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Joshua 8:26

in Joshua 8

Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

KJV

For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

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This verse in Joshua 8

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
For Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out his spear,.... But continued it, and that stretched out: until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai; just as the hand of Moses was held up, and kept held up until Amalek was discomfited by Joshua, Exo 17:12.

This site's exposition

Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance

on Joshua 8:26-27

Joshua holds out the lance until the work is done, and Gill sets it beside Exodus 17:12, where Moses’ hands stayed steady while Joshua fought. Verse 27 notes the plunder taken “as the LORD had commanded Joshua”, because a man had taken plunder without that word one chapter earlier.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It was a federal transaction: the covenant was now renewed between God and Israel upon their taking possession of the land of promise, that they might be encouraged in the conquest of it, and might know upon what terms they held it, and come under fresh obligations to obedience. In token of the covenant, I. They built an altar, and offered sacrifice to God (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Joshua drew not his hand back - He was not only the general, but the standard-bearer or ensign of his own army, and continued in this employment during the whole of the battle. See on Jos 8:18 (note). Some commentators understand this and Jos 8:18 figuratively, as if they implied that Joshua continued in prayer to God for the success of his troops; nor did he cease till the armies of Ai were annihilated, and the city taken and destroyed.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Joshua drew not his hand back--Perhaps, from the long continuance of the posture, it might have been a means appointed by God, to animate the people, and kept up in the same devout spirit as Moses had shown, in lifting up his hands, until the work of slaughter had been completed--the ban executed.

The words behind it

14 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.

  • וִיהוֹשֻׁ֙עַ֙and Joshua

    vihoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • הֵשִׁ֣יבhe drew back

    heshivH7725 →1056 times

  • יָד֔וֹhand his

    yadoH3027 →1618 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • נָטָ֖הhe had stretched out

    natahH5186 →214 times

  • בַּכִּיד֑וֹןwith the javelin

    bakidonH3591 →9 times

  • עַ֚דuntil

    ʾadH5704 →1261 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רthat

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • הֶחֱרִ֔יםhe had totally destroyed

    hecherimH2763 →52 times

  • אֵ֖ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • יֹשְׁבֵ֥י[the] inhabitants of

    yosheveiH3427 →1079 times

  • הָעָֽי׃<the> Ai

    haaiH5857 →40 times

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

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

5 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

    Joshua 8:18

    Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,

    it leads to

    • Job 15:25

      For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,

    • 1 Samuel 17:41

      Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him.

    • Joshua 8:7

      you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

    • Exodus 8:5

      And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”

    • Exodus 14:16

      And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

Where this verse is studied

About Joshua

Joshua Burns the Town of Ai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joshua Burns the Town of Ai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 8 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Joshua 8 →