Joshua 9:23
New International Version
You are now under a curse: You will never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

New Living Translation
May you be cursed! From now on you will always be servants who cut wood and carry water for the house of my God.”

English Standard Version
Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

Berean Standard Bible
Now therefore you are under a curse and will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

New American Standard Bible
Now therefore, you are cursed, and you will never cease to be slaves, both gatherers of firewood and labor to draw water for the house of my God.”

NASB 1995
“Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

NASB 1977
“Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

Legacy Standard Bible
So now, you are cursed, and you shall never be cut loose from being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

Amplified Bible
Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall always be slaves, both cutters and gatherers of firewood and water carriers for the house of my God.”

Christian Standard Bible
Therefore you are cursed and will always be slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Therefore you are cursed and will always be slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

American Standard Version
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.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Therefore you will be cursed and there will not fail from you a man, a gatherer of wood and a fetcher of water for the house of God”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
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.

Contemporary English Version
So now you are under a curse, and from now on your people will have to send workers to cut wood and carry water for the place of worship."

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
You are under a curse now. You will always be servants. You will be woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."

Good News Translation
Because you did this, God has condemned you. Your people will always be slaves, cutting wood and carrying water for the sanctuary of my God."

International Standard Version
Now therefore you are under a curse. Some of you will always be slaves, wood cutters, and water carriers for the house of my God."

JPS Tanakh 1917
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.'

Literal Standard Version
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.”

Majority Standard Bible
Now therefore you are under a curse and will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

New American Bible
Now are you accursed: every one of you shall always be a slave, hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.”

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

New Revised Standard Version
Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

New Heart English Bible
Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you will never fail to be bondservants, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my God."

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
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.”

Young's Literal Translation
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.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Deceit of the Gibeonites
22Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us? 23Now therefore you are under a curse and will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” 24The Gibeonites answered, “Your servants were told clearly that the LORD your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and wipe out all its inhabitants before you. So we greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we have done this.…

Cross References
Genesis 9:25
he said, "Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers."

Deuteronomy 29:11
your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water--

Joshua 9:21
They continued, "Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation." So the leaders kept their promise.


Treasury of Scripture

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

Genesis 9:25,26
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren…

Leviticus 27:28,29
Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD…

Joshua 9:21,27
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…

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Always Bondmen Bond-Men Bondservants Carriers Cease Cursed Cut Cutters Cutting Drawers Hewers House Servant Servants Serve Slaves Water Wood Woodcutters
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Always Bondmen Bond-Men Bondservants Carriers Cease Cursed Cut Cutters Cutting Drawers Hewers House Servant Servants Serve Slaves Water Wood Woodcutters
Joshua 9
1. The kings combine against Israel
3. The Gibeonites by craft obtain a league
22. They are condemned to perpetual bondage














(23) Bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.--The precedent established in regard to the Gibeonites appears to have been followed by Solomon in his dealings with all the remnant of the doomed nations of Canaan who were not destroyed. (See 1Kings 9:20-21; 2Chronicles 8:7-8.) It is thought that they are to be recognised in the Nethinim of Ezra and Nehemiah, who come after the Levites, singers, and porters in the enumeration of the restored captives (Ezra 2:43). Compare also the mention of Solomon's servants (Ezra 2:58), whose children are coupled with the Nethinim. The existence of this large body of Canaanites should be remembered in considering the edict of the law of Moses, that the seven nations were to be destroyed. The sentence was clearly not executed on the mass of the non-resisting population.

Verse 23. - There shall none of you be freed from being bondmen. Literally, as margin, there shall not be cut off from you a servant, as in 2 Samuel 3:29, and 1 Kings 2:4. The sense is, "you shall not cease to be servants." The term "bondmen" is somewhat too strong. The עֶבֶד was usually a bondman among the Hebrews, but not always (see 1 Samuel 29:3; 1 Kings 11:26, etc.). But the Gibeonites were to be employed forever in servile work. Hewing of wood and drawing of water was a task frequently imposed on the strangers (probably captives) dwelling among the Israelites, as we learn from Deuteronomy 29:11. We are not directly told that, as Keil and others have stated, the "lowest of the people" had to perform this office. It is, however, implied that the stranger who performed it occupied the lowest social station in the community. "Si qui tales sunt in nobis, quorum tides tantummodo habet ut ad Ecclesiam veniant, et inclinent caput suum sacerdotibus, officia exhibeant, servos Dei honorent, ad ornatum quoque altaris vel Ecclesiae aliquid conferant, non tamen adhibeant studium ut etiam mores suos excolant, actus emendent, vitia deponant, castitatem colant, iracundiam mitigent, avaritiam reprirnant, rapacitatem refrenant, maleloquia et stultiloquia, vel scurrilitatem et obtrectationum venena ex ore suo non adimant, sciant sibi, qui tales sunt, qui emendare se nolunt, sed in his usque in senectutem ultimam perseverant, partem sortemque at Jesu Domino cum Gabaonitis esse tribuendam" (Orig., Horn. 10 on Joshua).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Now therefore
וְעַתָּ֖ה (wə·‘at·tāh)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 6258: At this time

you
אַתֶּ֑ם (’at·tem)
Pronoun - second person masculine plural
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

are under a curse
אֲרוּרִ֣ים (’ă·rū·rîm)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine plural
Strong's 779: To execrate

and will perpetually
וְלֹֽא־ (wə·lō-)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

serve
עֶ֗בֶד (‘e·ḇeḏ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5650: Slave, servant

as woodcutters
וְחֹטְבֵ֥י (wə·ḥō·ṭə·ḇê)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 2404: To cut or gather wood

and water
מַ֖יִם (ma·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

carriers
וְשֹֽׁאֲבֵי־ (wə·šō·’ă·ḇê-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 7579: To bale up water

for the house
לְבֵ֥ית (lə·ḇêṯ)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of my God.”
אֱלֹהָֽי׃ (’ĕ·lō·hāy)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative


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OT History: Joshua 9:23 Now therefore you are cursed and some (Josh. Jos)
Joshua 9:22
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