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Joshua 7:8

in Joshua 7

O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel hath turned their backs before their enemies!

KJV

O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!

This verse in Joshua 7

Commentary

2 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

on Joshua 7:6-9

Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth . . . before the ark . . . he and the elders--It is evident, from those tokens of humiliation and sorrow, that a solemn fast was observed on this occasion. The language of Joshua's prayer is thought by many to savor of human infirmity and to be wanting in that reverence and submission he owed to God.

This site's exposition

Joshua rent his clothes

on Joshua 7:6-9

Joshua's complaint takes up the wilderness generation's own words, would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan, which is the murmur of Exodus 14:12 and Numbers 14:2 pointed back across the river. Then he argues the way Moses argued, what wilt thou do unto thy great name, the plea of Exodus 32:12 and Numbers 14:15-16 and Deuteronomy 9:28 put in fewer words. Clarke observes that no rebuke follows for the prayer itself, and that the answer corrects the posture rather than the words. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown record that many readers hear human weakness in the language, and the chapter neither defends him nor blames him.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • בִּ֖יpardon me

    biH994

  • אֲדֹנָ֑יO Lord

    ʾadonaiH136440 times

  • מָ֣הwhat?

    mahH4100752 times

  • אֹמַ֔רwill I say

    ʾomarH5595305 times

  • אַ֠חֲרֵיafter

    ʾachareiH310715 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רthat

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • הָפַ֧ךְit has turned

    hafakhH2015

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֛לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • עֹ֖רֶףa neck

    ʾorefH6203

  • לִפְנֵ֥י<to> before

    lifneiH64402123 times

  • אֹיְבָֽיו׃enemies its

    ʾoyevavH341282 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Habakkuk 2:1

    I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the ramparts. I will watch to see what He will say to me, and how I should answer when corrected.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 21:8

      Then the lookout shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post.

    • Isaiah 62:6

      On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves,

    • 2 Samuel 18:24

      Now David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked out, and saw a man running alone.

    • Psalms 85:8

      I will listen to what God the LORD will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly.

    • Psalms 73:16–17

      When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight

  • Through

    Ezra 9:10

    And now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken the commandments

    it leads to

    • Daniel 9:4–16

      And I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, “O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of loving devotion to those who love Him and keep His commandments,

    • Genesis 44:16

      “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and…

    • Romans 3:19

      Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

Where this verse is studied

About Joshua

Achan Is Stoned to Death — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Achan Is Stoned to Death — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.