Semantic Analysis: Joshua (Full Book)

Curriculum: Joshua Source language: English (destination-facing) / original languages: Biblical Hebrew (Masoretic Text) with Septuagint (LXX) Koine Greek witness Destination language: Bengali (বাংলা) Core passage: Joshua 24:14–15 Generated: Phase 1, Step 1

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Methodological Note on Original Language

The book of Joshua was composed in Biblical Hebrew, not Koine Greek. This analysis therefore gives the Hebrew original as the primary source-language form for every term, and cites the Septuagint (LXX) — the pre-Christian Koine Greek translation titled Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous) — as the secondary witness, because:

1. The LXX is the Koine Greek text the Romans-package pipeline conventions were built around, and several Joshua terms (κληρονομία/klēronomia “inheritance,” διαθήκη/diathēkē “covenant,” ἀνάθεμα/anathema “devoted thing,” ἅγιος/hagios “holy”) are the same Greek words Paul later uses in Romans and the same words already carry established Bengali renderings in translation_memory.json. Tracing the LXX choice shows where Joshua’s vocabulary and Romans’ vocabulary must (or must not) share a Bengali term.
2. Where the LXX translator’s Greek choice diverges meaningfully from the Hebrew’s semantic force (this happens at several points below, especially κύριος flattening the personal covenant name יהוה), that divergence is itself flagged as a translation-risk consideration for Bengali, which — like the LXX — does not have a native equivalent one-word slot for the tetragrammaton and must decide how to carry its force.

Per the hard rule that baseline Romans terms are reused exactly, every Hebrew/LXX term below is cross-checked against translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json before any new Bengali rendering is proposed.

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PART A — Core Passage Verse-by-Verse: Joshua 24:14–15

Joshua 24:14

Clause 14a — “Now therefore fear the LORD” Hebrew: וְעַתָּה יְראוּ אֶת־יְהוָה (ve’atah yeru et-YHWH) LXX: καὶ νῦν φοβήθητε κύριον (kai nyn phobēthēte kyrion)

• יְהוָה (YHWH) — transliteration: Yahweh/Adonai (read aloud); LXX κύριος (kyrios)
  • Literal meaning: the personal, self-existent covenant name of God revealed at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14, “I AM WHO I AM”).
  • Semantic range: the proper, personal name of Israel’s covenant God — distinct from אֱלֹהִים (Elohim, “God” as a class/title) and distinct from אֲדֹנָי (Adonai, “my Lord,” a title of address).
  • English variants: “LORD” (small caps, the standard English convention marking the tetragrammaton), “Yahweh,” “Jehovah” (older).
  • Contextual theological meaning: Joshua 24 is a covenant-renewal ceremony; every clause turns on Israel choosing to serve this specific, named, covenant-keeping God who swore the land oath to Abraham and kept it (24:2–13), not “a god” or “the divine” in the abstract.
  • Bengali rendering: সদাপ্রভু (Sodaprovu) — Risk: Critical.
    • This term does not appear in the Romans translation memory because the New Testament epistles use κύριος (kyrios) throughout, already mapped to প্রভু. Joshua, as Old Testament narrative, requires the separate, already-established Bengali Bible convention সদাপ্রভু for the covenant name יהוה, reserving প্রভু for generic “Lord”/κύριος address (as applied to Christ in the NT). These two Bengali terms must never be interchanged: collapsing সদাপ্রভু into প্রভু erases the fact that Joshua’s argument depends on Israel’s God having a personal, once-given, covenant-bearing name, not merely a title of respect shared by any deity or ruler. Recorded here as a new required baseline entry for this curriculum; must be added to translation memory before Phase 2 begins.

Clause 14b — “and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness” Hebrew: וְעִבְדוּ אֹתוֹ בְּתָמִים וּבֶאֱמֶת (ve’ivdu oto betamim uve’emet) LXX: καὶ δουλεύσατε αὐτῷ ἐν εὐθύτητι καὶ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ (kai douleusate autō en euthytēti kai en alētheia)

• עָבַד (avad, “serve”) — transliteration: avad; LXX δουλεύω (douleuō)
  • Literal meaning: to work for, to labor as a servant/slave under a master.
  • Semantic range: manual labor → vassal service to a king → cultic worship/religious service rendered to a deity. Joshua 24 moves through all three registers in one chapter.
  • English variants: “serve,” “worship,” “be a servant of.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the verb governs the entire chapter — Israel must choose whom they will serve (24:15), and the choice is exclusive, not additive. This is covenant vassal-language: Israel is Yahweh’s servant-nation, not a customer selecting one deity among a portfolio.
  • Bengali rendering: সেবা করা (sheba kora) — Risk: High.
    • Not previously in translation memory (Romans uses “serve” more abstractly in service-gift contexts). In Bengali religious idiom, সেবা is the ordinary word for temple/deity service (e.g., ঠাকুরের সেবা, “service to the deity-image”), which in Hindu devotional practice is typically rendered to one deity among many without implying exclusivity. Joshua 24’s সেবা করা must be understood, and where necessary footnoted, as exclusive, total, covenant allegiance to সদাপ্রভু alone — the very thing the chapter contrasts with serving অন্য দেবতা (“other gods,” see below). Translator note required at every occurrence in ch. 24.
• תָּמִים (tamim, “sincerity/blamelessness”) — LXX εὐθύτης (euthytēs, “uprightness”)
  • Literal meaning: completeness, wholeness, without blemish.
  • Semantic range: physical soundness (of a sacrificial animal) → moral integrity → wholehearted, undivided devotion.
  • English variants: “sincerity,” “integrity,” “blamelessly,” “wholeheartedly.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: undivided, whole-hearted service, not partial or syncretistic devotion — directly relevant given the chapter’s concern about residual idols “beyond the River.”
  • Bengali rendering: সরলতা (shorolota) — Risk: Medium. Must not be softened to mere social honesty; the sense is undivided devotion.
• אֱמֶת (emet, “faithfulness/truth”) — LXX ἀλήθεια (alētheia)
  • Literal meaning: firmness, reliability, truth.
  • Semantic range: factual truth → faithfulness/reliability in relationship → covenant loyalty.
  • English variants: “faithfulness,” “truth,” “in truth.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: paired with תָּמִים, describes covenant-loyal service, not mere ritual correctness.
  • Bengali rendering: বিশ্বস্ততা (bishwostota) — Risk: Medium. Prefer বিশ্বস্ততা (faithfulness) over সত্যতা (bare factual truth) here to keep the relational-loyalty sense.

Clause 14c — “Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt” Hebrew: וְהָסִירוּ אֶת־אֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר עָבְדוּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם בְּעֵבֶר הַנָּהָר וּבְמִצְרַיִם LXX: περιέλεσθε τοὺς θεοὺς…

• אֱלֹהִים (elohim) used of false gods, “the gods” — LXX θεοί (theoi, plural, lower-case sense)
  • Literal meaning: same word used for the true God (Elohim) is here used generically of “gods/deities” plural.
  • Semantic range: the true God (singular, capital-sense) ↔ pagan deities (plural, common-noun sense) — Hebrew uses one word for both; English and Bengali must disambiguate by context.
  • English variants: “gods,” “the gods,” “idols” (interpretive).
  • Contextual theological meaning: Abraham’s own ancestors (Terah, per Joshua 24:2) worshiped other gods in Mesopotamia; Israel’s fathers in Egypt were surrounded by Egyptian deities. The rhetorical force is that Israel’s default inheritance, apart from Yahweh’s calling, was polytheism — election, not merit, separates them.
  • Bengali rendering: দেবতা / অন্য দেবতা (debota / onno debota, “other gods/deities”) — Risk: Critical.
    • ঈশ্বর must NEVER be used for these false gods — ঈশ্বর is reserved exclusively, per baseline, for the one true God. দেবতা is the correct Bengali word for a plural pagan deity and, usefully, already carries in Bengali religious idiom the sense of “one deity among many,” which is doctrinally exactly right for this polemical contrast. This is a new critical-tier distinction not needed in the Romans package (the NT epistles rarely need to name false gods by category in this way) and must be added to translation memory before Phase 2.

Clause 14d — “and serve the LORD” — reuses সেবা করা and সদাপ্রভু, above.

Joshua 24:15

Clause 15a — “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD” Hebrew: וְאִם רַע בְּעֵינֵיכֶם לַעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהוָה

• No new load-bearing term; רַע (“evil/displeasing”) is a common word, Low risk, rendered মন্দ (mondo) or অপ্রীতিকর (bad/displeasing) — natural Bengali, no doctrinal collision.

Clause 15b — “choose this day whom you will serve” Hebrew: בַּחֲרוּ לָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת־מִי תַעֲבֹדוּן LXX: ἕλεσθε ὑμῖν ἑαυτοῖς σήμερον τίνι λατρεύσητε (helesthe hymin heautois sēmeron tini latreusēte)

• בָּחַר (bachar, “choose”) — LXX αἱρέομαι/ἐκλέγομαι-family (here ἕλεσθε, helesthe)
  • Literal meaning: to select, pick out from among options.
  • Semantic range: everyday selection (choosing an object) → covenantal/theological choice (God choosing Israel; here, humans choosing whom to serve).
  • English variants: “choose,” “select,” “decide.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: this is the one place in the passage where the human will is directly and urgently addressed — Israel must actively, personally decide, in the present moment (“this day”), whom they will serve. This sits alongside, and does not cancel, the doctrine of divine election/calling found elsewhere in Scripture (cf. Romans 8:28–30, 9:11).
  • Bengali rendering: বেছে নেওয়া (beche neoya) — Risk: High.
    • The Romans baseline reserves মনোনয়ন/মনোনীত exclusively for God’s sovereign election of believers (election: ঈশ্বরের মনোনয়ন). Reusing that same root for Joshua 24:15’s human choice would blur the divine-sovereignty/human-responsibility distinction the whole biblical canon holds together. বেছে নেওয়া (an ordinary, non-technical Bengali verb “to choose/select”) is deliberately chosen here to keep the two vocabularies distinct: God’s ঈশ্বরের মনোনয়ন of a people, and a person’s or nation’s বেছে নেওয়া of whom to serve, are related but not identical acts, and Bengali readers must not see the same word doing both jobs.

Clause 15c — “whether the gods your fathers served… or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell” — reuses দেবতা (Critical, above); “Amorites” (ইমোরীয়) is a proper name, Low risk, established transliteration.

Clause 15d — “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” Hebrew: וְאָנֹכִי וּבֵיתִי נַעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהוָה LXX: ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ ὁ οἶκός μου λατρεύσομεν κυρίῳ

• בַּיִת (bayit, “house/household”) — LXX οἶκος (oikos)
  • Literal meaning: a physical house/dwelling.
  • Semantic range: building → household/family unit → dynasty/lineage (as in “house of David”).
  • English variants: “house,” “household,” “family.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: Joshua’s declaration is not private piety but a public headship decision binding his whole household — a culturally resonant model in Bengali joint-family structures, where the household head’s declared allegiance carries real weight for the family’s religious identity.
  • Bengali rendering: পরিবার (poribar) — Risk: Low. Standard, non-technical term; no collision risk. Potential positive resonance: this verse is frequently used in Bengali Christian household-dedication contexts precisely because পরিবার captures the same joint-household force as bayit.
• Final clause reuses সেবা করা and সদাপ্রভু, both Critical/High, as the climactic, personal confession that closes the whole chapter’s argument.

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PART B — Chapter-by-Chapter Study, Joshua 1–24

Chapter 1 — Commission of Joshua

• יְהוָה (YHWH) — সদাপ্রভু. Critical. (established above; first occurrence in the book, ~ch.1:1)
• חֲזַק וֶאֱמָץ (chazaq ve’ematz, “be strong and courageous”) — LXX ἴσχυε καὶ ἀνδρίζου (ischye kai andrizou)
  • Literal meaning: chazaq = “be firm/strong”; ematz = “be bold/courageous.”
  • Semantic range: physical strength/firmness → resolve in battle → covenantal confidence rooted in God’s promise, not self-generated bravado.
  • English variants: “be strong and courageous,” “be strong and of good courage.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: repeated four times in ch.1 (vv.6,7,9,18), always tied explicitly to “for the LORD your God is with you” — courage is a derivative of divine presence, not raw willpower.
  • Bengali rendering: বলবান ও সাহসী হও (bolobon o shahoshi hou) — Risk: High. Risk of the phrase being extracted as a stand-alone motivational/self-help slogan (a real risk in devotional-poster culture) severed from its grounding clause “for I am with you.” Every occurrence must retain or footnote the presence-of-God clause it is bound to; this doctrine (“Courage through God’s Presence”) depends on the two never being separated.
• סֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה (sefer hatorah, “Book of the Law”) — LXX βιβλίον τοῦ νόμου
  • Reuses baseline law → ব্যবস্থা; compound rendered ব্যবস্থা-পুস্তক (bebostha-pustok). Risk: High (inherits ব্যবস্থা’s High-risk profile; never ধর্ম বই or শরিয়ত-জাতীয় বই).
• הָגָה (hagah, “meditate”) — LXX μελετάω (meletaō)
  • Literal meaning: to utter, mutter, recite aloud; to murmur repeatedly.
  • Semantic range: audible muttering/rehearsal of a text → internalized reflection → (in later devotional English) silent contemplation.
  • English variants: “meditate,” “murmur,” “recite,” “ponder.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: continual, out-loud rehearsal of the Law so that its content shapes obedient action (“that you may be careful to do,” 1:8) — an active, verbal, formational practice, not an emptying-of-mind technique.
  • Bengali rendering: Risk — Critical, requires a deliberate translation decision. Older Bengali Bible tradition (e.g., Psalm 1:2) renders hagah as ধ্যান করা (dhyan kora). This word is now the single most recognizable Bengali term for yogic/Buddhist meditation (dhyāna, the seventh limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga, and a core Buddhist mindfulness term), and a Bengali reader today will default to that association far more readily than a 19th-century reader would have. Recommended departure from the older gloss, following the same precedent as this curriculum’s সাধু → পবিত্র লোক break: render as মনে মনে বার বার আওড়ানো / চিন্তা করা (“repeatedly rehearse/recite and reflect upon”) to preserve hagah’s actual sense (audible, repeated rehearsal aimed at obedience) and avoid importing a silent, techinque-based, self-liberating meditative practice into the text. Flag for human theologian review at every occurrence.
• אֶרֶץ (erets, “land”) — LXX γῆ (gē). Bengali: দেশ (desh). Risk: Medium as a bare word; see “Promised Land” entry below for its covenant-theological form.
• צָלַח (tsalach, “prosper/succeed”) — LXX εὐοδόω. Bengali: সফল হওয়া (sofol howa). Risk: Low.
• נִשְׁבַּע (nishba, “swear/oath” — the land oath to the fathers) — LXX ὄμνυμι (omnymi). Bengali: শপথ করা (shopoth kora). Risk: High — this is the verb underlying the whole doctrine “God’s Faithfulness to the Land Promise”; the oath is unilateral and unconditional on God’s part (sworn to Abraham/Isaac/Jacob), not a negotiated agreement, and Bengali শপথ (a strong, binding vow) correctly carries that weight if consistently tied back to Genesis promise-passages in teaching notes.

Chapter 2 — Rahab and the Spies

• זוֹנָה (zonah, “prostitute/harlot”) — LXX πόρνη (pornē)
  • Literal/semantic range: a woman who sells sex; by extension in prophetic literature, a metaphor for covenant unfaithfulness/idolatry (not active here).
  • English variants: “harlot,” “prostitute.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the narrative bluntly names Rahab’s social status without euphemism, which is the entire theological point of the “Inclusion of the Nations by Faith” doctrine — grace reaches the most excluded, not the most respectable.
  • Bengali rendering: বেশ্যা (beshya) — Risk: High. The direct, blunt Bengali term must be retained rather than softened to a euphemism (e.g., “সরাইখানার মালিক,” “innkeeper,” an interpretive minimization found in some popular retellings); softening erases the doctrinal force that God’s grace does not wait for social respectability. Retain with pastoral framing rather than lexical softening.
• מְרַגְּלִים (meraglim, “spies”) — LXX κατάσκοποι. Bengali: গুপ্তচর (guptochor). Risk: Low.
• חֶסֶד (chesed, “steadfast/covenant kindness” — Rahab’s request in 2:12) — LXX ἔλεος (eleos)
  • Literal meaning: loyal love, kindness that is owed within a relationship/covenant, not spontaneous charity.
  • Semantic range: covenant loyalty (God to Israel) → the kindness one covenant partner asks of another → general mercy/kindness.
  • English variants: “kindness,” “steadfast love,” “mercy,” “loyalty.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: Rahab explicitly asks Israel’s spies to extend the same kind of binding, covenantal kindness God shows Israel — a Gentile appealing to be brought inside Israel’s covenant relationship by analogy.
  • Bengali rendering: বিশ্বস্ত দয়া / নিয়ম-দয়া (bishwosto doya, “covenant-loyal kindness”) — Risk: Medium. Bare দয়া (mercy) alone loses the covenantal-obligation sense; pair with বিশ্বস্ত বা নিয়ম- to keep the relational-bond force intact.
• בִּטְחָה (implicit; “faith/trust,” cf. Hebrews 11:31’s πίστις reading of this chapter) — reuses baseline faith → বিশ্বাস. Risk: High (inherited). Doctrinal note: Rahab’s confession in 2:11 (“the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath”) is the OT confession functioning the same way Romans 10:9’s “Jesus is Lord” functions in the NT — personal trust that reorients allegiance, not mere factual acknowledgment. Consistency between OT and NT বিশ্বাস passages should be preserved across the whole curriculum for this reason.
• תִּקְוַת חוּט הַשָּׁנִי (tikvat chut hashani, “scarlet cord”) — LXX σπαρτίον τὸ κόκκινον. Bengali: লাল রশি / রক্তবর্ণ সূতা (lal roshi). Risk: Low, though many teaching traditions draw a typological line to the blood of Christ; such typology should be flagged as homiletical application, not lexical content.

Chapters 3–4 — Crossing the Jordan

• אֲרוֹן הַבְּרִית (aron habrit, “ark of the covenant”) — LXX κιβωτὸς τῆς διαθήκης
  • Built from baseline covenant → নিয়ম. Bengali: নিয়ম-সিন্দুক (niyom-sinduk), the established Bengali Bible compound. Risk: Medium — must not be shortened to bare সিন্দুক (“box/chest”), which loses the covenant-object identity central to chs. 3–4’s crossing narrative (the ark, not the people’s own strength, leads Israel through the water).
• כֹּהֲנִים (kohanim, “priests”) — LXX ἱερεῖς (hiereis). Bengali: যাজক (yajok). Risk: Medium — established Bengali Christian term distinguishing OT/Levitical priests from পুরোহিত (Hindu Brahmin priest) or ইমাম (Muslim prayer-leader); consistency with this term matters because Joshua’s priestly narrative (ark-bearing, not sacrifice-offering, in this passage) should not import unrelated ritual-specialist connotations.
• קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy” — of the ground/memorial) reuses baseline holy → পবিত্র. Risk: High (inherited).
• Memorial stones (12 stones, ch.4): no separate theological-term risk beyond established পবিত্র/সাক্ষী vocabulary (see witness, ch.22, for the fuller treatment of stone-as-witness).

Chapter 5 — Circumcision, Passover, Commander of the LORD’s Army

• מוּל / מִילָה (mul/milah, “circumcise/circumcision”) — LXX περιτέμνω/περιτομή
  • Literal meaning: to cut off the foreskin; the covenant sign given to Abraham (Genesis 17).
  • Semantic range: physical rite → sign of covenant membership → (later, Deuteronomy/Romans) metaphor for inward transformation (“circumcision of the heart”).
  • English variants: “circumcise,” “circumcision.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the whole new wilderness-born generation is circumcised before entering the land — covenant identity is renewed at the threshold of promise-fulfillment.
  • Bengali rendering: ত্বকছেদ (twokchhed) — Risk: High. Do NOT use সুন্নত (sunnot), the ordinary and near-universal Bengali word for circumcision, because সুন্নত is functionally and culturally synonymous with the Islamic rite for the overwhelming majority of Bengali readers (Hindu-background readers may not even have a native word for the practice at all, since it is not a Hindu custom). Using সুন্নত would strongly imply the Abrahamic/Mosaic covenant sign is the same religious act as the Islamic sunnah practice, collapsing a load-bearing OT covenant-theology term into an Islamic-idiom container, exactly the class of error the baseline document guards against with মশীহ/ইঞ্জিল/ঈসা. ত্বকছেদ (literally “skin-cutting”), the standing Bengali Bible translation term, must be used instead.
• פֶּסַח (pesach, “Passover”) — LXX πάσχα. Bengali: নিস্তারপর্ব (nistarparbo), established Bengali Bible term. Risk: Medium — ensure distinguished from generic “festival” (উৎসব) vocabulary; carries the Exodus-deliverance narrative specifically.
• שַׂר־צְבָא יְהוָה (sar-tseva YHWH, “commander of the army of the LORD”) — LXX ἀρχιστράτηγος δυνάμεως κυρίου
  • Bengali: সদাপ্রভুর সৈন্যদলের সেনাপতি. Risk: Medium. Many commentators identify this figure as a pre-incarnate Christophany (cf. Joshua’s worship response, 5:14). If teaching materials draw that connection, flag for human theologian review alongside Deity-of-Christ passages, since it touches the same doctrinal territory as the baseline’s Critical Christology terms even though the word itself is not one of them.
• אַדְמַת קֹדֶשׁ (admat qodesh, “holy ground”) — reuses পবিত্র. Risk: High (inherited).

Chapter 6 — Jericho and the Ban (חֵרֶם)

• חֵרֶם (cherem, “devoted to destruction / the ban”) — LXX ἀνάθεμα (anathema)
  • Literal meaning: something irrevocably set apart/devoted, removed from ordinary use — either dedicated wholly to God’s treasury (Joshua 6:19) or wholly destroyed as an act of judgment (6:21).
  • Semantic range: consecrated-and-given (positive dedication) ↔ consecrated-and-destroyed (judgment) — the same root covers both extremes because both remove an object permanently from common human use.
  • English variants: “devoted to destruction,” “the ban,” “utterly destroy,” “under the ban,” “accursed thing” (Achan’s violation, ch.7).
  • Contextual theological meaning: this is the central term of the doctrine “Holy War and Divine Judgment.” It marks Jericho’s destruction as a unique act of divine judicial judgment on a specific city’s sin (cf. Genesis 15:16, “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete”; Leviticus 18:24–25), tied to Israel’s own covenant purity, not a general model for later believers’ conduct toward other nations or religions.
  • Bengali rendering: (noun) সদাপ্রভুর জন্য বর্জিত বস্তু / বর্জিত বস্তু (bea “banned/set-apart thing”); (verb, hecherim) সম্পূর্ণরূপে ধ্বংস করা (“utterly destroy”). Risk: Critical.
    • This is the single highest-stakes term in the book for the Bengali context. It must never be rendered in a way that reads as endorsing a general holy-war ethic, and requires a mandatory translator/theologian note at every occurrence distinguishing: (a) this as a unique, time-bound, divinely commanded act of judgment within Israel’s specific conquest narrative, not a transferable pattern for believers today; (b) its clear distinction from any contemporary religiously-motivated violence rhetoric, a matter of real pastoral sensitivity in a Bangladesh/West Bengal context where communal religious violence has historical and present resonance; (c) its distinction from a general Hindu yajna-style ritual destruction/sacrifice concept. Every occurrence (chs. 6, 7, 8, 10, 11) requires Human theologian review without exception.
• שׁוֹפָרוֹת (shofrot, “rams’-horn trumpets”) — LXX σάλπιγγες. Bengali: শিঙ্গা (shinga). Risk: Low.
• תְּרוּעָה (teruah, “shout/battle cry”) — LXX ἀλαλαγμός. Bengali: জয়ধ্বনি/উচ্চ চিৎকার. Risk: Low.

Chapter 7 — Achan’s Sin

• מַעַל (ma’al, “unfaithful trespass”) — LXX (roughly) ἐπλημμέλησαν/παρέβησαν
  • Literal meaning: a breach of trust, specifically treachery against a sacred obligation (used elsewhere of marital unfaithfulness and sacrilege).
  • Semantic range: general sin (חטא) is broader; מַעַל specifically names betrayal of a binding trust — here, violation of the חֵרֶם ban.
  • English variants: “trespass,” “unfaithful act,” “breach of faith.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: Achan’s sin is framed not merely as theft but as covenant treachery against the whole nation (“Israel has sinned,” 7:11, singular corporate responsibility for one man’s act) — corporate solidarity in guilt, a concept requiring careful explanation for individualistic modern readers.
  • Bengali rendering: বিশ্বাসঘাতকতা (bishwasghatokota, “betrayal/treachery”) paired with reused পাপ (sin). Risk: High. Must convey betrayal-of-trust, not mere rule-breaking.
• אַף־יְהוָה (aph-YHWH, “the anger of the LORD”) — LXX ὀργὴ κυρίου. Bengali: সদাপ্রভুর ক্রোধ (Sodaprovur krodh). Risk: High — must be conveyed as righteous judicial anger against covenant betrayal, not capricious divine temper; avoid resonance with unpredictable, propitiation-hungry deity imagery found in some regional folk-religious frameworks (e.g., appeasement of an angry local deity/spirit).
• Valley of Achor (עָכוֹר, “trouble”) — proper name with wordplay; Risk: Low, footnote the etymology (“trouble”) for teaching value only.

Chapter 8 — Ai, the Altar at Mount Ebal, and the Reading of the Law

• מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach, “altar”) — LXX θυσιαστήριον (thysiastērion)
  • Literal meaning: a place of slaughter/sacrifice, from the root “to slaughter.”
  • Semantic range: any raised structure for offering sacrifice, whether to YHWH or to other gods (context determines which).
  • English variants: “altar.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: Joshua builds this altar in direct, deliberate obedience to Moses’ Deuteronomy 27 instructions — obedience to the written Law is enacted immediately upon partial conquest, tying the doctrine “Obedience and the Conquest” concretely to worship practice.
  • Bengali rendering: বেদী (bedi), the established Bengali Bible term. Risk: High. বেদী is also the term for a Vedic/Hindu ritual fire-altar (yajna-vedi); every occurrence in Joshua should be anchored by context (কষুরাল “সদাপ্রভুর উদ্দেশে,” “for the LORD”) to prevent readers from importing a multi-deity or ancestor-propitiation ritual frame.
• עֹלוֹת / שְׁלָמִים (olot/shelamim, “burnt offerings / peace offerings”) — LXX ὁλοκαυτώματα/εἰρηνικά (thysia)
  • Bengali rendering: হোমবলি (homboli, burnt offering) / মঙ্গলার্থক বলি (mongolarthok boli, peace/fellowship offering). Risk: High. হোম is the specific Bengali/Sanskritic word for the Vedic Hindu fire-sacrifice ritual (homa), performed by a Brahmin priest, often with multiple deities or ancestral spirits in view. Every occurrence needs a translator note clarifying that Joshua’s burnt offering is exclusive worship of সদাপ্রভু alone at his commanded altar, not a generalized fire-ritual technique available to any devotee for any deity.
• בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה (berakah u’qelalah, “blessing and curse”) — reuses covenant-sanction language; no baseline entry exists. Bengali: আশীর্বাদ ও অভিশাপ. Risk: Medium — tie explicitly to covenant obedience/disobedience (Deuteronomy 27–28 background), not a generic good-luck/bad-luck (ভাগ্য) framework already flagged as forbidden for related terms in the baseline.

Chapter 9 — The Gibeonite Deception

• עָרְמָה (ormah, “trickery/cunning”) — LXX πανουργία (panourgia). Bengali: প্রতারণা (protarona). Risk: Low.
• Treaty/oath with Gibeon reuses נִשְׁבַּע → শপথ করা and בְּרִית → নিয়ম. Risk: High (inherited) — the chapter’s tension (Israel is bound by an oath obtained through deception, yet honors it, 9:19–20) is a strong teaching point about the gravity of a sworn শপথ; do not let translation soften Israel’s felt obligation to keep even a deceptively obtained oath.

Chapter 10 — The Sun Stands Still; the LORD Fights for Israel

• נִלְחַם יְהוָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל (nilcham YHWH le-Yisrael, “the LORD fought for Israel”) — LXX ἐπολέμησεν κύριος
  • Contextual theological meaning: repeated refrain (10:14, 10:42) crediting victory to divine action, not military skill — central to “Holy War and Divine Judgment” and “Courage through God’s Presence” doctrines alike.
  • Bengali rendering: সদাপ্রভু ইস্রায়েলের জন্য যুদ্ধ করলেন. Risk: High — must not be flattened into a generic “God helped them win” that loses the covenant-warrior theology; equally must not be used to imply an ongoing mandate for believers to expect God to fight physical wars on their behalf today (pastoral framing note recommended).
• Sun standing still / hailstones: narrative miracle vocabulary, Risk: Low, standard descriptive terms (সূর্য স্থির হয়ে থাকল, শিলাবৃষ্টি).

Chapter 11 — The Northern Campaign

• צִוָּה (tsavah, “command”) — LXX ἐντέλλομαι. Bengali: আজ্ঞা / আদেশ (agya/adesh). Risk: Low. Recurring refrain “as the LORD commanded Moses… so Joshua did” (11:15,20,23) is a key statement of the “Obedience and the Conquest” doctrine; theological weight lies in the completeness of obedience, not in the vocabulary itself.
• Otherwise reuses חֵרֶם (Critical), אֶרֶץ (Medium) — no further new terms.

Chapter 12 — List of Defeated Kings

No new theological vocabulary; reuses land (দেশ), king (রাজা — proper-noun/title, Low risk, no baseline collision), and חֵרֶם contextually. Chapter reviewed in full; catalog chapter with no doctrinal load beyond confirming completeness of conquest already covered under chs. 6–11.

Chapter 13 — Division of the Land Begins

• נַחֲלָה (nachalah, “inheritance”) — LXX κληρονομία (klēronomia)
  • Literal meaning: a possession passed down, typically within a family/tribe, most often land.
  • Semantic range: tribal land allotment (Joshua’s dominant sense) → (later, NT) the believer’s eschatological inheritance in Christ (same Greek word κληρονομία underlies Romans 8’s “heirs,” though not glossaried in the Romans baseline itself).
  • English variants: “inheritance,” “possession,” “portion.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the land is not conquered territory Israel earns by military merit but an נַחֲלָה — a gift received according to a prior promise/allotment, reinforcing “God’s Faithfulness to the Land Promise.”
  • Bengali rendering: অধিকার (odhikar) — Risk: High. Must be kept theologically resonant with (without being collapsed into) the NT believer’s spiritual inheritance concept, so that later curricula connecting Joshua’s land-inheritance typologically to the believer’s inheritance in Christ can draw a clean, traceable line. Do not use a purely secular “property” word (সম্পত্তি) that would sever this connection.
• גּוֹרָל (goral, “lot” — the means of allotment) — LXX κλῆρος (klēros)
  • Bengali rendering: গুলিবাঁট (guli-bath, “casting of lots”). Risk: Medium. Must be distinguished from Bengali/South Asian folk-astrological or gambling associations with “chance” (ভাগ্য/লটারি); the lot here is a means by which the sovereign সদাপ্রভু, not impersonal fortune, determines each tribe’s allotment (cf. baseline’s existing guard on ভাগ্য/নিয়তি for “election” and “providence”).

Chapter 14 — Caleb’s Inheritance

• מִלֵּא אַחֲרֵי יְהוָה (mille acharei YHWH, “wholly followed the LORD”) — LXX ἐπηκολούθησεν ὀπίσω κυρίου
  • Bengali rendering: সম্পূর্ণরূপে সদাপ্রভুর অনুসরণ করা. Risk: Medium. Caleb’s repeated commendation (14:8–9,14) models the “obedience of faith” doctrine already established in Romans (বিশ্বাসের বাধ্যতা); teaching materials may draw this cross-reference, but the Joshua-specific phrase itself is a new, non-critical, descriptive compound rather than a fixed technical term.
• Otherwise reuses অধিকার (inheritance), গুলিবাঁট (lot).

Chapters 15–19 — Tribal Boundary Lists

• גְּבוּל (gevul, “boundary”) — LXX ὅριον (horion). Bengali: সীমা (shima). Risk: Low. Introduced formally at ch.15 (Judah’s boundary description); reused without change through ch.19.
• Chapters 16, 17, 18, 19: no new theological vocabulary; reuse ch.13–15 terms (অধিকার, গুলিবাঁট, সীমা). These chapters are reviewed in full for completeness; their content is genealogical/geographical allotment record-keeping and carries no additional doctrinal risk beyond the inheritance/lot vocabulary already flagged above.

Chapter 20 — Cities of Refuge

• מִקְלָט (miklat, “refuge”) — LXX φυγαδευτήριον (phygadeutērion)
  • Bengali rendering: আশ্রয় নগর (ashroy nogor, “refuge city”). Risk: Medium. আশ্রয় (“shelter/refuge”) does not collide with আশ্রম (a Hindu ascetic retreat-community, a different word), but should still be anchored with context that this is a judicial-legal protection institution for the unintentional killer, not a spiritual retreat or sanctuary-asylum in a devotional sense.
• גֹּאֵל הַדָּם (go’el hadam, “avenger of blood”) — LXX ὁ ἀγχιστεύων τὸ αἷμα
  • Bengali rendering: রক্তের প্রতিশোধকারী (rokter protishodhkari). Risk: Medium. Requires a cultural-legal framing note: this names a recognized kinsman role within Israel’s judicial system for redressing manslaughter, and the entire chapter exists to restrain, not endorse, private vendetta — a point worth making explicit given that informal blood-feud/family-honor revenge customs exist in parts of South Asia and could otherwise be read as tacit biblical endorsement of vendetta culture.
• רוֹצֵחַ בִּשְׁגָגָה (rotzeach bishgagah, “one who kills unintentionally”) — Bengali: অনিচ্ছাকৃতভাবে নরহত্যাকারী. Risk: Low, but doctrinally important to distinguish from premeditated murder terminology.

Chapter 21 — Levitical Cities

No new theological vocabulary; reuses অধিকার (inheritance), গুলিবাঁট (lot), সীমা (boundary). Reviewed in full — confirms the land-promise doctrine’s completeness (“not one word of all the LORD’s good promises… failed,” 21:45, itself a key summary verse for “God’s Faithfulness to the Land Promise” doctrine, using promise vocabulary already covered under নিশবা/শপথ, ch.1).

Chapter 22 — The Altar of Witness

• עֵד (ed, “witness”) — LXX μαρτύριον/μάρτυς (martyrion/martys)
  • Bengali rendering: সাক্ষী (shakkhi). Risk: Low. Standard term; the altar built by the Transjordan tribes (22:26–27) is explicitly not for sacrifice but as a physical, standing সাক্ষী of shared covenant identity — this distinction (witness-object vs. functioning altar) should be preserved clearly to avoid the false impression of a second illegitimate worship site.
• מֶרֶד (mered, “rebellion”) — LXX ἀποστασία (apostasia). Bengali: বিদ্রোহ (bidroho). Risk: Medium — the chapter’s crisis turns on Israel almost going to civil war over a perceived act of covenant rebellion; render with enough force to convey the seriousness with which covenant unity was guarded.
• Reuses מִזְבֵּחַ (altar, High, above).

Chapter 23 — Joshua’s Farewell Address

• דָּבַק (davaq, “cling to”) — LXX προσκολλάομαι (proskollaomai)
  • Literal meaning: to stick/adhere firmly to something, as skin clings to bone.
  • Semantic range: physical adhesion → marital union (Genesis 2:24, “hold fast to his wife”) → covenant loyalty/devotion to God.
  • English variants: “cling to,” “hold fast to,” “be devoted to.”
  • Contextual theological meaning: Joshua 23:8 commands Israel to davaq to the LORD as the alternative to intermarrying with and being drawn after the remaining nations’ gods — relational, marriage-like exclusivity.
  • Bengali rendering: আঁকড়ে থাকা (akre thaka, “cling tightly to”) — Risk: Medium. Avoid আসক্তি (“attachment/clinging desire”), a term loaded in Buddhist and Hindu thought with the negative sense of craving/attachment that binds one to suffering and must be released — precisely the opposite of what davaq commends here. আঁকড়ে থাকা keeps the positive, relational-loyalty sense intact.
• Otherwise reuses חֵרֶם-adjacent conquest language, “be strong” (ch.1, High), দেবতা (other gods, Critical) — all restated as Joshua’s final charge before ch.24’s covenant renewal.

Chapter 24 — Covenant Renewal at Shechem (Core Passage Chapter)

Verses 14–15 treated in full above (Part A). Additional load-bearing terms elsewhere in the chapter:

• כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berit, “cut/make a covenant”) — LXX διέθετο διαθήκην (dietheto diathēkēn)
  • Reuses baseline covenant → নিয়ম; compound rendered নিয়ম স্থাপন করা (niyom sthapon kora, “establish a covenant”). Risk: High (inherited). Joshua 24:25’s formal covenant-cutting is the narrative climax the whole book has been building toward — the same নিয়ম vocabulary used for God’s covenant with Abraham/Moses is now enacted in a renewal ceremony with the new generation entering the land, directly serving the “Covenant Renewal at Shechem” doctrine.
• חֹק וּמִשְׁפָּט (choq u’mishpat, “statute and rule”) — LXX πρόσταγμα καὶ κρίσιν. Bengali: বিধি ও শাসন (bidhi o shashon). Risk: Medium — legal/covenantal terminology recording the terms Joshua wrote into “the Book of the Law of God” (24:26), tying back to ch.1’s ব্যবস্থা-পুস্তক.
• אֶבֶן גְּדוֹלָה (even gedolah, “great stone” set up as witness, 24:26–27) — reuses עֵד → সাক্ষী (Low, established ch.22). Note the deliberate literary bookend: the book opens with memorial stones marking the Jordan crossing (ch.4) and closes with a memorial stone marking the covenant renewal (ch.24) — both সাক্ষী to divine faithfulness across the whole book’s timeline.

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End of full-book semantic analysis. All 24 chapters of Joshua have been reviewed; chapters introducing no new theological vocabulary are explicitly noted as such (chs. 12, 16–19, 21) rather than silently omitted.