Joshua 9:15

9:15 Joshua made a peace treaty with them and agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community ¹  sealed it with an oath. ² 

Joshua 9:18-19

9:18 The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. ³  The whole community criticized ⁴  the leaders, 9:19 but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of ⁵  the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt ⁶  them!

Joshua 9:21

9:21 The leaders then added, ⁷  “Let them live.” So they became ⁸  woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided. ⁹ 

¹ tn Or “assembly.”

² tn Heb “Joshua made peace with them and made a treaty with them to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.”

³ tn Heb “by the Lord God of Israel.”

⁴ tn Or “grumbled against.”

⁵ tn Heb “to them by….”

⁶ tn Or “touch.”

⁷ tc Heb “and the leaders said to them.” The LXX omits the words “and the leaders said to them.”

⁸ tn The vav (ו) consecutive construction in the Hebrew text suggests that the narrative resumes at this point. The LXX reads here, “and they will be,” understanding what follows to be a continuation of the leaders’ words rather than a comment by the narrator.

⁹ tn Heb “as the leaders said to them.”