Yosua 9:11-21

9:11 Our leaders and all who live in our land told us, ‘Take provisions for your journey and go meet them. Tell them, “We are willing to be your subjects. ¹  Make a treaty with us.”’ 9:12 This bread of ours was warm when we packed it in our homes the day we started out to meet you, ²  but now it is dry and hard. ³  9:13 These wineskins we filled were brand new, but look how they have ripped. Our clothes and sandals have worn out because it has been a very long journey.” 9:14 The men examined ⁴  some of their provisions, but they failed to ask the Lord’s advice. ⁵  9:15 Joshua made a peace treaty with them and agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community ⁶  sealed it with an oath. ⁷ 

9:16 Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby. ⁸  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. ⁹  The whole community criticized ¹⁰  the leaders, 9:19 but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of ¹¹  the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt ¹²  them! 9:20 We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.” ¹³  9:21 The leaders then added, ¹⁴  “Let them live.” So they became ¹⁵  woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided. ¹⁶ 

[9:11]  ¹ tn Heb “your servants.”

[9:12]  ² tn Heb “in the day we went out to come to you.”

[9:12]  ³ tn Or “moldy.”

[9:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “took.” This probably means they tasted some of the food to make sure it was stale.

[9:14]  ⁵ 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.

[9:15]  ⁶ tn Or “assembly.”

[9:15]  ⁷ 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.”

[9:16]  ⁸ 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.”

[9:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “by the Lord God of Israel.”

[9:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “grumbled against.”

[9:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to them by….”

[9:19]  ¹² tn Or “touch.”

[9:20]  ¹³ 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.”

[9:21]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “and the leaders said to them.” The LXX omits the words “and the leaders said to them.”

[9:21]  ¹⁵ 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.

[9:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “as the leaders said to them.”