JOS 9:14 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, red:negative, green:YHWH.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX Καὶ ἔλαβον οἱ ἄρχοντες τοῦ ἐπισιτισμοῦ αὐτῶν, καὶ Κύριον οὐκ ἐπηρώτησαν.
(Kai elabon hoi arⱪontes tou episitismou autōn, kai Kurion ouk epaʸrōtaʸsan. )

BrTr And the chiefs took of their provision, and asked not counsel of the Lord.

ULT And the men took from their provisions, but they did not ask the mouth of Yahweh.

UST The Israelite leaders looked at the food that the men from Gibeon had brought with them to see if it was old as they claimed. But the Israelite leaders did not ask Yahweh what they should do.

OEB So the Israelites tried some of their provisions, never asking the Lord for advice.

WEBBE The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from the LORD’s mouth.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET The men examined some of their provisions, but they failed to ask the Lord’s advice.

LSV And the men take of their provision, and have not asked the mouth of YHWH;

FBV The Israelites tried some of the food. However, they did not consult the Lord.

T4T The Israeli leaders tasted the bread, but they did not ask Yahweh what to do.

LEB So the leaders[fn] took from their provisions, but _⌊they did not ask direction from Yahweh_⌋.[fn]

9:14 Or “men”

9:14 Literally “the mouth of Yahweh they did not ask”

BBE And the men took some of their food, without requesting directions from the Lord.

Moff So the Israelites partook of their provisions, never asking the Eternal for advice;

JPS And the men took of their provision, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.

ASV And the men took of their provision, and asked not counsel at the mouth of Jehovah.

DRA They took therefore of their victuals, and consulted not the mouth of the Lord.

YLT And the men take of their provision, and the mouth of Jehovah have not asked;

Drby And the men took of their victuals, but they did not inquire at the mouth of Jehovah.

RV And the men took of their provision, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.
(And the men took of their provision, and asked not council/counsel at the mouth of the LORD. )

SLT And the men will take of their food, and they asked not the mouth of Jehovah.

Wbstr And the men took of their provisions, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.

KJB-1769 And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.[fn]
(And the men took of their victuals, and asked not council/counsel at the mouth of the LORD. )

9.14 the men…: or, they received the men by reason of their victuals

KJB-1611 And [fn]the men tooke of their victuals, and asked not counsell at the mouth of the LORD.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from marking of added words (and possibly capitalisation and punctuation and footnotes))

9:14 Or, they receiued the men by reason of their victuals.

Bshps And the men toke of theyr vitayles, & counseled not with the mouth of the Lorde.
(And the men took of their vitayles, and counseled not with the mouth of the Lord.)

Gnva And the men accepted their tale concerning their vittailes, and counselled not with the mouth of the Lord.

Cvdl Then the captaynes toke their vytayles, and axed not the mouth of the LORDE.
(Then the captains took their vitals/essentials, and asked not the mouth of the LORD.)

Wycl Therfor `the sones of Israel token of the metis of hem, and thei axiden not `the mouth of the Lord.
(Therefore the sons of Israel token of the meats of hem, and they asked not the mouth of the Lord.)

Luth Da nahmen die Hauptleute ihre Speise an und fragten den Mund des HErr’s nicht.
(So took the captains their/her food at/to and asked the mouth the LORD’s not.)

ClVg Susceperunt igitur de cibariis eorum, et os Domini non interrogaverunt.
(Susceperunt therefore from/about food their, and mouth Master not/no they_asked. )

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 9:1–27 The Gibeonites deceived the Israelites

The Gibeonite people lived near Ai. When they heard that Joshua had defeated Ai, they were afraid that he would conquer and kill them too. So, they sent messengers who pretended they had come from a long distance away. They deceived the Israelites and made a treaty of friendship with them.

Later, the Israelites learned that the Gibeonites lied to them, and that they lived quite close to them. They could not kill them because of the treaty, so they made them be water carriers and woodcutters for the Israelites.

Here are some other possible section headings:

The people of Gibeon

The Gibeon people tricked the Israelites and made a treaty with them

9:14a

Then the men of Israel sampled their provisions,

¶ The Israelites examined their things.
¶ So the Israelites looked at the food that the Gibeonites showed them and believed what they said.

Then the men of Israel sampled their provisions: The word men refers to the Israelite leaders. The term their provisions refers to the food that the Gibeonites brought with them.

sampled their provisions: There are three ways to interpret the meaning of the Hebrew clause that the BSB translates as sampled their provisions.

The Hebrew clause means that the Israelite leaders examined the food and accepted it as evidence that the Gibeonites had traveled from a distant place. For example:
the Israelites examined their food (NLT) (NLT, NET, GW, NJPS)
The Hebrew clause means that the Israelite leaders ate some of the food. For example:
the men of Israel sampled their provisions (NIV) (BSB, NIV, RSV, GNT, CEV, NABRE, KJV)
The Hebrew clause means that the Israelite leaders ate some of the food as part of a covenant ceremony. Some commentaries follow this interpretation, including the UBS Handbook, but no English version follows this interpretation.

It is recommended that you follow option (1). This seems most likely in the context. The Gibeonites provided evidence, and the Israelites examined the evidence and believed it.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

the men believed the evidence they were shown (GW)

sampled: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as sampled is more literally “took.”

9:14b

but did not seek the counsel of the LORD.

And they did not ask Yahweh what he wanted them to do.
But they did not ask for help from Yahweh.

but did not seek the counsel of the LORD: The clause did not seek the counsel of the LORD means that the Israelite leaders did not ask Yahweh to show them what to do. They decided what to do without listening to Yahweh.

This is an important point in the story. In the Hebrew text it is emphasized by a change of word order. Look for a natural way to emphasize it in your language. It might be clearer in some languages to translate this as an independent sentence with the subject made explicit: For example:

But the Israelite leaders did not ask Yahweh what they should do.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

וַ⁠יִּקְח֥וּ הָֽ⁠אֲנָשִׁ֖ים מִ⁠צֵּידָ֑⁠ם

and=they_took the,men some,of,their_sustenance

This could mean: (1) that the Israelite leaders tasted the provisions of the Gibeonites to see whether they were old. Alternate translation: [And the Israelite leaders tasted their provisions] (2) that they took some of these provisions out of the Gibeonites’ baggage to examine them. Alternate translation: [And the Israelite leaders examined their provisions]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche

פִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה

counsel_of YHWH

The author is using Yahweh’s mouth to represent Yahweh himself in the act of guiding or giving counsel. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression from your culture or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [Yahweh to guide them] or [Yahweh to counsel them]

Parallel JOS 9:14

Section 9:1–27 The Gibeonites deceived the Israelites

9:14a

9:14b