Joshua 1:7-9

1:7 Make sure you are¹ very strong and brave! Carefully obey² all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep!³ Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful⁴ in all you do.⁵ 1:8 This law scroll must not leave your lips!⁶ You must memorize it⁷ day and night so you can carefully obey⁸ all that is written in it. Then you will prosper⁹ and be successful.¹⁰ 1:9 I repeat,¹¹ be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic,¹² for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.”¹³

¹tn Or “Only be.”

²tn Heb “so you can be careful to do.” The use of the infinitive לִשְׁמֹר (lishmor, “to keep”) after the imperatives suggests that strength and bravery will be necessary for obedience. Another option is to take the form לִשְׁמֹר as a vocative lamed (ל) with imperative (see Isa 38:20 for an example of this construction), which could be translated, “Indeed, be careful!”

³tn Heb “commanded you.”

⁴tn Heb “be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

⁵tn Heb “in all which you go.”

⁶tn Heb “mouth.”

sn This law scroll must not leave your lips. The ancient practice of reading aloud to oneself as an aid to memorization is in view here.

⁷tn Heb “read it in undertones,” or “recite it quietly” (see HALOT 1:237).

⁸tn Heb “be careful to do.”

⁹tn Heb “you will make your way prosperous.”

¹⁰tn Heb “and be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

¹¹tn Heb “Have I not commanded you?” The rhetorical question emphasizes the importance of the following command by reminding the listener that it is being repeated.

¹²tn Or perhaps, “don’t get discouraged!”

¹³tn Heb “in all which you go.”