Joshua 7:10

10 And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stand up! {Why} [have] you fallen on your face?

Joshua 7:10 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 7:10

And the Lord said unto Joshua, get thee up
From the ground where he lay prostrate, with his face to it: this he said, not as refusing his supplication to him, but rather as encouraging and strengthening him; though chiefly he said this in order to instruct him, and that he might prepare for what he was to do:

wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
in this manner, so distressed and dejected; or for this thing, as the Targum, for this defeat of the army; something else is to be done besides prayer and supplication.

Joshua 7:10 In-Context

8 Please, my Lord! What can I say after {Israel has fled from its enemies}?

9 The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear [of this], and they will surround us and cut off our name from the land. What will you do, for your great name?"

10 And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stand up! {Why} [have] you fallen on your face?

11 Israel has sinned and {transgressed my covenant} that I commanded them. They have taken from the devoted things; they have stolen and acted deceitfully, and they have put [them] among their belongings.

12 The {Israelites} were unable to stand before their enemies; {they fled from their enemies} because they have become a thing devoted for destruction. {I will be with you no more} unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "For what this"