Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Witness, a word not found in the original Hebrew, nor in the LXX. and Vulgate, but added by the translators in the Authorized Version, also in the Revised Version, of Josh. 22:34. The words are literally rendered: “And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar.
” After the division of the Promised Land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, on returning to their own settlements on the east of Jordan (Josh. 22:1-6), erected a great altar, which they affirmed, in answer to the challenge of the other tribes, was not for sacrifice, but only as a witness (‘Ed) or testimony to future generations that they still retained the same interest in the nation as the other tribes.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
, and also of the Syriac and Arabic versions, but not existing in the generally-received Hebrew text.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
ED (witness). This word printed in italics, is inserted in Josh 22:34 as the name given to the altar set up by the trans-Jordanic tribes, but it does not occur in the received Hebrew text, which, literally translated, reads, "And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar: 'It [i. e. '" Some place the altar on the east or Moab side of the Jordan. Conder put it on the west side, at Kurn Surtaheh, 11 miles north-east of Shiloh, but this identification is disputed.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
witness