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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 4 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24
OET (OET-LV) And_you(pl)_will_say to/for_them (cmp) they_were_cut_off the_waters_of the_Yardēn/(Jordan) from_face/in_front_of the_box_of the_covenant_of YHWH when_it_passed_on in_Yardēn they_were_cut_off the_waters_of the_Yardēn and_they_will_be the_stones the_these (into)_a_memorial for_the_people_of Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) until perpetuity.
OET (OET-RV) then you’ll all be able to tell them that the water in the Yordan River was cut off ahead of the box with Yahweh’s agreement. When it crossed over into the river, the water in the river stopped flowing, and those boulders are a memorial for the Israelis forever.
Twelve men from among the Israelites each took a stone from the middle of the Jordan River. With these stones Joshua built a monument to remind the Israelite people, and their descendants, about how God helped them cross the river.
Here are some other possible section headings:
Setting up memorial stones
Twelve memorial stones
A reminder that God brought them to the promised land
you are to tell them,
Then you must answer them,
Answer them like this:
you are to tell them: In some languages it may be more natural to express the clause you are to tell them with a direct command. For example:
tell them
reply to them
‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off
‘The waters of the Jordan River stopped flowing
‘Yahweh made the Jordan River stop flowing
The waters of the Jordan: The phrase The waters of the Jordan refers to the Jordan River.
were cut off: The phrase were cut off means that Yahweh made the Jordan River stop flowing upstream from where the Israelites were waiting to cross it. It may be more natural for you to express this idea with an active verb, for example:
The Jordan River stopped flowing
It may be necessary to include the agent, who is God. For example, you could say:
God caused the Jordan River to stop flowing
before the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
when the ark of the covenant of Yahweh
when the priests carried his covenant box.
before the ark of the covenant of the LORD: It may be more natural in some languages to combine the phrase before the ark of the covenant of the LORD with the phrase in verse 4:7d. For example:
when the priests carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh over the Jordan River
while the ark of the covenant of Yahweh was crossing the Jordan River
ark of the covenant: See 3:3 for ideas about how to translate this phrase.
When it crossed the Jordan,
was crossing the Jordan River.
When the covenant box crossed the river
When it crossed the Jordan: The clause When it crossed the Jordan means that the priests carried the ark across the Jordan River. You may have already combined this clause with the phrase in verse 4:7c.
the waters were cut off.’
At that time the Jordan River stopped flowing.’
the river stopped flowing.’
the waters were cut off: The clause the waters were cut off is a repetition of 4:7b. It may be more natural in some languages not to repeat this information. If this repetition is natural in your language, you should translate this clause in the same way that you translated verse 4:7b.
Therefore these stones will be a memorial to the Israelites forever.”
These stones will always remind the Israelites of what happened here.”
Whenever the Israelites see these stones, they will remember what happened here.”
Therefore these stones will be a memorial to the Israelites forever: The sentence these stones will be a memorial to the Israelites forever repeats the information given in verse 4:6a using different words. It is repeated to show how important these stones were. They reminded the Israelites of the great miracle that Yahweh had done. If this repetition is not natural in your language, it is possible to combine this information with the beginning of verse 6a. You would then need to combine verses 4:6–7 in your numbering of them. For example:
6bSomeday your children will ask, 6c“Why are these rocks here?” 7aThen you can tell them 7ehow the water stopped flowing 7dwhen the chest was being carried across the river. 6aThese rocks will always remind our people of what happened here today. (CEV)
memorial: A memorial is something that helps people to remember. This memorial refers to the stones that reminded the people of Israel of what Yahweh had done.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
memory-stone
something to help you remember
when you see the stones, you will remember
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִכְרְת֜וּ מֵימֵ֤י הַיַּרְדֵּן֙ & נִכְרְת֖וּ מֵ֣י הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן
which/who cut_off waters_of of,the_Jordan & cut_off waters_of of,the_Jordan
If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you can state this in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [Because Yahweh cut off the waters of the Jordan … Yahweh cut off the waters of the Jordan]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis
אֲשֶׁ֨ר
which/who
The speakers would leaving out some of the words that in many languages a sentence would need in order to be complete. You can supply these words from the context if that would be clearer in your language. Alternate translation: [We brought these stones out of the Jordan because we wanted all future generations to remember that]
Note 3 topic: writing-poetry
אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִכְרְת֜וּ מֵימֵ֤י הַיַּרְדֵּן֙ מִפְּנֵי֙ אֲר֣וֹן בְּרִית־יְהוָ֔ה בְּעָבְרוֹ֙ בַּיַּרְדֵּ֔ן נִכְרְת֖וּ מֵ֣י הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן
which/who cut_off waters_of of,the_Jordan from=face/in_front_of ark_of covenant_of YHWH when,it,passed_on in,Jordan cut_off waters_of of,the_Jordan
See the discussion of this sentence in the Introduction to this chapter.
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
בְּעָבְרוֹ֙
when,it,passed_on
Joshua means implicitly that the priests carried the Box of the Covenant of Yahweh over the Jordan River. He is not saying that it crossed over on its own. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate that explicitly. Alternate translation: [When the priests carried it over]
OET (OET-LV) And_you(pl)_will_say to/for_them (cmp) they_were_cut_off the_waters_of the_Yardēn/(Jordan) from_face/in_front_of the_box_of the_covenant_of YHWH when_it_passed_on in_Yardēn they_were_cut_off the_waters_of the_Yardēn and_they_will_be the_stones the_these (into)_a_memorial for_the_people_of Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) until perpetuity.
OET (OET-RV) then you’ll all be able to tell them that the water in the Yordan River was cut off ahead of the box with Yahweh’s agreement. When it crossed over into the river, the water in the river stopped flowing, and those boulders are a memorial for the Israelis forever.
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.
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