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.”
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!”
- KJV 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.
- 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!”
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 the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
- Isa 38:8Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.”’”
- Isa 60:20Your sun will not go down any more, nor will your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will end.
- Josh 10:13The sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Isn’t this written in the book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and didn’t hurry to go down about a whole day.
- Isa 28:21For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act.
- Deut 4:19and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
- Job 9:7He commands the sun, and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars.
- Job 31:26–27if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,
- Ps 148:3Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you shining stars!
- Ps 19:4Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,
- Zech 2:13Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”
- Josh 19:42Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,
- Deut 17:3and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded;
- Ps 74:16The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.
- Hab 2:20But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
- Amos 8:9It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
- Judg 12:12Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land 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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