If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.
Parallel translations
- WEB It shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and opens to you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall become forced laborers to you, and shall serve you.
- KJV And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
- NKJV And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you.
- NASB And if it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and serve you.
- NLT If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If a city accepts peace, its people become subject laborers rather than being destroyed. Submission brought preservation of life.
Overview
A city that accepted Israel's terms and opened its gates would be spared, its inhabitants serving as forced laborers. Surrender meant life rather than destruction. While reflecting the realities of ancient warfare, the principle that submission brings preservation distantly mirrors the peace and life offered to those who yield to God's reign.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Luke 19:14But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
- Ps 120:7I am in favor of peace; but when I speak, they want war.
- Josh 9:27On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers, as they are to this day for the congregation of the LORD and for the altar at the place He would choose.
- Judg 1:28When Israel became stronger, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor, but they never drove them out completely.
- Judg 1:30–35Zebulun failed to drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced laborers.
- Josh 16:10But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.
- Josh 11:19–20No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites living in Gibeon; all others were taken in battle.
- 1 Kgs 9:21–22their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.
- Lev 25:42–46Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.
- Josh 9:22–23Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 20:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.