Joshua 9:14-23

9:14 The men examined ¹  some of their provisions, but they failed to ask the Lord’s advice. ²  9:15 Joshua made a peace treaty with them and agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community ³  sealed it with an oath. ⁴ 

9:16 Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby. ⁵  9:17 So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities – Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. 9:18 The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. ⁶  The whole community criticized ⁷  the leaders, 9:19 but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of ⁸  the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt ⁹  them! 9:20 We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.” ¹⁰  9:21 The leaders then added, ¹¹  “Let them live.” So they became ¹²  woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided. ¹³ 

9:22 ¹⁴ Joshua summoned the Gibeonites ¹⁵  and said to them, “Why did you trick ¹⁶  us by saying, ‘We live far away from you,’ when you really live nearby? ¹⁷  9:23 Now you are condemned to perpetual servitude as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” ¹⁸ 

---

¹ tn Heb “took.” This probably means they tasted some of the food to make sure it was stale.

² tn Heb “but they did not ask the mouth of the Lord.” This refers to seeking the Lord’s will and guidance through an oracle.

³ tn Or “assembly.”

⁴ tn Heb “Joshua made peace with them and made a treaty with them to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.”

⁵ tn Heb “At the end of three days, after they made the treaty with them, they heard that they were neighbors to them and in their midst they were living.”

⁶ tn Heb “by the Lord God of Israel.”

⁷ tn Or “grumbled against.”

⁸ tn Heb “to them by….”

⁹ tn Or “touch.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “This is what we will do to them, keeping them alive so there will not be upon us anger concerning the oath which we swore to them.”

¹¹ tc Heb “and the leaders said to them.” The LXX omits the words “and the leaders said to them.”

¹² tn The vav (ו) consecutive construction in the Hebrew text suggests that the narrative resumes at this point. The LXX reads here, “and they will be,” understanding what follows to be a continuation of the leaders’ words rather than a comment by the narrator.

¹³ tn Heb “as the leaders said to them.”

¹⁴ sn Verses 22-27 appear to elaborate on v. 21b.

¹⁵ tn Heb “them.”

¹⁶ tn Or “deceive.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “live in our midst?”

¹⁸ tn Heb “Now you are cursed and a servant will not be cut off from you, woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”