Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still on Gibeon! You, moon, stop in the valley of Aijalon!”
- BSB On the day that the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
- NKJV Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
- NASB Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord turned the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, And moon, at the Valley of Aijalon!”
- NLT On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In the heat of battle Joshua boldly commands the sun and moon to stand still. His prayer-command seeks more time to complete the victory.
Overview
Joshua, addressing Yahweh and then speaking before all Israel, calls on the sun over Gibeon and the moon over Aijalon to halt. This astonishing petition flows from faith that God controls the heavens for His people's sake. Christians have long debated whether this describes a literal astronomical event, an extended day, or poetic language for answered prayer, but all agree it testifies to God's sovereign power displayed in answer to bold faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Hab 3:11The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
- Isa 38:8Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
- Isa 60:20Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
- Josh 10:13And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
- Isa 28:21For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
- Deut 4:19And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
- Job 9:7Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
- Job 31:26–27If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
- Ps 148:3Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
- Ps 19:4Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
- Zech 2:13Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.
- Josh 19:42And Shaalabbin, and Ajalon, and Jethlah,
- Deut 17:3And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
- Ps 74:16The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
- Hab 2:20But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
- Amos 8:9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
- Judg 12:12And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 10:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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