Joshua 9:23
in Joshua 9Now therefore you are under a curse and will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Joshua 9
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Why did you deceive us
on Joshua 9:22-23
Verse 7 calls them Hivites, a son of Canaan at Genesis 10:17, so the words land on the line Noah cursed at Genesis 9:25. The service is “for the house of my God”, which binds them to the sanctuary instead of a private master.
This site's exposition
you are under a curse
John Wesley reads the sentence as changing the kind of curse the Gibeonites bear, from the death decreed on Canaan to bondage. Adam Clarke holds that the curse means servitude alone. Wesley adds that perpetually lays the service on their descendants.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Thus, therefore, you also, if you have brought a word in praise of God, not new and fresh from the learning of the spirit, from the doctrine of God's grace, your mouth indeed offers "a sacrifice of praise," but your mind is accused on account of the sterility of yesterday's flesh. For the Lord did not delay and order the bread which he gave to the disciples to be reserved for the next day when he said to them, "Take and eat." Perhaps there is something of this mystery in the fact that "he commands them not to carry bread on the way," that you always bring fresh loaves of the word of God which you carry within you. For this reason, the Gibeonites are condemned, and they become "cutters of wood and carriers of water" because they had brought old bread to the Israelites whom the spiritual law ordered always to use fresh and new.
Of course, it must be observed that the heretics reading this passage, those who do not accept the Old Testament, are accustomed to make a malicious charge and say, "See how Jesus [Joshua] the son of Nun showed no human kindness, so that, although permitting salvation, he inflicted a mark of infamy and a yoke of servitude upon those men who had come to him in supplication."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Ye are cursed - You shall not escape the curse of God which by divine sentence belongs to all the Canaanites; but only change the quality of it, you shall feel that curse of bondage, which is proper to your race by virtue of that ancient decree, Gen. ix, 25. Bond-men - The slavery, which is upon you shall be entailed on your posterity.
Now therefore ye are cursed,....
But here the kings of Canaan are in consultation to attack Israel, and concert matters for a vigorous effort of their united forces to check the progress of their victorious arms. It was strange they did not do this sooner. They had notice long since of their approach;
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Now therefore ye are cursed - Does not this refer to what was pronounced by Noah, Gen 9:26, against Ham and his posterity? Did not the curse of Ham imply slavery, and nothing else? Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be; and does it not sufficiently appear that nothing else than perpetual slavery is implied in the curse of the Gibeonites?
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעַתָּ֖ה | veatah | and therefore | H6258 → | 433 times |
| אֲרוּרִ֣ים | ʾarurim | [are] cursed | H779 → | |
| אַתֶּ֑ם | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִכָּרֵ֨ת | yikaret | he will be cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| מִכֶּ֜ם | mikem | from <the> you | ||
| עֶ֗בֶד | ʾeved | a slave | H5650 → | 799 times |
| וְחֹטְבֵ֥י | vechotevei | and cutters of | H2404 → | 9 times |
| עֵצִ֛ים | ʾetzim | wood<s> | H6086 → | 328 times |
| וְשֹֽׁאֲבֵי־ | veshoavei- | and drawers of | H7579 → | 19 times |
| מַ֖יִם | mayim | water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| לְבֵ֥ית | leveit | for [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אֱלֹהָֽי׃ | ʾelohai | God my | H430 → | 2601 times |
וְעַתָּ֖הand therefore
veatahH6258 →433 times
אֲרוּרִ֣ים[are] cursed
ʾarurimH779 →
אַתֶּ֑םyou
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִכָּרֵ֨תhe will be cut off
yikaretH3772 →288 times
מִכֶּ֜םfrom <the> you
mikem
עֶ֗בֶדa slave
ʾevedH5650 →799 times
וְחֹטְבֵ֥יand cutters of
vechoteveiH2404 →9 times
עֵצִ֛יםwood<s>
ʾetzimH6086 →328 times
וְשֹֽׁאֲבֵי־and drawers of
veshoavei-H7579 →19 times
מַ֖יִםwater
mayimH4325 →581 times
לְבֵ֥יתfor [the] house of
leveitH1004 →2046 times
אֱלֹהָֽי׃God my
ʾelohaiH430 →2601 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joshua 9:21They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation.” So the leaders kept their promise.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:11
your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—
- Joshua 9:27
On 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.
- 2 Chronicles 2:17–18
Solomon numbered all the foreign men in the land of Israel following the census his father David had conducted, and there were found to be 153,600 in all.
- Joshua 9:15
And Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
- Deuteronomy 29:11
Through
Joshua 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.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 12:5
Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- Deuteronomy 12:5
Where this verse is studied
About Joshua
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 5.8 and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 10.2.