约书亚记 9:19

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

眾首領對全體會眾說：“我們曾經指著耶和華以色列的　神向他們起了誓，現在我們不能傷害他們。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
众 首 领 对 全 会 众 说 ： 我 们 已 经 指 着 耶 和 华 ─ 以 色 列 的 　 神 向 他 们 起 誓 ， 现 在 我 们 不 能 害 他 们 。

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ So Joshua agreed to make peace with the Gibeonites and to let them live. And the leaders of the Israelites swore an oath to keep the agreement. ¹⁶ Three days after they had made the agreement, the Israelites learned that the Gibeonites lived nearby. ¹⁷ So the Israelites went to where they lived and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. ¹⁸ But the Israelites did not attack those cities, because they had made a promise to them before the Lord , the God of Israel. All the Israelites grumbled against the leaders. ¹⁹ But the leaders answered, "We have given our promise before the Lord , the God of Israel, so we cannot attack them now. ²⁰ This is what we must do. We must let them live. Otherwise, God's anger will be against us for breaking the oath we swore to them. ²¹ So let them live, but they will cut wood and carry water for our people." So the leaders kept their promise to them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

We have: Joshua 9:20, Ecclesiastes 8:2, Ecclesiastes 9:2, Jeremiah 4:2

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 30:15 - Swear 2 Chronicles 16:3 - break 2 Chronicles 36:13 - who had

Cross-References

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 8:17
Bring every animal out of the boat with you—the birds, animals, and everything that crawls on the earth. Let them have many young ones so that they might grow in number."

Genesis 9:2
Every animal on earth, every bird in the sky, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will respect and fear you. I have given them to you.

Genesis 9:4
But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life.

Genesis 9:28
After the flood Noah lived 350 years.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But all the princes said to all the congregation,.... That is, all the princes that went to Gibeon addressed all the Israelites that were there:

we have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel; by the Word of the Lord God, as the Targum; an oath is a solemn sacred thing, and not to be broken, and a good man will make conscience of it, and keep it, though he has sworn to his own hurt: and

now therefore we may not touch them; neither take away their lives nor their substance.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 9:19. We have sworn unto them — Although the Israelites were deceived in this business, and the covenant was made on a certain supposition which was afterwards proved to have had no foundation in truth, and consequently the whole engagement on the part of the deceived was hereby vitiated and rendered null and void; yet, because the elders had eaten with them, offered a covenant sacrifice, and sworn by Jehovah, they did not consider themselves at liberty to break the terms of the agreement, as far as the lives of the Gibeonites were concerned. That their conduct in this respect was highly pleasing to God is evident from this, that Joshua is nowhere reprehended for making this covenant, and sparing the Gibeonites; and that Saul, who four hundred years after this thought himself and the Israelites loosed from this obligation, and in consequence oppressed and destroyed the Gibeonites, was punished for the breach of this treaty, being considered as the violator of a most solemn oath and covenant engagement. See 2 Samuel 21:2-9, and Ezekiel 17:18-19.

All these circumstances laid together, prove that the command to destroy the Canaanites was not so absolute as is generally supposed: and should be understood as rather referring to the destruction of the political existence of the Canaanitish nations, than to the destruction of their lives. See the notes on Deuteronomy 20:10; Deuteronomy 20:17.