OET OET-RV OET-LV GHT 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 Parallel Simple Interlinear Topics 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 ESA 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 1 V1 V2 V3 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18
OET (OET-LV) From_the_wilderness and_(the)_Ləⱱānōn the_this and_unto the_river (the)_great the_river_of Pərāt all_of the_land_of the_Ḩittiy and_unto the_sea (the)_great the_setting_of the_sun it_will_be territory_of_your(pl).
OET (OET-RV) Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, and from the large Euphrates River in the east, and right to the Mediterranean sea in the west, including all of the Hittites’ land.
In this section Yahweh commanded Joshua to lead the Israelites into the land that he had promised them. He told Joshua that no enemy would be able to oppose him, and that he must obey the law which Yahweh gave to Moses. Joshua told the Israelites to prepare to cross the Jordan River.
Here are some other possible section headings:
Yahweh told Joshua to be strong and courageous
Yahweh told Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan River
Moses led the Israelite people through the wilderness for forty years. At the end of the book of Deuteronomy the people were almost ready to enter the land of Canaan, and Moses died. Here at the beginning of the book of Joshua, Yahweh put Joshua in command of the Israelites, and told him to lead them into Canaan. Yahweh promised to be with Joshua and to help him.
Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon
Your land will extend from the desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north.
Your borders will reach from the wilderness in the south to the mountains of Lebanon in the north.
In verse 1:4 Yahweh described the four sides of the land that he was giving to the Israelite people: the south and the north, the east and the west.
from the wilderness: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as wilderness refers to the dry area in the south of the land of Canaan. Because it was dry, few people lived there, and it was difficult to grow crops there.
Here are some other ways to translate the word wilderness:
desert
deserted place
dry land
and Lebanon: The word Lebanon refers to a range of mountains at the north end of the land that Yahweh gave to the Israelites. These mountains had snow on them all year long, and the word Lebanon means “white” in Semitic languages. The country of Lebanon did not yet exist at this time.
Here are some ways to translate this term:
Lebanon Mountains (GNT)
Lebanon mountain range
Lebanon: The Hebrew is literally “the Lebanon,” which is difficult to understand. The mountains of Lebanon were a long way from where the Israelites were. Possibly it means “over there”, but no English version translates it that way. Many versions omit it, and you may do the same.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse.
Your land will extend from the wilderness in the south to the mountains of Lebanon in the north.
Your borders will reach from the desert in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north (GNT)
to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—
It will extend from the great river Euphrates in the east, and across all the land that belongs to the Heth people.
Your borders will extend to the great Euphrates River in the east and include all the land of the people of Heth.
to the great River Euphrates: The River Euphrates was on the east side of the land that God gave to the Israelites. The phrase the great River describes the Euphrates River. The Euphrates River was very wide.
all the land of the Hittites: The term Hittites refers to one of groups of people who lived in the land of Canaan. The phrase all the land of the Hittites is another way to refer to the land of Canaan.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
It will extend from the great Euphrates River in the east, across the land that belongs to the Hittites
Your borders will reach from the great river Euphrates in the east and include all the land of the Hitti people
and west as far as the Great Sea.
It will go to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
Your borders will extend to the Mediterranean Sea on the west where the sun sets.
and west: The phrase and west refers to the west. The Mediterranean Sea was the western boundary of the land that Israel received.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
Your land will reach to the Mediterranean Sea in the west
to the Mediterranean Sea where the sun sets
as far as the Great Sea: The term the Great Sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.
In some languages it may be clearer to reorder the parts of this verse. For example:
Your land will reach from the Negeb wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north. It will reach from the great Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. It will include all the land of the Hittites.
Note 1 topic: translate-names
הַנָּהָ֧ר הַגָּד֣וֹל נְהַר־פְּרָ֗ת
(Some words not found in UHB: from,the,wilderness and,(the),Lebanon the=this and=unto the=river (the),great river_of Pərāt all earth/land of,the_Hittites and=unto the=sea (the),great setting_of of,the_sun will_belong territory_of,your(pl) )
The phrase the Great River is another name used for the Euphrates River. Alternate translation: [the Great River, that is, the Euphrates River]
Note 2 topic: translate-names
הַיָּ֥ם הַגָּד֖וֹל
(Some words not found in UHB: from,the,wilderness and,(the),Lebanon the=this and=unto the=river (the),great river_of Pərāt all earth/land of,the_Hittites and=unto the=sea (the),great setting_of of,the_sun will_belong territory_of,your(pl) )
The phrase the Great Sea is another name for the “Mediterranean Sea.”
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
מְב֣וֹא הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ
setting_of (Some words not found in UHB: from,the,wilderness and,(the),Lebanon the=this and=unto the=river (the),great river_of Pərāt all earth/land of,the_Hittites and=unto the=sea (the),great setting_of of,the_sun will_belong territory_of,your(pl) )
Yahweh is using the going of the sun, that is, the sunset, by association to mean “the west,” since the sun sets in the west. Alternate translation: [in the west]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular
גְּבוּלְכֶֽם
(Some words not found in UHB: from,the,wilderness and,(the),Lebanon the=this and=unto the=river (the),great river_of Pərāt all earth/land of,the_Hittites and=unto the=sea (the),great setting_of of,the_sun will_belong territory_of,your(pl) )
Here, the word your is plural and refers to the tribes of Israel and includes Joshua. Alternate translation: [the territory of you Israelites]
OET (OET-LV) From_the_wilderness and_(the)_Ləⱱānōn the_this and_unto the_river (the)_great the_river_of Pərāt all_of the_land_of the_Ḩittiy and_unto the_sea (the)_great the_setting_of the_sun it_will_be territory_of_your(pl).
OET (OET-RV) Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, and from the large Euphrates River in the east, and right to the Mediterranean sea in the west, including all of the Hittites’ land.
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.