Joshua 24:30

Hebrew Bible

27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness against you if you deny your God.” 28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land. 29 After all this Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of 110. 30 They buried him in his allotted territory in Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 31 Israel worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. These men had experienced firsthand everything the Lord had done for Israel.

LXX Joshua 24:31

Septuagint

28 And Joshua dismissed the people, and they went every man to his place. 29 And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that lived as long as Joshua, and all that knew all the works of the Lord which he wrought for Israel. 30 And it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Naue the servant of the Lord died, at the age of a hundred and ten years. 31 And they buried him by the borders of his inheritance in Thamnasarach in the mount of Ephraim, northward of the mount of Galaad: 32 there they put with him into the tomb in which they buried him, the knives of stone with which he circumcised the children of Israel in Galgala, when he brought them out of Egypt, as the Lord appointed them; and there they are to this day.

 Notes and References

"... The reference to the flint knives (verse 31) further reinforces the idea of apostasy and even idolatry. Rofé interprets the LXX plus as original, while the Masoretic text removes it because of the offensive nature of relic-worship. Nelson takes the opposite view. He states that these folkloric and midrashic elements are to be expected in later expansions. I would like to postulate that the reference to the flint knives aims to expand the negative view of the covenant in Joshua 24. I am convinced that this is in line with the following books, which amplify the narrative of apostasy and fall ..."

Wildenboer, Johan Joshua 24 in the LXX: Some Literary and Theological Remarks (pp. 483-502) Journal for Semitics 25/2, 2016

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.