Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Jos C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Jos 10 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43
OET (OET-LV) And_he/it_was when_fled_they from_face/in_front_of Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) they were_at_the_descent_of Bēyt Ḩōrōn and_YHWH he_threw on_them stones large from the_heavens to ˊAzēqāh and_they_died were_many those_who they_died by_the_stones_of the_hail more_than_those_whom they_killed the_people_of Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) with_sword.
OET (OET-RV) As they fled from the Israelis on the slope down from Beyt-Horon heading towards Azekah, Yahweh hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky and they died—actually more of them died from the hail than were killed with swords by the Israelis.
The kings of five Canaanite towns joined together to fight against Gibeon. Because the Israelites had a peace treaty with Gibeon, they helped them in their fight. Yahweh helped the Israelites by sending down hailstones on the Canaanites, and by causing the sun to stop moving so that the Israelites could continue their victory. The five Canaanite kings were captured and put to death.
Here are some other possible section headings:
Israel defeated the Canaan group
The sun stood still
The Israelites defended the Gibeonites against their enemies.
As they fled before Israel
While the Amorite armies ran away from the Israelites,
The Amorites fled from the Israelites.
As they fled before Israel: This verse is a flashback. It provides additional information about what happened in 10:10. The word they refers to the Amorite armies.
fled before Israel: The clause fled before Israel indicates that the Amorite armies turned and ran away from the Israelite army.
along the descent from Beth-horon
and while they were running down the mountain slope from Beth-horon,
They fled down the hill from Beth-horon City.
along the descent from Beth-horon: The phrase the descent from Beth-horon indicates that the Amorite armies ran down from the mountain pass. Starting from Upper Beth-horon, they ran southwest and down out of the hill country.
the descent from Beth-horon: There is an interpretation issue with this phrase.
This means the descent of Beth-horon, or the way down from Beth-horon. For example:
on the road down from Beth Horon (NIV) (BSB, NIV, NET, GNT, CEV, GW, NASB, NCV, NLT, NRSV, NJPS, REB)
This mean the ascent of Beth-horon. For example:
while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon (ESV) (ESV, RSV)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The Hebrew text is clear and it is best to follow it. In verse 10 the Amorite army fled from the Israelites at Gibeon town and followed the road up the mountain slope to Beth-horon town. This was at the peak of the pass through the mountains. In verse 11 the Amorite army then fled through the mountain pass and downhill to the foothills and plains below.
to Azekah, the LORD cast down on them large hailstones from the sky,
Yahweh made large hailstones fall on them from the sky, all the way to Azekah, and so many of them died.
Then Yahweh threw large hailstones on them from the sky on the road to Azekah. This killed many of them.
to Azekah: The phrase to Azekah indicates that the hail continued to fall on the Amorite armies all the way to Azekah. The distance that the Amorite armies ran away from the Israelites was about twenty miles.10:11 Howard, p. 237.
the LORD cast down on them large hailstones from the sky: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as large hailstones refers to lumps of hail. Hail is ice that comes down from the sky. Hail storms occur about five to eight times per year in Palestine.10:11 Boling and Wright p. 282.
the sky: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as sky can also be translated “heaven.” For example:
the Lord threw down great stones from heaven upon them (RSV)
and more of them were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the Israelites.
The hailstones killed more of the Amorites than the Israelites killed with their swords.
More of the Amorites were killed by hailstones than were killed by the Israelites.
more of them were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the Israelites: Here is another way to translate this phrase:
the hailstones killed more of the enemy soldiers than the Israelites killed with their swords
more of them were killed: The clause more of them were killed shows the result of the hailstorm. It may be clearer in some languages to make the connection between the hail and their death explicit. For example:
because of that, they died
and the hail killed them
by the swords of the Israelites: The Hebrew phrase that the BSB translates as by the swords is an idiom. This is a Hebrew idiom. It means that they killed the people.
Here is another way to translate this Hebrew idiom:
more were killed by the hailstones than by the Israelites (GNT)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
בְּנֻסָ֣ם ׀ מִפְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל
when,fled,they from=face/in_front_of Yisrael
The author is using the expression from the face of by association to mean “in front of.” Since the fleeing enemies were in front of the Israelites, the Israelites were behind them, and it may be more natural in your language to express the meaning that way. Alternate translation: [as they were fleeing, with the Israelites pursuing closely behind them]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
אֲבָנִ֨ים גְּדֹל֧וֹת מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם
stones large from/more_than the=heavens
As the author indicates later in the verse, these were not stones in the sense of rocks, but hail stones. It may be helpful to indicate this explicitly in your translation at this point in the verse. Alternate translation: [great hailstones from the sky]
10:1-43 Gibeon and its neighboring cities occupied a plateau north of Jerusalem (see study note on 7:2). With Gibeon now allied to Israel, control of the plateau and of the central hill country in the vicinity of Gibeon belonged to Israel. Throughout history, whoever has controlled the plateau has, in general, also controlled the hill country. The Canaanite kings had to conquer Gibeon or their cause was lost.
OET (OET-LV) And_he/it_was when_fled_they from_face/in_front_of Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) they were_at_the_descent_of Bēyt Ḩōrōn and_YHWH he_threw on_them stones large from the_heavens to ˊAzēqāh and_they_died were_many those_who they_died by_the_stones_of the_hail more_than_those_whom they_killed the_people_of Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) with_sword.
OET (OET-RV) As they fled from the Israelis on the slope down from Beyt-Horon heading towards Azekah, Yahweh hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky and they died—actually more of them died from the hail than were killed with swords by the Israelis.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
The Open English Translation (OET) main site is at OpenEnglishTranslation.Bible or OET.Bible.