Joshua 1 · a question people ask
"You shall meditate on it day and night" (1:8). Does that mean thinking quietly, or saying the words out loud?
The Hebrew verb, hagah, covers both. Brown-Driver-Briggs gives "moan, growl, utter, speak, muse", and for some uses "meditate, muse"; Strong's begins with "to murmur". Christians read 1:8 in two main ways, each resting on verses. Both agree on what the verse gives as its purpose: "that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it" (1:8), and on how often: "day and night" (1:8).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Words on the lips
Those who hold this view point to the words just before: "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth" (1:8). The same verb is used for sounds: "the lion and the young lion growling over his prey" (Isaiah 31:4), "I moaned like a dove" (Isaiah 38:14), and "The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom" (Psalm 37:30). On this reading Joshua is to keep saying the book's words over, quietly or aloud.
Joshua 1:8 · Isaiah 31:4 · Isaiah 38:14 · Psalm 37:30
Words turned over in the heart
Those who hold this view point to the verb's use for thinking. "Your heart will meditate on the terror" (Isaiah 33:18); "I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings" (Psalm 77:12); "I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings" (Psalm 143:5). On this reading Joshua is to keep turning the book over in his mind, day and night, so that he can do what is written in it.
Isaiah 33:18 · Psalm 77:12 · Psalm 143:5
The verses
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.”