Joshua 24 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: MT 24:8, MT 24:10, 24:33b
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Joshua 24
Hebrew source for this chapter: BHS1997 [H], directly reviewed in this revision. The original Mechon Mamre access fallback [H-S] is retained in the historical source record.
The gifts remembered: choosing to remain with Christ
Published liturgical anchor: the Roman Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B selects 24:1–2a, 15–17, 18b and pairs it with John 6:60–69 [L5]. The full narrative is translated, including each source’s own covenant setting.
24:1–13 | The assembly hears the story of God’s gifts
L5 selects 24:1–2a from this unit; the rest supplies narrative context.
Verse MT 24:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:1
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. He called the elders of Israel, its heads, judges, and officers, and they presented themselves before God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:1
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shiloh. He summoned their elders, scribes, and judges and made them stand before God.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The covenant gathering is at Shechem in Hebrew and Shiloh in Greek; Greek lacks a separate heads designation and makes Joshua the one who stations them. Hebrew chapter 24 was provisionally based on Mechon Mamre; it has now been checked throughout against the adopted BHS1997 main text.
Verse MT 24:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:2
Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: ‘Long ago your fathers lived beyond the River—Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor—and they served other gods.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:2
Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘From the beginning your fathers lived beyond the River—Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor—and they served other gods.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both begin the historical recital with ancestral worship of other gods beyond the River.
Verse MT 24:3 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:3
I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, led him through all the land of Canaan, multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:3
I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, led him through all the land, multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac,
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek lacks the explicit name Canaan; both speak in the divine first person.
Verse MT 24:4 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:4
To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:4
and to Isaac, Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau as his inheritance, and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt and became there a great, numerous, and mighty nation.’
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds the family’s growth into a great nation. Its direct divine first-person recital ends here; the following verses speak of the Lord in the third person. Quotation punctuation marks this grammatical shift editorially.
Verse MT 24:5 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:5
I sent Moses and Aaron and struck Egypt with what I did in its midst; afterward I brought you out.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:5
The Egyptians afflicted them, and the Lord struck Egypt by what He did to them; afterward He brought you out
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew names the sending of Moses and Aaron; Greek instead explicitly mentions Egyptian oppression and speaks of the Lord in the third person.
Verse MT 24:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:6
I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Sea of Reeds.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:6
of Egypt, and you entered the Red Sea. The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horses into the Red Sea,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew first says came to the sea; Greek says entered the Red Sea. Sea of Reeds/Red Sea and horsemen/horses preserve the source expressions.
Verse MT 24:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:7
They cried to YHWH, and He placed darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea over him and covered him. Your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness many days.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:7
and we cried out to the Lord. He placed a cloud and thick darkness between us and the Egyptians, brought the sea over them, and covered them. Your eyes saw all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt. You were in the wilderness many days.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: They/you becomes we/us; Greek adds a cloud. The Hebrew divine recital itself briefly shifts to He before returning to I; both source-specific person shifts are retained. Hebrew uses singular him collectively for the Egyptians; Greek uses plural pronouns.
Verse MT 24:8 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:8
I brought you into the land of the Amorites living beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land, and I destroyed them before you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:8
He brought you into the land of the Amorites living beyond the Jordan. They arrayed themselves against you, and the Lord handed them into your hands. You inherited their land and destroyed them before you.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Text: Final destruction is attributed to God in Hebrew and to the addressed Israelites in Greek. This explicit major agency shift follows God’s delivery of the Amorites into Israel’s hand in both texts. The shared divine enabling does not erase the changed agent, nor does the change imply that Greek removes God from the victory.
Verse MT 24:9 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:9
Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam son of Beor to curse you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:9
Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and arrayed himself against Israel. He sent and called Balaam to curse you.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both describe Balak’s opposition and summons; Greek lacks Balaam’s patronymic.
Verse MT 24:10 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:10
But I was unwilling to listen to Balaam, and he blessed you indeed. I rescued you from his hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:10
But the Lord your God was unwilling to destroy you. He blessed you abundantly, rescued you from their hands, and handed them over.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Text: Hebrew says God refused to listen to Balaam, who then blessed Israel. Greek says the Lord refused to destroy Israel and continues with blessing and deliverance, naturally with the Lord as subject; it also adds handing them over.
Verse MT 24:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:11
You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The lords of Jericho fought against you—the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites—and I gave them into your hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:11
You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The inhabitants of Jericho fought against you—the Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, Hittites, and Girgashites—and the Lord handed them into your hands.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: The seven peoples occur in a different order; lords/inhabitants differs modestly. The Greek third-person recital continues.
Verse MT 24:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:12
I sent the hornet before you, and it drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites—not by your sword and not by your bow.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:12
He sent the swarm of wasps ahead of you, and it drove them out before you, twelve kings of the Amorites—not by your sword and not by your bow.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The numbers differ, two and twelve. Hebrew ṣirʿah and Greek sphēkia preserve related but distinct insect expressions; neither is silently converted into a military metaphor.
Verse MT 24:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:13
I gave you a land for which you did not labor and cities you did not build, and you live in them. You eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:13
He gave you a land for which you did not labor and cities you did not build, and you were settled in them. You shall eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both stress unearned provision; Greek presents the eating prospectively and the settlement passively.
24:14–18 | Choose whom you will serve
L5 selects 24:15–17, 18b. Verses 14 and 18a remain in this complete comparison.
Verse MT 24:14 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:14
Now fear YHWH and serve Him with integrity and truth. Remove the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:14
Now fear the Lord and serve Him with uprightness and righteousness. Remove the foreign gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Integrity and truth correspond to uprightness and righteousness; Greek explicitly calls the gods foreign.
Verse MT 24:15 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:15
If it seems bad to you to serve YHWH, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: the gods your fathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But I and my house will serve YHWH.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:15
If it does not please you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: the gods of your fathers beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites among whom you live in their land. But I and my household will serve the Lord, because He is holy.”
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds because He is holy to Joshua’s declaration. The choice and household commitment agree.
Saints: The Roman lectionary pairs the covenant choice with John 6:60–69, where Peter responds to Jesus with faithful allegiance [L5]. This pairing grounds the Christ-centered heading.
Verse MT 24:16 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:16
The people answered and said, “Far be it from us to abandon YHWH to serve other gods.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:16
The people answered and said, “May it never be that we abandon the Lord to serve other gods.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The same rejection of apostasy.
Verse MT 24:17 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:17
For YHWH our God is the One who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, who did these great signs before our eyes and guarded us on all the way we traveled and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:17
The Lord our God—He is God. He brought us and our fathers up from Egypt and guarded us on all the way we traveled and among all the nations through whom we passed.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds He is God but lacks the house of slaves and the great signs before their eyes. Both recall deliverance and protection.
Verse MT 24:18 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:18
YHWH drove out before us all the peoples, and the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve YHWH, for He is our God.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:18
The Lord drove out before us the Amorites and all the nations living in the land. We too will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The confession and commitment agree, with a change in the order of the peoples.
The covenant witnessed: a faithful response to Christ
Editorial Christian reading: the covenant commitment is heard in relation to Peter’s confession in John 6:68–69, the Gospel conclusion of L5. The source’s severe warning about holiness remains intact.
24:19–28 | The warning, the pledge, the written covenant, and the stone
Verse MT 24:19 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:19
Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve YHWH, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions and your sins.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:19
Joshua said to the people, “You certainly cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God, and being jealous He will not remit your sins and your lawless deeds.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both give the severe warning about God’s holiness and jealousy. Hebrew’s plural-form adjective with Elohim does not justify introducing multiple gods against the singular He and the context.
Rabbinic: Rashi treats the plural-form holiness expression with Elohim as language of divine majesty and lordship [R24, 24:19]. The verse’s singular reference to God governs the translation.
Verse MT 24:20 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:20
If you abandon YHWH and serve foreign gods, He will turn, do you harm, and consume you after He has done you good.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:20
Whenever you abandon the Lord and serve other gods, He will come upon you, harm you, and consume you in return for the good He has done you.”
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: The covenant consequence agrees; turn/come upon and after/in return for give modest differences in expression.
Verse MT 24:21 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:21
The people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve YHWH.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:21
The people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The same renewed pledge.
Verse MT 24:22 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:22
Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen YHWH for yourselves, to serve Him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:22
Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord to serve Him.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek lacks the people’s explicit We are witnesses response and continues Joshua’s speech into verse 23.
Verse MT 24:23 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:23
“Now remove the foreign gods among you and incline your heart to YHWH, the God of Israel.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:23
Now remove the foreign gods among you and direct your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The same demand for exclusive worship and inward commitment.
Verse MT 24:24 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:24
The people said to Joshua, “YHWH our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:24
The people said to Joshua, “The Lord we will serve, and His voice we will obey.”
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Greek lacks our God in this response; the pledge agrees.
Verse MT 24:25 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:25
Joshua made a covenant for the people on that day and established a statute and judgment for them at Shechem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:25
Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day and gave them law and judgment at Shiloh before the tent of the God of Israel.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Shechem/Shiloh recurs from verse 1; Greek explicitly locates the covenant before the divine tent. This is a substantive setting difference, not merely a spelling variation.
Verse MT 24:26 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:26
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Torah of God. He took a great stone and set it up there under the terebinth in YHWH’s sanctuary.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:26
He wrote these words in a scroll, the law of God. Joshua took a great stone and set it beneath the terebinth before the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both record the written covenant and witness stone; Hebrew specifies the sanctuary, while Greek says before the Lord.
Verse MT 24:27 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:27
Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words YHWH spoke with us. It shall be a witness against you, lest you deny your God.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:27
Joshua said to the people, “Look, this stone shall be among you as a testimony, for it has heard everything spoken to it by the Lord, what He spoke to us today. It shall be among you as a testimony at the last of the days, whenever you deal falsely with the Lord my God.”
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds today and at the last of the days, says the words were spoken to the stone, and has my God rather than your God. Both personify the stone as witness; the added time phrase is not automatically assigned an eschatological doctrine.
Verse MT 24:28 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:28
Joshua sent the people away, each to his inheritance.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:28
Joshua sent the people away, and each went to his own place.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The same dismissal, with inheritance/place as the destination expression.
Beyond Joshua’s death: hope and endurance in Christ
Editorial Christian reading: Hebrews 4:8–11 leaves the promise of rest open beyond Joshua. The Hebrew closing burials and the Greek continuation into apostasy are both preserved.
24:29–33 | Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar; the Greek continuations
Includes LXX 24:31a and 33a–b. Greek 24:29–31 has a different order; actual references appear in each cell.
Verse MT 24:29 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:29
After these things Joshua son of Nun, the servant of YHWH, died at the age of one hundred ten years.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:30
After those things Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred ten years.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: The death and age agree. Greek doulos, unlike the earlier pais, can denote a slave; servant of the Lord expresses its honorific religious-service context here. This does not imply a change in Joshua’s civil status. Greek places Israel’s service summary before the death.
Verse MT 24:30 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:30
They buried him within the territory of his inheritance at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:31
They buried him by the borders of his lot at Thamnathasachara in the mountain of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The burial location corresponds, with the Greek town form displayed.
Verse 24:31a Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
No MT counterpart
[No counterpart in the declared Hebrew text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:31a
There they placed with him in the tomb in which they buried him the stone knives with which he circumcised the sons of Israel at Gilgal, when he brought them out of Egypt, as the Lord commanded them. They are there to this very day.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds burial of the circumcision knives. The grammatical he brought them out is retained without silently replacing it with a name; its antecedent and compressed chronology require care. Compare LXX 21:42d.
Verse MT 24:31 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:31
Israel served YHWH all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and knew all the work YHWH had done for Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:29
Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who lived on after Joshua and saw all the works the Lord had done for Israel.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Knew/saw differs modestly. Greek places this summary before Joshua’s death; it is aligned here without duplication.
Verse MT 24:32 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:32
The bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried at Shechem in the portion of the field that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred qesitahs. These became an inheritance for the sons of Joseph.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:32
The sons of Israel brought Joseph’s bones up from Egypt and buried them at Shechem in the portion of the field that Jacob acquired from the Amorites living at Shechem for one hundred ewe lambs; he gave it to Joseph as a portion.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The sellers differ: Hamor’s sons versus resident Amorites. The price is qesitahs versus ewe lambs; the uncertain qesitah is not converted to a fixed silver value. Hebrew ends with a plural inheritance statement, Greek with a gift to Joseph, naturally by Jacob.
Verse MT 24:33 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 24:33
Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:33
After these things Eleazar son of Aaron, the high priest, died and was buried at Gabaath of Phinehas his son, which he had given him in the mountain of Ephraim.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Greek explicitly adds high priest and uses an active he had given him, whose unnamed subject is not expanded. The burial corresponds.
Verse 24:33a Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
No MT counterpart
[No counterpart in the declared Hebrew text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:33a
On that day the sons of Israel took the ark of God and carried it about among themselves. Phinehas served as priest in place of Eleazar his father until he died and was buried at his own Gabaath.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: LXX 24:33a adds movement of the ark, Phinehas’ succession, and his death and burial.
Verse 24:33b Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
No MT counterpart
[No counterpart in the declared Hebrew text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 24:33b
The sons of Israel went away, each to his own place and his own city. The sons of Israel revered Astarte and Ashtaroth and the gods of the nations around them. The Lord handed them into the hands of Eglom king of Moab, and he ruled over them for eighteen years.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Text: The Greek book closes with apostasy and subjection to Moab for eighteen years, material absent from the Hebrew ending. Astarte and Ashtaroth are both retained; compare the related Eglon episode in Judges 3:12–14. This addition changes the book’s concluding narrative movement.