Sun, Stand Still

Joshua 10:12–14

Biblical Period

12On that occasion, when the Lord routed the Amorites before the Israelites, Joshua addressed the Lord; he said in the presence of the Israelites:

“Stand still, O sun, at Gibeon,
O moon, in the Valley of Aijalon!”
13And the sun stood still
And the moon halted,
While a nation wreaked judgment on its foes

—as is written in the Book of Jashar. Thus the sun halted in midheaven, and did not press on to set, for a whole day; 14for the Lord fought for Israel. Neither before nor since has there ever been such a day, when the Lord acted on words spoken by a man.

Credits

Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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Related Guide

Biblical Poetry

Biblical poetry is characterized by short parallel lines, without a fixed meter or rhyming pattern, and include love poems, laments over the dead, victory poems, and laments, among others.

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