JOS 9:23 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, blue:Elohim.
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 νῦν ἐπικατάρατοί ἐστε· οὐ μὴ ἐκλείπῃ ἐξ ὑμῶν δοῦλος, οὐδὲ ξυλοκόπος, οὐδὲ ὑδροφόρος ἐμοὶ καὶ τῷ Θεῷ μου.
(Kai nun epikataratoi este; ou maʸ ekleipaʸ ex humōn doulos, oude xulokopos, oude hudroforos emoi kai tōi Theōi mou. )

BrTr And now ye are cursed: there shall not fail of you a slave, or a hewer of wood, or a drawer of water to me and my God.

ULT And now you are cursed, and none of you shall be cut off a slave and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

UST Because you did that, Yahweh has cursed you. You will always be our slaves. We will make you cut wood and carry water for the place where we worship our God.”

OEB A curse on you! You will forever provide us with slaves for the temple of my God, woodcutters and watercarriers.’

WEBBE Now 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.”

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Now you are condemned to perpetual servitude as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

LSV And now you are cursed, and none of you is cut off [from being] a servant, even hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.”

FBV Consequently you are under a curse. From now on you shall forever be servants, woodcutters and water-carriers for the house of my God.”

T4T So now you will become our slaves. You will always be forced to cut wood and carry water for us Israeli people who worship in the temple of our God.”

LEB Therefore you are cursed; some of you will always be slaves as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

BBE Now because of this you are cursed, and you will for ever be our servants, cutting wood and getting water for the house of my God.

Moff A curse on you! You shall ever provide us with slaves for the temple of my God, wood-cutters and water-carriers.”

JPS Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.'

ASV Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.

DRA Therefore you shall be under a curse, and your race shall always be hewers of wood, and carriers of water unto the house of my God.

YLT and now, cursed are ye, and none of you is cut off [from being] a servant, even hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.'

Drby And now ye are cursed, and ye shall never cease to be bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my [fn]God.

9.23 Elohim

RV Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
(Now therefore ye/you_all are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. )

SLT And now ye are cursed, and there shall not be cut off from you to serve, and hewing wood and drawing water for the house of my God.

Wbstr Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bond-men, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.

KJB-1769 Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.[fn]
(Now therefore ye/you_all are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. )

9.23 none…: Heb. not be cut off from you

KJB-1611 Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall [fn]none of you bee freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of water, for the house of my God.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

9:23 Hebr. not be cut off from you.

Bshps And nowe are ye cursed, and there shal not ceasse to be of you bondmen, and hewers of wood, & drawers of water for the house of my God.
(And now are ye/you_all cursed, and there shall not cease to be of you bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God.)

Gnva Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God.
(Now therefore ye/you_all are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the house of my God. )

Cvdl Therfore shall ye be cursed, so that of you there shall not ceasse seruauntes to hew wodd and to beare water for the house of my God.
(Therefore shall ye/you_all be cursed, so that of you there shall not cease servants to hew wood and to bear water for the house of my God.)

Wycl Therfor ye schulen be `vndur cursyng, and noon schal faile of youre generacioun, hewynge trees and berynge watris, in to the hows of my God.
(Therefore ye/you_all should be under cursing, and noon shall fail of your(pl) generation, hewing trees and bearing waters, in to the house of my God.)

Luth Darum sollt ihr verflucht sein, daß unter euch nicht aufhören Knechte, die Holz hauen und Wasser tragen zum Hause meines Gottes.
(Therefore should you(pl)/their/her cursed be, that under you not stop/cease servant(s), the wood hit and water bear/carry for_the house my God’s.)

ClVg itaque sub maledictione eritis, et non deficiet de stirpe vestra ligna cædens, aquasque comportans in domum Dei mei.
(therefore under cursedone you(pl)_will_be, and not/no will_fail from/about stock your wood killns, watersque comportans in/into/on house/home of_God my/mine. )

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

9:23a-b

Now therefore you are under a curse and will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as Now therefore can be translated in two different ways:

It means therefore, or because of this, or for that reason. For example:
Because you did this, God has condemned you. (GNT) (BSB, GNT, RSV, ESV, NAB, NASB, NJPS, KJV)
It is a temporal marker now. For example:
You are now under a curse (NIV) (NIV, NABRE, GW, NCV, NET, NJB, REB, CEV)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) and make the reason relation explicit. But option (2) is acceptable if the reason relation is implied by the context in your translation.

will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers: The Hebrew words are more literally “not he will be cut off from you a slave.” There are two ways to interpret what this means.

This means that all the Gibeonites became slaves. For example:
every one of you shall always be a slave (NABRE) (BSB, NABRE, NASB, NIV, NET, GNT, GW, NAB, NCV, NJB, NJPS, NLT, KJV)
This means that some of the Gibeonites became slaves. For example:
some of you shall never be anything by servants (ESV) (ESV, RSV, REB, CEV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). God’s curse was on the whole Gibeonite nation. It is not clear from the Hebrew that we can translate this as only “some” of the Gibeonites.

9:23a

Now therefore you are under a curse and will perpetually serve

Because you did this there is a curse on you. You will always be our slaves.
Therefore, God has condemned you. For all time you will be slaves.

you are under a curse: The phrase you are under a curse means that God considered them to be guilty and condemned them.

will perpetually serve: The phrase will perpetually serve indicates the Gibeonites will live in submission to the Israelites.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

shall always be slaves (RSV)

shall never be anything but servants (ESV)

perpetual servitude (NET)

9:23b

as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

You will cut firewood and draw water for the house of my God.”
You will have to cut wood and draw water from the wells for the tabernacle of my God.”

woodcutters: The word woodcutters indicates that they will cut firewood.

and water carriers: The phrase water carriers indicates that they will draw water from the wells and carry it.

for the house of my God: The phrase for the house of my God indicates that the Gibeonites will provide wood and water for the place of worship. During the time of Joshua, the house of my God in which the Israelites worshiped was a tent, not a permanent house. In 9:27 it is clear that the Gibeonites served both the place of worship and also the broader community in this way.

my God: The word my refers to Joshua. Joshua referred to Yahweh as his God.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

וְ⁠עַתָּ֖ה

and=now

See how you translated this expression, which introduces the main business of a communication, in [1:2](../01/02.md) and its other occurrences.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

אֲרוּרִ֣ים אַתֶּ֑ם

cursed you(pl)

If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you can state this in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation, as in the UST: [Yahweh has cursed you]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / doublenegatives

וְ⁠לֹֽא־יִכָּרֵ֨ת מִ⁠כֶּ֜ם עֶ֗בֶד וְ⁠חֹטְבֵ֥י עֵצִ֛ים וְ⁠שֹֽׁאֲבֵי־מַ֖יִם

and=not cease from,you(pl) slaves and,cutters_of wood and,drawers_of waters

If it would be clearer in your language, you could use a positive expression to translate this double negative that consists of the negative particle not and the negative verb cut off, which in this context means “cease to be.” Alternate translation: [and each of you shall always be a slave who hews wood and draws water]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

וְ⁠לֹֽא־יִכָּרֵ֨ת מִ⁠כֶּ֜ם עֶ֗בֶד

and=not cease from,you(pl) slaves

If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you can state this in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [and we will not cut off any of you from being a slave]

Parallel JOS 9:23

Section 9:1–27 The Gibeonites deceived the Israelites

9:23a-b

9:23a

9:23b