Księga Jozuego 10:13

Biblia Warszawska

I zatrzymało się słońce, i stanął księżyc, dopóki naród nie zemścił się na swoich nieprzyjaciołach. Czy nie jest to zapisane w Księdze Prawego? I zatrzymało się słońce pośrodku nieba i nie śpieszyło się do zachodu nieomal przez cały dzień.

Parallel Translations

Biblia Brzeska (1563)
I stanęło słońce a zastanowił się miesiąc, aż się lud pomścił nad nieprzyjacioły swemi. Izali to nie jest napisano w księgach sprawiedliwego? Tedy słońce stanęło w pośrzód nieba, ani się pospieszyło ku zachodowi jakoby za cały dzień.

Biblia Gdańska (1632)
I zastanowiło się słońce, a miesiąc stanął, aż się lud pomścił nad nieprzyjacioły swymi. Izali to nie jest napisano w księgach sprawiedliwego? Tedy stanęło słońce w pośród nieba, a nie pospieszyło się zachodzić, jakoby przez cały dzień.

Nowe Przymierze Zaremba
I zatrzymało się słońce, stanął księżyc, dopóki naród nie zemścił się na swoich wrogach. Czy nie jest to zapisane w Zwoju Prawego? Zatrzymało się zatem słońce w środku nieba i nie śpieszyło się z zajściem niemal cały dzień.

Nowa Biblia Gdańska (2012)
Więc słońce się zatrzymało, a księżyc stanął, aż lud wywarł pomstę na swoich wrogach; bo tak napisano w Zwoju Prawych. Zatem słońce stanęło w połowie nieba i nie spieszyło się zachodzić prawie przez cały dzień.

Biblia Tysiąclecia
I zastanowiło się słońce, a miesiąc stanął, aż się lud pomścił nad nieprzyjacioły swymi. Izali to nie jest napisano w księgach sprawiedliwego? Tedy stanęło słońce w pośród nieba, a nie pospieszyło się zachodzić, jakoby przez cały dzień.

Uwspółcześniona Biblia Gdańska
I zatrzymało się słońce, i księżyc stanął, aż zemścił się lud na swych wrogach. Czy nie jest to napisane w księdze Jaszara? Zatrzymało się więc słońce pośrodku nieba i nie śpieszyło się zachodzić niemal przez cały dzień.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

until: Numbers 31:2, Judges 5:2, Judges 16:28, Esther 8:13, Luke 18:7, Revelation 6:10

Jasher: or, the upright, Numbers 21:14, 2 Samuel 1:18

So the sun: Joshua 10:11, Joshua 10:14, Psalms 19:4, Psalms 74:16, Psalms 74:17, Psalms 136:7-9, Psalms 148:3, Isaiah 24:23, Isaiah 38:8, Joel 2:10, Joel 2:31, Joel 3:15, Matthew 5:45, Matthew 24:29, Acts 2:20, Revelation 6:12, Revelation 8:12, Revelation 16:8, Revelation 16:9, Revelation 21:23

Reciprocal: Exodus 34:10 - I will do marvels Deuteronomy 4:19 - which the Lord Joshua 10:12 - Sun Psalms 111:6 - showed Psalms 119:91 - all are Ecclesiastes 1:5 - hasteth Habakkuk 3:11 - sun

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,.... The sun that came out of his chamber like a bridegroom, and rejoiced as a strong man to run his course, stopped his course at once; and the moon that walks in her brightness proceeded not on, but both stood still, motionless, and continued in this position:

until the people had avenged themselves on their enemies: until the nation and people of Israel had taken vengeance on and destroyed the live kings and their forces: how this is to be reconciled to the Copernican system, or that with this, I shall not inquire. It was a most wonderful and surprising phenomenon, to see both luminaries standing still in the midst of heaven; it is pretended by some historians f, that a like miracle was wrought at the battle of Mulberg, won by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, on April 24, 1547. In the Chinese history g it is reported, that in the time of their seventh, emperor, Yao, the sun did not set for ten days, and that men were afraid the world would be burnt, and there were great fires at that time; and though the time of the sun's standing still is enlarged beyond the bounds of truth, yet it seems to refer to this fact, and was manifestly about the same time; for this miracle was wrought in the year of the world 2554, which fell in the seventy fifth, or, as some say, the sixty seventh year of that emperor's reign, who reigned ninety years:

[is] not this written in the book of Jasher? about which the Jews are divided; some say it is the book of Genesis, others the book of Deuteronomy, others the book of Judges h; the Targum interprets it of the book of the law, and so Jarchi and Kimchi; and Ben Melech interprets it of the book of the law of Moses, where they suppose this miracle was predicted. The former thinks, in the words of Jacob to Joseph, "his seed shall fill the nations", Genesis 48:19; which he supposes was fulfilled in Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim, when the whole world was filled with the fame of him on account of this miracle; and the latter in the words, "before all thy people I will do miracles",

Exodus 34:10; one was in making the face of Moses to shine, the other the standing still of the sun for Joshua, as he interprets it. Bolducius, a commentator on the book of Job i, fancies that that book is designed, and that this miracle is foretold in it, particularly in Job 9:7; "which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not"; it is most likely that this book of Jasher, in which this miracle was recorded, was a public register, or annals, in which memorable events were written, as they happened in different ages by different persons; and Masius thinks Josephus k means this by the archives laid up in the temple, to which he appeals for the truth of this miracle:

so the sun stood still in the midst of heaven; somewhere above the horizon, very probably this was about noon, when the sun was in its meridian. Gussetius l thinks about ten or eleven o'clock; it may be supposed that early in the morning Joshua came up with his troops, and engaged the kings, and it might be noon before the battle was over, and the victory obtained, at least before Joshua had proceeded in his pursuit of them, so far as he had done, when the miracle was wrought; and the rather, as it would be the more conspicuous in the several parts of the world; for had it been near sun setting, it could not have been seen in some places, and particularly by the Chinese, as it seems to have been by what has been observed:

and hasted not to go down about a whole day; which was either artificial or natural; if an artificial day, then it stood still but twelve hours; if a natural day, twenty four hours; and accordingly the length of the day must be judged of; if it was at noon when it stood still, and continued so a natural day, or twenty four hours, then as it had gone six hours to noon, and, after it returned to its motion, had six more to go to its setting, this day must be thirty six hours long; and so the Jews commonly say m; but if an artificial day, or twelve hours, then it was but a day of twenty four hours; but if this was, as the Jews say n, on the third of Tammuz, which answers to part of June, and was in the summer solstice, on the longest day in the year, when their days consisted of fourteen hours, this will make this long day four hours longer. According to the author of Ecclesiasticus, in the Apocrypha:

"Did not the sun go back by his means? and was not one day as long as two?'' (Sirach 46:4)

it was a double day, or, as he expresses it, one day became two, or was as long as two.

(In the late 1960's, someone circulated a story that NASA had discovered there was a missing day in the solar system. Using this passage they accounted for about twenty one missing hours and the account in Isaiah 38:8 to account for the rest of the missing time. This story is a complete fable and has absolutely no basis in fact. Editor.)

f See Bayle's Dictionary, vol. 4. p. 268. g Martin. Sinie. Histor. l. 1. p. 25. h T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 35. 1. i Bolduc. in Job. ix. 7. k Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 17. l Comment. Ebr. p. 281. m Targum in Cant. i. 1. T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 25. 1. Kimchi in loc. So Justin Martyr. Dialog. cum Tryph. p. 361. n Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31. Kimchi in loc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These four verses seem to be a fragment or extract taken from some other and independent source and inserted into the thread of the narrative after it had been completed, and inserted most probably by another hand than that of the author of the Book of Joshua.

It is probable that Joshua 10:12 and the first half of Joshua 10:13 alone belong to the Book of Jasher and are poetical, and that the rest of this passage is prose.

The writer of this fragment seems to have understood the words of the ancient song literally, and believed that an astronomical miracle really took place, by which the motion of the heavenly bodies was for some hours suspended. (Compare also Ecclesiasticus 46:4.) So likewise believed the older Jewish authorities generally, the Christian fathers, and many commentators ancient and modern.

It must be allowed, indeed, that some of the objections which have been urged against this view on scientific grounds are easily answered. The interference, if such there were, with the earth’s motion was not an act of blind power ab extra and nothing more. The Agent here concerned is omnipotent and omniscient, and could, of course, as well arrest the regular consequences of such a suspension of nature’s ordinary working as He could suspend that working itself. It is, however, obvious, that any such stupendous phenomenon would affect the chronological calculations of all races of men over the whole earth and do so in a similarly striking and very intelligible manner. Yet no record of any such perturbation is anywhere to be found, and no marked and unquestionable reference is made to such a miracle by any of the subsequent writers in the Old or New Testament. For reasons like these, many commentators have explained the miracle as merely optical.

The various explanations show how strongly the difficulties which arise out of the passage have been felt. Accordingly, stress has been laid by recent commentators on the admitted fact that the words out of which the difficulty springs are an extract from a poetical book. They must consequently, it is argued, be taken in a popular and poetical, and not in a literal sense. Joshua feared lest the sun should set before the people had fully “avenged themselves of their enemies.” In his anxiety he prayed to God, and God hearkened to him. This is boldly and strikingly expressed in the words of the ancient book, which describes Joshua as praying that the day might be prolonged, or, in poetical diction, that the sun might be stayed until the work was done. Similarly, Judges 5:20 and Psalms 18:9-15 are passages which no one construes as describing actual occurrences: they set forth only internal, although most sincere and, in a spiritual sense, real and true convictions. This explanation is now adopted by theologians whose orthodoxy upon the plenary inspiration and authority of holy Scripture is well known and undoubted.

Joshua 10:12

In the sight of Israel - literally, “before the eyes of Israel,” i. e. in the sight or presence of Israel, so that the people were witnesses of his words. (Compare Deuteronomy 31:7.)

Sun, stand thou still - literally, as margin, “be silent” (compare Leviticus 10:3); or rather, perhaps, “tarry,” as in 1 Samuel 14:9.

Thou, moon - The words addressed to the moon as well as to the sun, indicate that both were visible as Joshua spoke. Below and before him, westward, was the valley of Ajalon; behind him, eastward, were the hills around Gibeon. Some hours had passed, since in the early dawn he had fallen upon the host of the enemy, and the expression “in the midst of heaven” Joshua 10:13 seems to import that it was now drawing toward mid-day, though the moon was still faintly visible in the west. If the time had been near sunset, Joshua would have seen the sun, not, as he did, eastward of him, but westward, sinking in the sea.

The valley of Ajalon - i. e. “the valley of the gazelles.” This is the modern Merj Ibn Omeir, described by Robinson, a broad and beautiful valley running in a westerly direction from the mountains toward the great western plain. The ancient name is still preserved in Yalo, a village situated on the hill which skirts the south side of the valley.

Joshua 10:13

Book of Jasher - i. e. as margin, “of the upright” or “righteous,” a poetical appellation of the covenant-people (compare “Jeshurun” in Deuteronomy 32:15, and note; and compare Numbers 23:10, Numbers 23:21; Psalms 111:1). This book was probably a collection of national odes celebrating the heroes of the theocracy and their achievements, and is referred to again (marginal reference) as containing the dirge composed by David over Saul and Jonathan.

About a whole day - i. e. about twelve hours; the average space between sunrise and sunset.

Joshua 10:15

Joshua’s return (compare Joshua 10:43) to Gilgal was not until after he had, by the storm and capture of the principal cities of south Canaan, completed the conquest of which the victory at Gibeon was only the beginning.

This verse is evidently the close of the extract from an older work, which connected the rescue of Gibeon immediately with the return to Gilgal, and omitted the encampment at Makkedah Joshua 10:21, and also the details given in Joshua 10:28-42.