myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Joshua 8:30–35

Where does the altar ceremony belong?

The altar on Mount Ebal and the reading of the law stand after the fall of Ai in the Hebrew, after 9:2 in the Greek, and apparently right after the crossing of the Jordan in a Dead Sea Scroll. The same passage, three places in the story.

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

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
Hebrew
  1. Original JoshuaUnknown (debated)
  2. 4QJosh-a (4Q47)2nd–1st century BCDescends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua
  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

Three positions

Near the crossing (4Q47)
Matches Deuteronomy 27:2, "on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan"; the altar would be at or near Gilgal.
After Ai (MT)
The ceremony follows the first conquests in the central hills, near Shechem.
After 9:2 (LXX)
A transitional position between the victories and the Gibeonite treaty.
The debate
Some argue the Qumran order is earliest and the passage moved; others that the Masoretic is original; JBL 2024 and Segal 2025 disagree.

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Joshua

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. 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.

    9:2 They gathered together to fight Joshua and Israel. Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal… and on the stones he wrote the Deuteronomy, the law of Moses

    In the library's Greek (Giguet), the ceremony appears at 9:2–4, and the copy of the law is called "the Deuteronomy." Chapter 8 ends at the hanging of Ai's king.

  3. 2nd–1st century BC

    4QJosh-a (4Q47)

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from Original Joshua

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    As reconstructed by Eugene Ulrich, the end of the reading ceremony (8:34–35) is followed directly by 5:2, placing it at Gilgal after the crossing. The order is partly inferred from fragment joins; missing letters are restorations, not extant text.

    Source: E. Ulrich, "4QJosh-a," DJD XIV (1995); The Biblical Qumran Scrolls (2010)

  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).

    Tunc ædificavit Josue altare Domino Deo Israël in monte Hebal (8:30)

    Follows the Hebrew order.

  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.

    אָז יִבְנֶה יְהוֹשֻׁעַ מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהַר עֵיבָל (8:30)

    Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel on Mount Ebal

    After the capture of Ai.

  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).

    Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal (8:30)

    Follows the Hebrew.

What changed, and why

A passage that "floats" between positions is a sign that it was inserted or moved at some stage of the book's growth. Its connection with Deuteronomy 27:4, where the Samaritan text names Gerizim, suggests that the location of Israel's first altar was a sensitive subject in antiquity.

What the evidence shows

Sources

Related lessons

  • Ai and the Covenant Altar →An ambush takes Ai, and it is burned to "an heap for ever." Then Joshua builds an altar on Mount Ebal, writes a copy of the law on stones, and reads every word to all Israel between Ebal and Gerizim. In the Hebrew the ceremony comes here; in the Greek, after 9:2; in a Dead Sea Scroll, apparently near the crossing of the Jordan.
  • 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.
  • An Altar on Ebal, or Gerizim? →After crossing the Jordan, Israel is to set up great plastered stones with the law written on them and build an altar. Six tribes stand on Gerizim to bless, six on Ebal to curse, and the Levites pronounce twelve curses, each answered "Amen." Which mountain gets the altar? The Hebrew says Ebal; the Samaritan Torah says Gerizim. Archaeology has sanctuaries, an altar claim and a disputed lead tablet.