18 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel.

The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders, 19 but all the leaders answered, “We have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. 20 This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that God’s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.” 21 They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly.” So the leaders’ promise to them was kept.

18 And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. 19 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 them. 20 This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. 21 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.

18 But the Israelites did not attack the towns, for the Israelite leaders had made a vow to them in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

The people of Israel grumbled against their leaders because of the treaty. 19 But the leaders replied, “Since we have sworn an oath in the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel, we cannot touch them. 20 This is what we must do. We must let them live, for divine anger would come upon us if we broke our oath. 21 Let them live.” So they made them woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community, as the Israelite leaders directed.

18 But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation complained against the rulers.

19 Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them. 20 This we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.” 21 And the rulers said to them, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them.”

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.

18 And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by Jehovah, the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. 19 But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by Jehovah, the God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. 20 This we will do to them, and let them live; lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. 21 And the princes said unto them, Let them live: so they became hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation, as the princes had spoken unto them.

18 And the children of Israel did not smite them, because the princes of the assembly had sworn unto them by Jehovah the God of Israel. Then all the assembly murmured against the princes. 19 And all the princes said to all the assembly, We have sworn unto them by Jehovah the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. 20 This we will do to them, and let them live, lest wrath come upon us, because of the oath which we swore unto them. 21 And the princes said to them, Let them live. And they were hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the assembly; as the princes had said to them.

18 The Israelites didn’t destroy these other people, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn an oath about them to the Lord God of Israel. The whole congregation complained about the leaders. 19 But all the leaders said to them, “We have sworn an oath about them to the Lord God of Israel, so we cannot touch them now. 20 We must let them live to avoid ⸤the Lord’s⸥ anger because of the oath we swore.” 21 The leaders said that they should be allowed to live. So they became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation, as the leaders had said. 

18 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders.

19 All the leaders answered them, “We have sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. 20 This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them.” 21 They also said, “Let them live.” So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them.

18 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. 19 But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we must not touch them. 20 This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that wrath may not come upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.” 21 The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the leaders had decided concerning them.

18 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against their leaders. 19 But all the leaders of the congregation said, “We have sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel, and so we cannot touch them. 20 This we will do to them: we will let them live so that wrath will not be on us because of the oath we swore to them.” 21 And the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them.

18 But they didn’t attack those cities. That’s because the leaders of the community had taken an oath and made a peace treaty with them. They had taken the oath in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

The whole community told the leaders they weren’t happy with them.

19 But all of the leaders answered, “We’ve made a peace treaty with them. We’ve taken an oath in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. So we can’t touch them now.

20 “But here is what we’ll do to them. We’ll let them live. Then the Lord’s anger won’t fall on us because we didn’t keep the oath we took.” 21 They continued, “Let them live. But let them cut wood and carry water for the whole community.” So the leaders kept their promise to them.

18 The sons of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders.

19 But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.

20 “This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them.”

21 The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them.