Joshua 9:20

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.”

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • 2 Sam 21:1-6 : 1 The Gibeonites Demand Revenge During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the LORD. The LORD said,“It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, because he murdered the Gibeonites.” 2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them.(Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.) 3 David said to the Gibeonites,“What can I do for you, and how can I make amends so that you will bless the LORD’s inheritance?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him,“We have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked,“What then are you asking me to do for you?” 5 They replied to the king,“As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel– 6 let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, who was the LORD’s chosen one.” The king replied,“I will turn them over.”
  • 2 Chr 36:13 : 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him vow allegiance in the name of God. He was stubborn and obstinate, and refused to return to the LORD God of Israel.
  • Prov 20:25 : 25 It is a snare for a person to rashly cry,“Holy!” and only afterward to consider what he has vowed.
  • Ezek 17:12-21 : 12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel:‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Say:‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon. 13 He took one from the royal family, made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. He then took the leaders of the land 14 so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand. 15 But this one from Israel’s royal family rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape? 16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, surely in the city of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke– in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note– he gave his promise and did all these things– he will not escape! 19 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant! 20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me. 21 All the choice men among his troops will die by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken!
  • Zech 5:3-4 : 3 The speaker went on to say,“This is a curse traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals will be removed from the community; or on the other hand(according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.” 4 “I will send it out,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”
  • Mal 3:5 : 5 “I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, who refuse to help the resident foreigner and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
  • Rom 1:31 : 31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless.
  • 1 Tim 1:10 : 10 sexually immoral people, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers– in fact, for any who live contrary to sound teaching.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Josh 9:18-19
    2 verses
    85%

    18The 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. The whole community criticized the leaders,

    19but all the leaders told the whole community,“We swore an oath to them in the name of the LORD God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt them!

  • Josh 9:21-22
    2 verses
    82%

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

    22Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them,“Why did you trick us by saying,‘We live far away from you,’ when you really live nearby?

  • Josh 9:15
    80%

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

  • Neh 5:12
    75%

    12They replied,“We will return these things, and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials swear to do what had been promised.

  • Josh 2:17
    75%

    17The men said to her,“We are not bound by this oath you made us swear unless the following conditions are met:

  • Josh 2:12-14
    3 verses
    74%

    12So now, promise me this with an oath sworn in the LORD’s name. Because I have shown allegiance to you, show allegiance to my family. Give me a solemn pledge

    13that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us from death.”

    14The men said to her,“If you die, may we die too! If you do not report what we’ve been up to, then, when the LORD hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance to you.”

  • Josh 2:20
    74%

    20If you should report what we’ve been up to, we are not bound by this oath you made us swear.”

  • Judg 21:7
    72%

    7How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, we took an oath in the LORD’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.”

  • Josh 9:11
    72%

    11Our leaders and all who live in our land told us,‘Take provisions for your journey and go meet them. Tell them,“We are willing to be your subjects. Make a treaty with us.”’

  • Exod 1:10
    71%

    10Come, let’s deal wisely with them. Otherwise they will continue to multiply, and if a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with our enemies and fight against us and leave the country.”

  • Jer 38:16
    71%

    16So King Zedekiah made a secret promise to Jeremiah and sealed it with an oath. He promised,“As surely as the LORD lives who has given us life and breath, I promise you this: I will not kill you or hand you over to those men who want to kill you.”

  • Gen 34:22-23
    2 verses
    71%

    22Only on this one condition will these men consent to live with us and become one people: They demand that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised.

    23If we do so, won’t their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours? So let’s consent to their demand, so they will live among us.”

  • Ezra 9:14
    71%

    14Shall we once again break your commandments and intermarry with these abominable peoples? Would you not be so angered by us that you would wipe us out, with no survivor or remnant?

  • 2 Chr 29:10
    70%

    10Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger.

  • Gen 34:15-16
    2 verses
    70%

    15We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males.

    16Then we will give you our daughters to marry, and we will take your daughters as wives for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people.

  • Neh 9:38
    70%

    38The People Pledge to be Faithful(10:1)“Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant in written form; our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names on the sealed document.”

  • Josh 9:6-7
    2 verses
    70%

    6They came to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel,“We have come from a distant land. Make a treaty with us.”

    7The men of Israel said to the Hivites,“Perhaps you live near us. So how can we make a treaty with you?”

  • Josh 22:24
    70%

    24We swear we have done this because we were worried that in the future your descendants would say to our descendants,‘What relationship do you have with the LORD God of Israel?

  • Gen 26:28-29
    2 verses
    70%

    28They replied,“We could plainly see that the LORD is with you. So we decided there should be a pact between us– between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you

    29so that you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed you, but have always treated you well before sending you away in peace. Now you are blessed by the LORD.”

  • Josh 9:24
    70%

    24They said to Joshua,“It was carefully reported to your subjects how the LORD your God commanded Moses his servant to assign you the whole land and to destroy all who live in the land from before you. Because of you we were terrified we would lose our lives, so we did this thing.

  • Ezra 10:5
    70%

    5So Ezra got up and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath to carry out this plan. And they all took a solemn oath.

  • Deut 9:28
    70%

    28Otherwise the people of the land from which you brought us will say,“The LORD was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.”

  • Deut 29:9
    70%

    9The Present Covenant Setting“Therefore, keep the terms of this covenant and obey them so that you may be successful in everything you do.

  • Neh 10:29-30
    2 verses
    69%

    29hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders and enter into a curse and an oath to adhere to the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, along with his ordinances and his statutes.

    30“We will not give our daughters in marriage to the neighboring peoples, and we will not take their daughters in marriage for our sons.

  • Judg 11:10
    69%

    10The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah,“The LORD will judge any grievance you have against us, if we do not do as you say.”

  • Josh 9:26
    69%

    26Joshua did as they said; he kept the Israelites from killing them

  • 2 Chr 15:14
    69%

    14They swore their allegiance to the LORD, shouting their approval loudly and sounding trumpets and horns.

  • Jer 42:5
    69%

    5They answered Jeremiah,“May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do just as the LORD your God sends you to tell us to do.

  • Judg 21:18
    69%

    18But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying,‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’

  • Josh 22:27
    69%

    27but as a reminder to us and you, and to our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the LORD in his very presence with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants,‘You have no right to worship the LORD.’

  • 1 Sam 14:9
    69%

    9If they say to us,‘Stay put until we approach you,’ we will stay right there and not go up to them.

  • Deut 13:17
    69%

    17You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. Then the LORD will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors.

  • Judg 15:12
    69%

    12They said to him,“We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them,“Promise me you will not kill me.”

  • Num 10:32
    68%

    32And if you come with us, it is certain that whatever good things the LORD will favor us with, we will share with you as well.”

  • Deut 5:3
    68%

    3He did not make this covenant with our ancestors but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now.

  • 2 Chr 28:13
    68%

    13They said to them,“Don’t bring those captives here! Are you planning on making us even more sinful and guilty before the LORD? Our guilt is already great and the LORD is very angry at Israel.”