Discovery BoxJoshua 9:16-21 
Context9:16 Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby. 1 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. 2 The whole community criticized 3 the leaders, 9:19 but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of 4 the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt 5 them! 9:20 We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.” 6 9:21 The leaders then added, 7 “Let them live.” So they became 8 woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided. 9
1 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.”
2 tn Heb “by the
3 tn Or “grumbled against.”
4 tn Heb “to them by….”
5 tn Or “touch.”
6 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.”
7 tc Heb “and the leaders said to them.” The LXX omits the words “and the leaders said to them.”
8 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.
9 tn Heb “as the leaders said to them.”
