Yosua 9:15-21
Konteks9:15 Joshua made a peace treaty with them and agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community 1 sealed it with an oath. 2
9:16 Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby. 3 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. 4 The whole community criticized 5 the leaders, 9:19 but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of 6 the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt 7 them! 9:20 We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.” 8 9:21 The leaders then added, 9 “Let them live.” So they became 10 woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided. 11
[9:15] 2 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] 3 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] 4 tn Heb “by the
[9:18] 5 tn Or “grumbled against.”
[9:19] 6 tn Heb “to them by….”
[9:20] 8 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] 9 tc Heb “and the leaders said to them.” The LXX omits the words “and the leaders said to them.”
[9:21] 10 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.
