myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Joshua 10:12–13

"Sun, stand still" and the Book of Jashar

The Hebrew quotes a poem and cites "the book of Jasher" as its source. The Greek has the poem but not the citation. The verbs can mean "stand still" or "be silent," which shapes every interpretation of what happened to the sun.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Related (shared ancestry)
Hebrew
  1. The Book of JasharLost; older than Joshua's final formRelated witness to Original Joshua
  2. Original JoshuaUnknown (debated)
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua
Greek
  1. Septuagint (Old Greek)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Readings

Prolonged day
The traditional reading.
Poetic language
A victory poem, like Judges 5:20.
Darkness
"Be silent": stop shining.
Eclipse
Proposed for 30 October 1207 BC (Humphreys and Waddington); a calculation, not proof.

Every witness, in order

  1. Lost; older than Joshua's final form

    The Book of Jashar

    ▢ Pages lost or damaged hereRelated witness to Original Joshua

    An ancient collection of poems, cited here and in 2 Samuel 1:18. Lost; later books with this name are not it.

  2. Unknown (debated)

    Original Joshua

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  3. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint (Old Greek)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon… (no mention of the book of Jasher)

    The library's Greek (Giguet) has no reference to the Book of Jashar in 10:13.

  4. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Nonne scriptum est hoc in libro justorum?

    Is not this written in the book of the just?

    Jerome translates the name: "the book of the just."

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    שֶׁמֶשׁ בְּגִבְעוֹן דּוֹם… הֲלֹא־הִיא כְתוּבָה עַל־סֵפֶר הַיָּשָׁר

    Sun, at Gibeon be still… Is it not written in the book of Jashar?

    dom: "be still" or "be silent."

  6. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon… Is not this written in the book of Jasher?

    Transliterates the name.

What changed, and why

The Greek's lack of the Jashar citation may mean the citation was added in the Hebrew tradition, or dropped in translation. Either way, the Hebrew presents the lines as a quotation from an older poetic source.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Septuagint of 10:13 does not cite the Book of Jashar. Checked in the library (Giguet).
  • Conflicts with current evidenceThe Book of Jashar survives. Lost; later books with the name are different works.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • The Southern Campaign and the Sun →Five Amorite kings attack Gibeon. Joshua marches all night, routs them down the pass of Beth-horon, hailstones kill more than the sword, and Joshua cries, "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon," a line quoted from the lost Book of Jashar. The kings are found in a cave at Makkedah, and southern cities fall one by one.
  • How Joshua Came to Us →Who wrote Joshua, and when? How does its Greek form differ from the Hebrew? Where does the altar ceremony belong? Why do the oldest Hebrew codices lack two verses? Here is the history of the book from its setting to your Bible, with every major variant linked.