Joshua 1:7-9

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Joshua 1:7 tn Or “Only be.”
2. Joshua 1:7 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. Joshua 1:7 tn Heb “commanded you.”
4. Joshua 1:7 tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.
5. Joshua 1:7 tn Heb “in all which you go.”
6. Joshua 1:8 tn Heb “mouth.”sn This law scroll must not leave your lips. The ancient practice of reading aloud to oneself as an aid to memorization is in view here.
7. Joshua 1:8 tn Heb “read it in undertones,” or “recite it quietly” (see HALOT 237 s.v. I הגה).
8. Joshua 1:8 tn Heb “be careful to do.”
9. Joshua 1:8 tn Heb “you will make your way prosperous.”
10. Joshua 1:8 tn Heb “and be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.
11. Joshua 1:9 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.
12. Joshua 1:9 tn Or perhaps, “don’t get discouraged!”
13. Joshua 1:9 tn Heb “in all which you go.”