Let them live.” So they made them woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community, as the Israelite leaders directed.
Parallel translations
- WEB The princes said to them, “Let them live, so they became wood cutters and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the princes had spoken to them.”
- KJV And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.
- BSB They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation.” So the leaders kept their promise.
- NKJV And the rulers said to them, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them.”
- NASB So the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” And they became gatherers of firewood and labor to draw water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them.
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
The Gibeonites are spared but made woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation. They live, but in lasting servitude.
Overview
The Gibeonites are preserved according to the oath, yet placed in a subordinate role of menial service to Israel and its worship. This outcome both honors the covenant and reflects the consequence of their deception. Their incorporation as servants in the house of God hints at how outsiders may yet be brought, however humbly, into the service of the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Deut 29:11your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water;
- Josh 9:23Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you will never fail to be slaves, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my God.”
- Josh 9:27That day Joshua made them wood cutters and drawers of water for the congregation and for Yahweh’s altar to this day, in the place which he should choose.
- 2 Chr 2:17–18Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the census with which David his father had counted them; and they found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.
- Josh 9:15Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them.
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 9:21 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
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