New Living Translation
Joshua 9:7
7The Israelites replied to these Hivites, “How do we know you don’t live nearby? For if you do, we cannot make a treaty with you.”
Joshua 9:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you?
- New International Version (NIV)The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?”
- English Standard Version (ESV)But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?"
- New King James Version (NKJV)Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you?”
Context of Joshua 9:7
5They put on worn-out, patched sandals and ragged clothes. And the bread they took with them was dry and moldy. 6When they arrived at the camp of Israel at Gilgal, they told Joshua and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land to ask you to make a peace treaty with us.” The Israelites replied to these Hivites, “How do we know you don’t live nearby? For if you do, we cannot make a treaty with you.” 8They replied, “We are your servants.” “But who are you?” Joshua demanded. “Where do you come from?” 9They answered, “Your servants have come from a very distant country. We have heard of the might of the Lord your God and of all he did in Egypt.
Read all of Joshua 9Joshua 9:7 word by word
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אִֽישׁ־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶל־הַחִוִּ֑י אוּלַ֗י בְּקִרְבִּי֙ אַתָּ֣ה יוֹשֵׁ֔ב וְאֵ֖יךְ אֶֽכְרָת לְךָ֥ בְרִֽית׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And the menאִישׁ'îysh · manH376
- of Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
- saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- unto the Hivitesחִוִּיchivvîy · HiviteH2340
- Peradventureאוּלַי'ûlay 'ûlay · perhapsH194
- ye dwellיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
- amongקֶ֫רֶבqereb · entrails: amongH7130
- us; and how shall we makeכָּרַתkârath · to cut: make(covenant)H3772
- a leagueבְּרִיתberîyth · covenantH1285
Cross-references for Joshua 9:7
- Joshua 11:19No one in this region made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites of Gibeon. All the others were defeated.
- Genesis 10:17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,
- Genesis 34:2But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he seized her and raped her.
- Exodus 3:8So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.
- Exodus 23:31And I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the eastern wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will hand over to you the people now living in the land, and you will drive them out ahead of you.
- Exodus 34:12“Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going. If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped.
- Numbers 33:52you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines.
- Deuteronomy 7:2When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy.
- Deuteronomy 20:16In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing.
- Judges 2:2For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this?
Commentaries on Joshua 9:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7Peradventure ye dwell among us - It is strange they should have had such a suspicion, as the Gibeonites had acted so artfully; and it is as strange that, having such a suspicion, they acted with so little caution.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7Compare the marginal references.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 3-13Verses 3-13 Other people heard these tidings, and were driven thereby to make war upon Israel; but the Gibeonites were led to make peace with them. Thus the discovery of the glory and the grace of God in the gospel, is to some a savour of life unto life, but to others a savour of death unto death, 2Co 2:16. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay. The falsehood of the Gibeonites cannot be justified. We must not do evil that good may themselves to the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7-8The name Hivites is known only from the Bible and refers to a non-Semitic ethnic group that lived in various parts of Canaan (see Genesis 34:2; 36:2; Exodus 23:23, 28). Semitic people were ancient groups from the Middle East and North Africa, known for their shared languages (such as Hebrew, Aramaic, or Arabic) and cultural traditions. Perhaps you dwell near us: Israel’s leaders worried that the visitors were lying. They asked how they could know the…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3-153-15. when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard--This town, as its name imports, was situated on a rocky eminence, about six miles northwest from Jerusalem, where the modern village of El Jib now stands. It was the capital of the Hivites, and a large important city (Jos 10:2). It seems to have formed, in union with a few other towns in the neighborhood, a free independent state (Jos 9:17) and to have enjoyed a republican government (Jos 9:11).Read the comment
Topics related to Joshua 9:7
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Joshua 9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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