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OET (OET-LV) Arise consecrate DOM the_people and_you_will_say consecrate_yourselves for_tomorrow if/because thus YHWH he_says the_god_of Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) devoted_thing[s] are_in_midst_of_your Oh_Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) not you_will_be_able to_stand to_(the)_face_of/in_front_of/before enemies_of_your until remove_you(pl) the_devoted_thing[s] from_midst_of_your(pl).
OET (OET-RV) So get up and tell the people, ‘Purify yourselves for tomorrow, because our God Yahweh says that we took something prohibited and we won’t be able to better our enemies until it’s removed from among us.
Achan disobeyed God. He took some of the things from Jericho that God told them to destroy. Because of his sin, the Israelites lost the battle against the town of Ai. Yahweh showed the Israelites that Achan was the one who had sinned, and they punished Achan.
Here are some other possible section headings:
The defeat at Ai
Achan’s sin
God told Joshua what to say to the Israelites.
Get up and consecrate the people,
¶ Go and make the people holy.
¶ Tell the people to get ready to meet me.
Get up: The Hebrew verb that the BSB translates as Get up is literally “get up” or “stand up.” However, it can also be used to show the beginning of an action. It means “proceed” or “begin to.”
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
Proceed to sanctify the people (NRSV)
Go, consecrate the people (NIV)
Translate this idea of “proceed to action” in a way that is natural in your language.
consecrate the people: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates consecrate means that people are made holy for Yahweh by means of a ritual. They then belong to Yahweh. When the people of Israel do this, they will become pure again. In Exodus 19:10 the people were sanctified with the ritual of washing their clothes. In Exodus 19:15 they did not have sex. We do not know what ritual they followed in Joshua 7, so it is best to translate this word in a general way.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
Purify the people
Make the people holy
Prepare the people to meet me
saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow,
Tell them to purify themselves for tomorrow.
Tell them they must purify themselves in order to meet me tomorrow.
Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow: God told Joshua to have the people purify themselves so that they will be ready to meet with God the next day. Some English versions combine 13a and 13b because they repeat the same information.
Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow (NLT)
Tell the people, ‘Get ready for tomorrow by performing the ceremonies to make yourselves holy.’ (GW)
for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:
Yahweh, the God of Israel, is saying to the Israelites:
Tell them that I, Yahweh, the God of Israel
for: The connector that the BSB translates as for indicates the reason for God’s judgment on Israel. Use a connector that is natural in your language.
this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: This clause, what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, is an emphatic formula. It means that God will make an important declaration. God will make this declaration through the speech of Joshua. Use a natural way to show that the following speech is important and should be considered seriously.
These are embedded quotations. There is a quotation within a quotation within a quotation. God told Joshua to say to the people what God said. One way to translate 7:13a-c is:
God said, Get up Joshua, and sanctify the people. This is what you are to say to them, “Sanctify yourselves, because Yahweh, the God of Israel himself says this…
Translate these embedded quotes in a way that is natural in your language.
Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction.
‘People of Israel, you have things in your camp that belong to me.
know that they have hidden things in the camp that they should have set apart for me.
Among you: This phrase means that the devoted things were somewhere in the Israelite camp.
O Israel: The phrase O Israel shows that God is speaking to the people of Israel. It may not be possible in your language to put the addressee at the end of the sentence. You can put the addressee somewhere else in the sentence.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
Israel, you have in your possession some things that I ordered you to destroy! (GNT)
Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord. (NLT)
there are things devoted to destruction: The things devoted to destruction refer to the things that belong to God and that the Israelites must destroy. You should translate things devoted to destruction the same way you did in 7:1.
You cannot stand against your enemies
You will have to run away from your enemies,
They will continue to flee from their enemies
You cannot stand against your enemies: The clause You cannot stand against your enemies means that the Israelites will not be able to defeat their enemies.
until you remove them.
until you destroy the things which I commanded you to destroy.’
until they get rid of those things from their camp.
until you remove them: The Israelites must destroy the things that are dedicated for God’s use. God will not help them defeat their enemies until they obey him.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
קֻ֚ם
go
While Yahweh does want Joshua to get up from kneeling down with his face on the ground, he is probably using the expression Arise to tell him to take action. Alternate translation: [Get going]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / quotesinquotes
קֻ֚ם קַדֵּ֣שׁ אֶת־הָעָ֔ם וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ הִתְקַדְּשׁ֣וּ לְמָחָ֑ר כִּ֣י כֹה֩ אָמַ֨ר יְהוָ֜ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל חֵ֤רֶם בְּקִרְבְּךָ֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֣א תוּכַ֗ל לָקוּם֙ לִפְנֵ֣י אֹיְבֶ֔יךָ עַד־הֲסִירְכֶ֥ם הַחֵ֖רֶם מִֽקִּרְבְּכֶֽם
go consecrate DOM the,people and,you_will_say consecrate for,tomorrow that/for/because/then/when thus he/it_had_said YHWH god_of Yisrael devoted_things [are]_in,midst_of,your Yisrael not be_able to,stand to=(the)_face_of/in_front_of/before enemies_of,your until remove,you(pl) the_devoted,thing[s] from,midst_of,your(pl)
In this verse, the author quotes Yahweh directly. Yahweh tells Joshua something he should say to the Israelites. And that includes telling them that Yahweh has said something. So there are three levels of quotation here. Use the appropriate punctuation in your language to mark these levels of quotation. Alternatively, you could translate this so that there are not quotations within quotations (see next note).
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / quotesinquotes
קַדֵּ֣שׁ אֶת־הָעָ֔ם וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ הִתְקַדְּשׁ֣וּ לְמָחָ֑ר
consecrate DOM the,people and,you_will_say consecrate for,tomorrow
This is the beginning of a quotation within a quotation that continues through [7:15](../07/15.md). If it would be clearer in your language, you could translate all of it so that there is not a quotation within a quotation. The UST models one way to do that. Alternate translation: [Consecrate the people and tell them to consecrate themselves for tomorrow]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / 123person
יְהוָ֜ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל
YHWH god_of Yisrael
For emphasis, Yahweh is instructing Joshua to refer to the Israelites in the third person, calling them by the name of their ancestor Israel. If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate this in the second person. Alternate translation: [Yahweh, your God]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
לֹ֣א תוּכַ֗ל לָקוּם֙ לִפְנֵ֣י אֹיְבֶ֔יךָ
not be_able to,stand to=(the)_face_of/in_front_of/before enemies_of,your
See how you translated this idiom in the previous verse. Alternate translation: [You will not be able to resist your enemies]
7:13 Command the people to purify themselves: See study note on 3:5.
OET (OET-LV) Arise consecrate DOM the_people and_you_will_say consecrate_yourselves for_tomorrow if/because thus YHWH he_says the_god_of Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) devoted_thing[s] are_in_midst_of_your Oh_Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) not you_will_be_able to_stand to_(the)_face_of/in_front_of/before enemies_of_your until remove_you(pl) the_devoted_thing[s] from_midst_of_your(pl).
OET (OET-RV) So get up and tell the people, ‘Purify yourselves for tomorrow, because our God Yahweh says that we took something prohibited and we won’t be able to better our enemies until it’s removed from among us.
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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