Joshua 8:31

Joshua 8:31 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.
• New International Version (NIV)as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.
• English Standard Version (ESV)just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, "an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool." And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.
• New King James Version (NKJV)as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.

Context of Joshua 8:31

29He hanged the king of Ai on a tree. He left his body there until evening. At sunset, Joshua told his men to cut the body down. They threw it on the ground outside the city's gate. They covered it with a heap of stones. Those stones are still there today. 30Then Joshua built an altar on Ebal mountain, to worship the Lord, Israel's God. He built it as the Lord's servant, Moses, had told the Israelites to do. Moses had written this on the scroll of God's laws. The law said, ‘You must build an altar with whole stones that you have not cut. Do not use any iron tools on them.’ They made burnt offerings on the altar to worship the Lord. They also made sacrifices as friendship offerings. 32The Israelites watched Joshua as he made a copy of God's Law on the stones. This was the Law that Moses had written. 33All the Israelites stood on each side of the Covenant Box, with their faces towards the priests who carried it. The leaders, officers, and judges were there, as well as foreign people who lived with the Israelites. Half the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim. The other half stood with their backs to Mount Ebal. Moses had told them to stand like that when the Lord wanted to bless them.

Joshua 8:31 word by word

כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוָּה֩ מֹשֶׁ֨ה עֶֽבֶד־יְהוָ֜ה אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל כַּכָּתוּב֙ בְּסֵ֙פֶר֙ תּוֹרַ֣ת מֹשֶׁ֔ה מִזְבַּח֙ אֲבָנִ֣ים שְׁלֵמ֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹֽא־הֵנִ֥יף עֲלֵיהֶ֖ן בַּרְזֶ֑ל וַיַּעֲל֨וּ עָלָ֤יו עֹלוֹת֙ לַֽיהוָ֔ה וַֽיִּזְבְּח֖וּ שְׁלָמִֽים׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• As Mosesמֹשֶׁהmôsheh · MosesH4872
• the servantעֶ֫בֶד‛ebed · servant/slaveH5650
• of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• commandedצָוָהtsâvâh · to commandH6680
• the childrenבֵּןbên · son: descendant/peopleH1121
• of Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
• as it is writtenכָּתַבkâthab · to writeH3789
• in the bookסֵ֫פֶרsêpher siphrâh · scroll: bookH5612
• of the lawתּוֹרָהtôrâh tôrâh · instructionH8451
• an altarמִזְבֵּחַmizbêach · altarH4196
• of wholeשָׁלֵםshâlêm · completeH8003
• stonesאֶ֫בֶן'eben · stoneH68
• over which no man hath lift upנוּףnûph · to waveH5130
• ironבַּרְזֶלbarzel · ironH1270
• and they offeredעָלָה‛âlâh · to ascend: offer upH5927
• thereon burnt offeringsעֹלָה‛ôlâh ‛ôlâh · burnt offeringH5930
• and sacrificedזָבַחzâbach · to sacrificeH2076
• peace offeringsשֶׁ֫לֶםshelem · peace offeringH8002

Cross-references for Joshua 8:31

• Joshua 8:34Then Joshua read the whole Law aloud to them. He read the blessings and the curses, as they are written on the scroll of the Law.
• Joshua 1:8You must keep on speaking about the words of God's law. Think about what it says, all the time. Be careful to obey it. Then you will do well, and you will win.
• 2 Kings 14:6But he did not punish their sons with death. He obeyed the Lord's command that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses. The command says, ‘Do not punish fathers with death when their sons do bad things. Do not punish children with death when their fathers do bad things. Each person must die only because of his own sins.’
• 2 Kings 22:8Hilkiah, the leader of the priests, told Shaphan, the king's secretary, ‘I have found the Book of the Law in the Lord's temple.’ He gave the book to Shaphan and Shaphan read it.
• 2 Chronicles 25:4But he did not punish their sons with death. He obeyed the Lord's command that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses. The command says, ‘Do not punish fathers with death when their sons do bad things. Do not punish children with death when their fathers do bad things. Each person must die only because of his own sins.’
• 2 Chronicles 35:12They took the animals for the burnt offerings to give to the people. They shared them among each group of families. Then each family could offer a bull to the Lord as a sacrifice, in the way that the book of Moses taught.
• Ezra 6:18They decided how each group of priests and Levites should work in God's temple in Jerusalem. Moses had written in his book how they should do this.
• Nehemiah 13:1On that day, we read the book of Moses aloud to the people. One of the laws said that no descendant of Ammon or Moab should ever join with God's people when they met together.
• Matthew 12:26So Satan would not try to destroy himself. If Satan fights against himself, that would be the end of his own kingdom.
• Exodus 20:24Instead, use earth to make an altar for me. You must offer sacrifices to me on the altar. You may take your sheep, your goats or your cows to make burnt offerings or friendship offerings or other sacrifices to me. Make an altar like this in any place that I choose for you to worship me. In those places, I will come to you and I will bless you.
• Deuteronomy 27:5Then you must build an altar there to worship the Lord your God. Do not use iron tools to cut the stones for the altar.
• 1 Kings 18:31Elijah picked up 12 stones, one for each of the tribes that were Jacob's descendants. Jacob was the man that the Lord had given the new name ‘Israel’.
• Exodus 18:12Then Jethro brought an animal to burn as a sacrifice to God. He also brought other sacrifices. Aaron came, with all the leaders of the Israelites. They ate a special meal together with Jethro, to worship God.
• Exodus 24:5Moses sent young Israelite men to burn animals there, as offerings to the Lord. They also killed young bulls as friendship offerings to the Lord.
• Deuteronomy 27:6Use whole stones that you find to build it. Then offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God on the altar.

Commentaries on Joshua 8:31

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 30-35Verses 30-35 The account of this solemnity is very brief. An acquaintance with Joshua 8:29, and Joshua 9:1, is natural and obvious; and in Joshua 9:3, the fraud of the Gibeonites is represented as growing out of the alarm caused by the fall of Jericho and Ai. It is, moreover, extremely unlikely that a solemnity of this nature in the very center of the country should be undertaken by Joshua while the whole surrounding district was in the hands of the…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 30-35Verses 30-35 As soon as Joshua got to the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, without delay, and without caring for the unsettled state of Israel, or their enemies, he confirmed the covenant of the Lord with his people, as appointed, De 11; 27. We must not think to defer covenanting with God till we are settled in the world; nor must any business put us from minding and pursuing the one thing needful. The way to prosper is to begin with God, Mt 6:33. They built…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 30-31Archaeologists have recently discovered an altar on Mount Ebal. It was built of uncut stones and was not shaped with iron tools. However, no inscription has been found with the altar (8:32). burnt offerings … peace offerings: These were part of the laws of sacrifice God gave Moses while Israel was at Mount Sinai (Leviticus 1, 3). Moses gave specific commands for this ceremony (see Deuteronomy 11:26–32; 27:1–28:68).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 30-3130-31. Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal--(See on De 27:11). This spot was little short of twenty miles from Ai. The march through a hostile country and the unmolested performance of the religious ceremonial observed at this mountain, would be greatly facilitated, through the blessing of God, by the disastrous fall of Ai. The solemn duty was to be attended to at the first convenient opportunity after the entrance into…Read the comment

Topics related to Joshua 8:31

• Altar
• Commandments
• Curse
• Law
• Peace Offerings
• Stones

In the dictionaries

• Israel
• Moses
• Israel, Israelites
• Jacob, Israel
• Law of Moses
• Peace offerings
• Children of Israel
• Ambush
• Deuteronomy
• Ebal

Commentaries on Joshua 8

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings