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OET (OET-LV) And_all Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) and_its_of_elders and_officials and_judges_of_its were_standing from_this and_from_this of_box before the_priests the_Lēviyyiy who_carried_of (of)_the_box_of the_covenant_of YHWH as_sojourner as_native of_it_of_half was_to the_front of_the_mountain_of of_Gərizīm and_(the)_half_of_it was_to the_front of_the_mountain_of of_ˊĒyⱱāl just_as he_had_commanded Mosheh the_servant_of YHWH to_bless DOM the_people Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) at_time.
OET (OET-RV) Then all of Yisrael and their elders and officials and judges were standing some on each side of the box containing Yahweh’s agreement, facing the priests and the Levites who carried the box. Any resident foreigners were also there. Half of the people stood on the Mt. Gerazim side, and half on the Mt. Eybal side of the valley, just like the way that Yahweh’s servant Mosheh had originally commanded for blessing the people.
In this section the people of Israel built an altar to Yahweh and made sacrifices to him. Joshua had them write the law of Moses on stone tablets. Then all the people assembled at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerazim while Joshua read the law aloud to them. He read all of its blessings and its curses.
Before they crossed the Jordan River, Moses foretold this event. He gave them detailed instructions for how they should do this in Deuteronomy 27:1–13. Now that the Israelites were well established in the land of Canaan they followed the instructions of Moses.
Here are some other possible section headings:
Reading the law at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerazim
Joshua reads the blessings and the curses to the people
All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges,
All the Israelites, foreigners and native-born, together with their leaders and officers and judges,
Then all the Israelites, those who had Israelite parents and those who were foreigners living among them, along with the elders, officers, and judges,
The Hebrew connector that the BSB leaves untranslated but many English versions translate as “and” indicates the next event of the story.
All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike: The phrase All Israel indicates that every Israelite was present at the ceremony.
foreigners and citizens alike: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as foreigners refers to foreigners who lived in the Israelite community.8:33 Howard, p. 216.
The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as citizens refers to Israelites who were descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Here are some other ways to translate these two words:
resident foreigners and native Israelites (NET)
aliens and citizens (NIV)
foreigners and native-born (NLT)
with their elders, officers, and judges: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as elders refers to the leaders of tribes and families who represented their tribe on special occasions.8:33 Woudstra, p. 139.
officers: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as officers refers to people who had both military and administrative responsibilities.8:33 Woudstra, p. 64, footnote 1.
Here are some other ways to translate this term:
leaders (NET)
officials (NIV)
judges: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as judges refers to people who judged disputes between Israelites. See Exodus 18:17–26 where Moses first appointed judges.
stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests
stood in two groups. One group stood on each side of the ark facing the priests, the Levites.
were divided into two groups. Each group faced inward toward the ark.They were facing the priests,
stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD: The clause stood on both sides of the ark indicates that the Israelites stood in two groups facing each other. The ark was in-between them.
the ark of the covenant of the LORD: The ark was a wooden box that was a sign of God’s presence. The term ark has different descriptive phrases attached to it in different contexts. In this verse it is called ark of the covenant of the LORD. This emphasizes that inside it were the stone tablets on which Moses wrote the Ten commandments, the symbol of Yahweh’s covenant with Israel.
facing the Levitical priests: Two Levitical priests stood at each end of the ark, carrying it on poles over their shoulders. The two groups of Israelites faced the ark and the priests who carried it.
Levitical priests: The Hebrew phrase that the BSB translates as Levitical priests is literally “the priests, the Levites.” The priests were descendants of Levi, and belonged to the tribe of Levi.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
the priests, the Levites
the priests of the Levi tribe
It is also possible to say just “the priests,” and put the literal translation in a footnote. See how you translated this term in Joshua 3:3.
priests: The priests were people who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. You should translate this the same way you do in the New Testament. See, for example, Mark 1:44.
who carried it.
The priests were carrying the ark of Yahweh’s covenant.
the Levites who held the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.
who carried it: It was the responsibility of the priests to carry the ark of the covenant.
Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal,
Half of the people stood on the slope of Mount Gerizim and the other half on the slope of Mount Ebal.
Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half stood in front of Mount Ebal.
Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal: The phrase half of them indicates that the Israelites were divided into two large groups.
in front of Mount Gerizim and…in front of Mount Ebal: The Israelites stood in the Valley of Shechem, which was between the two mountains, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. One group stood facing Mount Gerizim and the other group stood facing Mount Ebal.
In Deuteronomy 27:12–13 Moses told the people to stand “on” Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, whereas this verse uses the words in front of. Because the Israelites followed the commands that Moses gave them, it may be that they stood on the slopes of the two mountains, facing in the direction of the opposite mountain. For example:
on the upper slopes of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal (NJB)
as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier,
This was what Moses, the servant of Yahweh originally commanded them.
This was done according to the instructions that Moses, Yahweh’s servant, previously gave them.
as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier: This indicates that the Israelites obeyed the instructions that Moses gave them before he died.
earlier: The word earlier refers to the time when Moses gave the Israelites this command in Deuteronomy 27:12–13. For example:
the Lord’s servant Moses had earlier commanded the people (NCV)
This is a long and complicated verse, and you will have to think about it carefully. It is recommended that you begin a new sentence at 8:33d.
to bless the people of Israel.
Moses told Joshua and the priests to bless the Israelites.
This was the way that they should bless the Israelites.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
מִזֶּ֣ה ׀ וּמִזֶּ֣ה ׀ לָאָר֡וֹן
from,this and,from,this of,ark
As the Introduction to this chapter discusses, the author is describing the location of one place relative to another in the way that is characteristic of his culture. Alternate translation: [on both sides of the Box] or [on either side of the Box]
Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns
חֶצְיוֹ֙ & וְהַֽחֶצְי֖וֹ
of_it_of,half & and_(the),half,of,it
The pronoun him in both instances refers to Israel, which means all of the Israelites. It may be more natural in your language to use plural pronouns. Alternate translation: [half of them … and half of them]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
בָּרִאשֹׁנָֽה
at,[time]
The author is using the adjective first as a noun. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you can translate this adjective with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: [when he first delivered the law]
OET (OET-LV) And_all Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) and_its_of_elders and_officials and_judges_of_its were_standing from_this and_from_this of_box before the_priests the_Lēviyyiy who_carried_of (of)_the_box_of the_covenant_of YHWH as_sojourner as_native of_it_of_half was_to the_front of_the_mountain_of of_Gərizīm and_(the)_half_of_it was_to the_front of_the_mountain_of of_ˊĒyⱱāl just_as he_had_commanded Mosheh the_servant_of YHWH to_bless DOM the_people Yisrāʼēl/(Israel) at_time.
OET (OET-RV) Then all of Yisrael and their elders and officials and judges were standing some on each side of the box containing Yahweh’s agreement, facing the priests and the Levites who carried the box. Any resident foreigners were also there. Half of the people stood on the Mt. Gerazim side, and half on the Mt. Eybal side of the valley, just like the way that Yahweh’s servant Mosheh had originally commanded for blessing the people.
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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