 6.

Where the English smooths the original

• עִ֠בְרוּ “Cross over” rightly catches ʻiḇrū (H5674, ʻābar), but masks that the men must cross back — they had already passed (v. 1). Poole renders “go back again to the place where the ark stands.” The keyword ʻābar (“cross over”) saturates this whole unit.
• לִפְנֵ֨י אֲר֧וֹן “Before the ark” (lip̄nê ʼărōwn) literally “to the face of the ark”; the stones are taken in the very presence of the covenant-throne, not at a distance.
• עַל־שִׁכְמ֔וֹ “Upon his shoulder” renders ʻal-šiḵmōw from šəḵem (H7926), the neck-between-the-shoulders — the very part “as the place of burdens.” Gill infers from this that the stones were large, “not what they could carry in their hands.”

Where the English smooths the original

• א֖וֹת “A sign” renders ʼōwṯ (H226) — the same loaded word used of the rainbow, circumcision, the Passover blood, and the Sabbath. The stones are not a mere marker but a covenant sign.
• בְּקִרְבְּכֶ֑ם “Among you” thins out bəqirbəḵem (H7130, qereb, the inward part / entrails / nearest part). The sign stands in Israel's inmost midst, not merely “around” them.
• מָחָר֙ “In the future” flattens the vivid māḥār (H4279) — literally “tomorrow.” The idiom “when your children ask tomorrow” (cf. Exod. 13:14) means “in time to come,” but the word is the everyday “tomorrow,” making the catechesis intimate and near.

Where the English smooths the original

• נִכְרְת֜וּ “Were cut off” renders niḵrəṯū (H3772, kārath, to cut). This is the verb of cutting a covenant; here the waters are “cut” before “the ark of the covenant (bərîṯ)” — a deliberate wordplay binding the cut river to the covenant just two words away.
• מִפְּנֵי֙ “Before” renders mip·pənê — literally “from the face of.” Ellicott observes the act is “indirectly ascribed to the ark”: the waters fled from the face of the covenant-throne, not from the people.
• לְזִכָּר֛וֹן “A memorial” (ləzikkārōwn, H2146) is more than a souvenir; the root zākar is “to remember / invoke / call to mind” — the stones perform remembrance, the same office as the Passover and the priestly memorial-stones.
• עַד־עוֹלָֽם “Forever” renders ʻaḏ-ʻōwlām (H5769, ʻōwlām, “the hidden/distant time”) — the far horizon of generations, the same word the patriarchal promises use for their permanence.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיַּעֲשׂוּ־כֵ֣ן “Did as Joshua had commanded” renders way·yaʻăśū-ḵēn — “and they did so.” The terse “did-so” formula stresses exact obedience; the command of v. 5 and the deed of v. 8 are mirror images.
• כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהוָה֙ BSB “just as the LORD had told Joshua” folds in a clause the Hebrew states twice over — the deed conforms to both Joshua's command and YHWH's word, layering human and divine authority. Keil: the men acted “in the name of the whole nation.”
• וַיַּנִּח֖וּם “Set them down” (way·yanniḥūm, H5117, nûaḥ) again carries the “rest” root; Keil insists it “does not signify that they set up the stones as a memorial, but simply that they laid them down” — the erecting at Gilgal comes only in v. 20.

Where the English smooths the original

• הֵקִ֣ים “Set up” renders hêqîm (H6965, qûm, to raise / cause to stand / establish). Unlike the men's stones, which were merely “laid down” (v. 8), Joshua's are raised up — a second, distinct monument, as Barnes, Poole, and the Geneva note all insist.
• תַּ֗חַת BSB “in the place where” renders taḥaṯ (H8478), literally “under / in the stead of.” Gill notes the word means “in the room or stead of” the priests' station — the stones replace, in the riverbed, the very feet that held the ark.
• עַ֖ד הַזֶּֽה הַיּ֥וֹם “To this day” (ʻaḏ hayyōwm hazzeh) is a narrator's seam, marking that the writer stands at some distance from the event — the recurring Joshua formula (5:9; 6:25; 7:26 etc.). Benson and Poole frankly weigh who added it and when.

Where the English smooths the original

• עֹמְדִים֮ “Remained standing” renders the participle ʻōmḏîm (H5975, ʻāmad) — ongoing, durative “standing-and-standing.” The grammar holds the priests motionless across the whole long crossing, against which the people's haste is set.
• תֹּ֣ם “Had completed” renders tōm (H8552, tāmam), the same “wholly finished” root as v. 1 and v. 11 — the crossing is bracketed by completeness; not a fragment of the command is left undone.
• וַיְמַהֲר֥וּ “Hurried” (way·mahărū, H4116, māhar) is debated by the commentators: Benson and Poole read it as fear / weak faith; Keil reads it practically — the people must hasten “lest the strength of the priests should be exhausted.”

Where the English smooths the original

• וְהַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים Word order: the Hebrew says “the ark of YHWH crossed over, and the priests” — the ark named first, the priests appended. Keil notes “the priests are subordinate to the ark,” for it was the ark, not the bearers, that held back the stream.
• לִפְנֵ֥י הָעָֽם “In the sight of the people” renders lip̄nê hāʻām — literally “before the face of the people.” The ark resumes its place at the head of the host (so Keil); “in the presence of” and “in front of” are both heard in the idiom.
• תַּ֥ם “Everyone had finished” again uses tam (H8552) — the third sounding of the “complete” root in eleven verses, sealing the crossing as total before the waters return.

Where the English smooths the original

• חֲמֻשִׁ֔ים “Armed for battle” renders ḥămušîm (H2571, ḥāmush), a rare word (4 occurrences) of debated sense — “staunch / in battle-array / in fifties.” The same term describes Israel leaving Egypt “harnessed” in Exod. 13:18; it is a marching-order word, not just “armed.”
• לִפְנֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל “Before the Israelites” (lip̄nê bənê yiśrāʼêl) the Pulpit notes is “not necessarily ‘in front of,’ but ‘in the sight of’” — the two-and-a-half tribes cross visibly, so all witness them keeping their vow (Num. 32).
• כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר מֹשֶֽׁה דִּבֶּ֥ר “As Moses had instructed them” (ka·ʼăšer mōšeh dibber) anchors the act to Moses' earlier word (Num. 32:20–27) — the chapter keeps binding present obedience to the standing command of Moses.

Where the English smooths the original

• חֲלוּצֵ֣י הַצָּבָ֑א “Troops armed for battle” renders ḥălūṣê haṣṣāḇā — literally “the equipped-ones of the host/army” (ḥālats, “to strip / draw out / equip”; ṣāḇāʼ, the marshaled host). The Pulpit notes the LXX read euzōnoi, “light-armed” / “disencumbered.”
• לִפְנֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ “Before the LORD” (lip̄nê Yahweh) the Geneva note glosses “that is, before the Ark”; Poole hears it as “in the presence of God, who diligently observed whether they would keep their promise.” The crossing is a sworn act done under YHWH's eye.
• עַֽרְב֥וֹת יְרִיחֽוֹ “The plains of Jericho” renders ʻarḇōwṯ yərîḥōw from ʻărābāh (H6160, “desert / steppe”) — not lush “plains” but the arid Arabah floor; the LXX and others even read it as “the city Jericho.”

Where the English smooths the original

• גִּדַּ֤ל “Exalted” renders giddal (H1431, gādal, Piel, “to make great”). The fulfillment of God's pledge in 3:7 (“I will begin to magnify thee”) — the same root. God Himself makes Joshua great, in “the eyes” (ʻênê) of the nation.
• וַיִּֽרְא֣וּ “They revered” renders way·yirʼū (H3372, yārēʼ, to fear). The same verb is “to fear God”; the reverence given Joshua mirrors the fear of Moses after the Red Sea (Exod. 14:31), as Gill cross-references.
• כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר יָרְא֥וּ אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֖ה “Just as they had revered Moses” sets Joshua explicitly on a level with Moses in the people's fear — Ellicott calls this “a fact not to be forgotten in considering his Antitype.”

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיֹּ֣אמֶר “Said” renders way·yōmer (H559, ʼāmar). The verse reopens the divine-speech frame of v. 1 (way·yōmer ... lēʼmōr), bracketing the whole memorial episode between two identical “YHWH said to Joshua” formulas.
• לֵאמֹֽר “Saying” (lēʼmōr, infinitive of ʼāmar) is an untranslated quotation-marker in BSB; it opens the direct command of v. 16 and is the same particle that closed v. 1.

Where the English smooths the original

• הָעֵד֑וּת “The Testimony” (hāʻêḏūṯ, H5715) replaces the usual “covenant” (bərîṯ) of this chapter. The Pulpit derives it from a root of “repetition / precept,” pointing to the two tables of the law within the ark — the ark named here by its testifying contents.
• וְיַעֲל֖וּ “To come up” renders wəyaʻălū (H5927, ʻālāh, to ascend / go up). Poole stresses the word of ascent — the priests in “the lowest, deepest place of the river” are bidden to go up to the land; the verb sounds three times in vv. 16–18.
• צַוֵּה֙ “Command” (ṣaw·wêh, H6680, Piel of tsāvāh) is the same intensive verb of v. 3 and v. 17 — the entire memorial moves on a chain of authoritative commands: YHWH commands Joshua, Joshua commands the priests.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיְצַ֣ו “Commanded” renders way·ṣaw (H6680, tsāvāh), the same Piel verb God used to Joshua in v. 16. Joshua relays the divine command verbatim — the obedience is exact, the order unbroken from heaven to the riverbed.
• עֲל֖וּ “Come up” renders ʻălū (H5927, ʻālāh), imperative plural — the third sounding of the “ascend” verb (vv. 16, 17, 18). Poole: “The priests staid contentedly in the river, till God by Joshua called them out.”

Where the English smooths the original

• נִתְּק֗וּ “Touched” badly understates nittəqū (H5423, nāthaq, to tear / pluck / drag off). The Pulpit and Keil both call this a constructio praegnans: the priests' feet are “plucked” or “tore themselves loose” from the river-mud and were planted on dry ground — a vivid, eyewitness verb.
• הֶחָרָבָ֑ה “The dry land” renders heḥārāḇāh (H2724, “the dry / parched ground”) — the same imagery as the Red Sea floor; the moment foot meets firm ground, the suspended waters are released.
• וַיָּשֻׁ֤בוּ ... וַיֵּלְכ֥וּ עַל־כָּל־גְּדוֹתָֽיו “Returned... and overflowed all the banks” renders way·yāšuḇū... way·yêləḵū ʻal-kāl-gəḏōwṯāw — the waters “returned” (šûḇ) and “walked/went” (hālak) over all its banks. gāḏāh (H1415, “banks”) is a rare word; the same flood-language recurs in Isaiah 8:7.