Joshua 9:18-21

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. ¹  The whole community criticized ²  the leaders, 9:19 but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of ³  the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt ⁴  them! 9:20 We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.” ⁵  9:21 The leaders then added, ⁶  “Let them live.” So they became ⁷  woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided. ⁸ 

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¹ tn Heb “by the Lord God of Israel.”

² tn Or “grumbled against.”

³ tn Heb “to them by….”

⁴ tn Or “touch.”

⁵ 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.”

⁶ tc Heb “and the leaders said to them.” The LXX omits the words “and the leaders said to them.”

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Heb “as the leaders said to them.”