Key Verse Spotlight
Joshua 9:21 — Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing—and how to apply it today
King James Version
" 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 "
Joshua 9:21
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch
This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware
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
And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among
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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From This Chapter
Joshua 9:1
"And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard"
Joshua 9:2
"That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord."
Joshua 9:3
"And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,"
Joshua 9:4
"They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;"
Joshua 9:5
"And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy."
Joshua 9:6
"And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league"
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