The interpretation timeline

Josh 4:13

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

2 Patristic · 1 Catholic · 1 Reformed

Josh 4:13 · Douay-Rheims

“And forty thousand fighting men by their troops, and bands, marched through the plains and fields of the city of Jericho.”

Patristic before A.D. 750

254

A.D.

Origen Patristic

c. A.D. 184–253

“Let us learn from Paul, who explains who those "girded" ones are. Hear what he himself says: "Therefore, let your loins be girded with truth." You see, therefore, that Paul knew the girded ones, those who were encircled by the belt of truth. So truth also ought to be our belt, if we have preserved the sacrament of this army and belt. For if truth is the belt by which we are girded for the army of Christ, then whenever we speak a falsehood and a lie proceeds from our mouth, we are ungirded from the army of Christ and loosened from the belt of truth. Therefore, if we are in the truth, we are girded; but if in the false, ungirded. Instead let us imitate those "forty thousand girded men proceeding to the war in the sight of the Lord," and let us always be girded with truth.”

Source

254

A.D.

Origen Patristic

c. A.D. 184–253

“To be sure, it is not enough for you in the sight of people to seem to preserve the truth. For certainly it is possible to deceive humans and to seem truthful. But in doing so you are not girded about "with truth," unless also "in the sight of the Lord" you have preserved truth, that is, not only the things people hear from your voice but also the things God examines in your heart. Let nothing false be on the tongue; let nothing counterfeit be in the heart, as the prophet says about such things, "Those who speak peace with their neighbor but have evil in their hearts." Therefore the one who wishes to be "girded in the sight of the Lord" and to proceed to capture Jericho ought to be apart from all these things, because when we cross over the Jordan River, we cross over to battles and wars.”

Source

1,595 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet

Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900

1849

A.D.

George Leo Haydock Catholic

1774–1849

“Bands. Hebrew, “prepared for war passed over, before the Lord, unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.” (Haydock) — These formed the van-guard. — Plains. Hebrew harboth, which is translated desert, Jeremias lii. 8. A large plain, fit for pasturage, extended from the city to the Jordan, on the east side. (Calmet)”

Source

1871

A.D.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Reformed

1871

“to the plains of Jericho--That part of the Arabah or Ghor, on the west, is about seven miles broad from the Jordan to the mountain entrance at Wady-Kelt. Though now desert, this valley was in ancient times richly covered with wood. An immense palm forest, seven miles long, surrounded Jericho.”

Source

Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.