Bible Strands
Joshua 10:27
At sunset Joshua ordered that they be taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave in which they had hidden. Then large stones were placed against the mouth of the cave, and the stones are there to this day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua issues a military command to his troops at sunset, immediately after the execution of five defeated kings whose bodies had been left hanging.
The words — צִוָּ֤ה (tzi.Vah) means "he commanded," and מֵ/עַ֣ל (me./'Al) indicates "from on," marking the physical removal of the corpses from the trees.
The thread — The evening removal mirrors the action in Joshua 8:29, while the permanent stone seal recalls the memorial cairn over Achan in Joshua 7:26.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to note Joshua’s prompt compliance with the day’s conclusion and the deliberate placement of stones to preserve the site as a fixed record of judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave’s mouth, which remain until this very day.
Cross-references
- Joshua 8:29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
- Deuteronomy 21:22 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
- Joshua 7:26 And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.
- 2 Samuel 18:17 They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.
- Joshua 4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.