Discovery BoxJoshua 8:30-33 
Context8:30 Then Joshua built an altar for the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal, 8:31 just as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded the Israelites. As described in the law scroll of Moses, it was made with uncut stones untouched by an iron tool. 1 They offered burnt sacrifices on it and sacrificed tokens of peace. 2 8:32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a duplicate of the law written by Moses. 3 8:33 All the people, 4 rulers, 5 leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. 6 Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord’s servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony. 7
1 tn Heb “as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones on which no one had wielded iron.” The expression “whole stones” refers to stones in their natural condition, i.e., not carved or shaped artificially with tools (“wielded iron”).
2 tn Or “peace offerings.”
3 tn Heb “and he wrote there on the stones a duplicate of the law of Moses which he wrote before the sons of Israel.”
4 tn Heb “All Israel.”
5 tn Or “elders.”
6 tn Heb “like the resident alien, like the citizen.” The language is idiomatic, meaning that both groups were treated the same, at least in this instance.
7 tn Heb “as Moses, the
sn Moses’ earlier instructions are found in Deut 11:29.
