Joshua 9:24

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

They answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told your servants, how that Yahweh your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וּלְהַשְׁמִ֛יד

shâmad

H8045

“and · to destroy”

Conjunction + Preposition + Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Construct

Appears 90× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 34:30

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2406

to destroy, exterminate, be destroyed, be exterminated - (Niphal) - to be annihilated, be exterminated - to be destroyed, be devastated - (Hiphil) - to annihilate, exterminate - to destroy

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

35: words
24: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

10 verbs
14 nouns
1 pronoun
1 preposition
1 conjunction
1 adverb
7 particles

Verb forms

וַיַּעֲנ֨וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיֹּאמְר֗וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
הֻגֵּ֨ד Hophal · Infinitive Absolute
הֻגַּ֤ד Hophal · Perfect
צִוָּ֜ה Piel · Perfect
לָתֵ֤ת Qal · Infinitive Construct
וּלְהַשְׁמִ֛יד Hiphil · Infinitive Construct
יֹשְׁבֵ֥י Qal · Participle Active
וַנִּירָ֨א Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַֽנַּעֲשֵׂ֖ה Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

הֻגֵּ֨ד to make known H5046 ×2
לַעֲבָדֶ֨יךָ֙ servant H5650 ×2
כָּל all H3605 ×2
הָאָ֔רֶץ land H776 ×2
מִפְּנֵיכֶ֑ם face H6440 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 55 words from the Hebrew and 54 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 35 Hebrew tokens and 49 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Joshua 9:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 7:1–2 When Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you;
Deuteronomy 20:15–17 Thus shall you do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.
Exodus 23:31–33 I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
Numbers 33:55–56 But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those who you let remain of them be as pricks in your eyes, and as thorns in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land in which you dwell.
Matthew 10:28 Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Exodus 15:14–16 The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
Numbers 33:51–52 Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
Deuteronomy 7:23–24 But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they be destroyed.

Joshua 9:9 They said to him, From a very far country your servants are come because of the name of Yahweh your God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,
Job 2:4 Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has will he give for his life.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 9:24 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיַּעֲנ֨וּ אֶת יְהוֹשֻׁ֜עַ וַיֹּאמְר֗וּ כִּי֩ הֻגֵּ֨ד הֻגַּ֤ד לַעֲבָדֶ֨יךָ֙ אֵת֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֜ה יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֨יךָ֙ אֶת מֹשֶׁ֣ה עַבְדּ֔וֹ לָתֵ֤ת לָכֶם֙ אֶת כָּל הָאָ֔רֶץ וּלְהַשְׁמִ֛יד אֶת כָּל יֹשְׁבֵ֥י הָאָ֖רֶץ מִפְּנֵיכֶ֑ם וַנִּירָ֨א מְאֹ֤ד לְנַפְשֹׁתֵ֨ינוּ֙ מִפְּנֵיכֶ֔ם וַֽנַּעֲשֵׂ֖ה אֶת הַדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה

They answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told your servants, how that Yahweh your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 9:24 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀποκρίνω ὁ ἰησοῦς λέγω ἀναἀγγέλλω ἐγώ ὅσος συντάσσω κύριος ὁ θεός σύ μωυσῆς ὁ παῖς αὐτός δίδωμι σύ ὁ γῆ οὗτος καί ἐκὀλεθρεύω ἐγώ καί πᾶς ὁ καταοἰκέω ἐπί αὐτός ἀπό πρόσωπον σύ καί φοβέω σφόδρα περί ὁ ψυχή ἐγώ ἀπό πρόσωπον σύ καί ποιέω ὁ πρᾶγμα οὗτος

And they answered Joshua, saying, It was reported to us what the Lord your God charged his servant Moses, to give you this land, and to destroy us and all that lived on it from before you; and we feared very much for our lives because of you, and therefore we did this thing.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וַאֲתִיבוּ יַת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וַאֲמַרוּ אֲרֵי חַוָאָה אִתְחַוָא לְעַבְדָךְ יַת דְפַקֵד יְיָ אֱלָהָךְ יַת מֹשֶׁה עַבְדֵיהּ לְמִתַּן לְכוֹן יַת כָּל אַרְעָא וּלְשֵׁיצָאָה יַת כָּל יָתְבֵי אַרְעָא מִן קֳדָמֵיכוֹן וּדְחִילְנָא לַחֲדָא לְנַפְשָׁתָנָא מִן קֳדָמֵיכוֹן וַעֲבַדְנָא יַת פִּתְגָמָא הָדֵין:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 9:24 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Jos 9:24 And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

Ver. 24. Therefore we were sore afraid of our lives.] Man is ζωον φιλοζωον, a life-loving creature. Skin for skin and all that he hath will he give for his life. But yet he purchaseth his life at too dear a rate who payeth his honesty to save it. He that thus saveth his life shall lose it. Life in God’s displeasure is worse than death, said that martyr.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

9:24-25 The response of the Gibeonites amounted to a statement of faith in the Lord: They acted deceptively because they believed that God would enable Israel to conquer Canaan.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 24. We were sore afraid of our lives] Self-preservation, which is the most powerful law of nature, dictated to them those measures which they adopted; and they plead this as the motive of their conduct.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

24. the Lord thy God commanded] See Deu_7:1-2.

we were sore afraid] Fear had been their sole motive in seeking an alliance with Israel. Theirs was not the faith, which had prompted Rahab to save the spies.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And they answered Joshua, and said, because it was certainly told thy servants,.... Or "it was told", told (t); not only certainly, told, but frequently told them, they had often heard of it by one means or another:

how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land; all the land of Canaan, no part excepted; they had heard much of the Lord God of Israel, and of Moses, what character he bore, and of the commands of the Lord to him; they seem to have knowledge of God, and faith in him as to his promises and threatenings, believing they would be fulfilled:

and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; as the gift of the land of Canaan to Israel was often spoken of by the Lord to Moses, and frequently mentioned by him; so there were instructions given him from the Lord, and which lie delivered to Israel, utterly to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan, so, that these people had accurate intelligence and information of this matter; see Deu 7:1,

therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing; they answer to Joshua's question, "wherefore have ye beguiled us?" Jos 9:22, that it was fear of losing their lives, than which nothing is dearer to a man, and the principle of self-preservation that put them upon framing and using this device.

(t) "indicando indicatum est", Pagninus, Montanus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It was mere fear which drove the Gibeonites to act as they did. They sought for union with God’s people, not for its own sake, but to save their lives. Rahab’s motives were higher (Jos 2:9 ff). Hence, she was adopted into Israel; the Gibeonites remained forever bondsmen of Israel.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Thereof. It seems they know not that any conditions would be admitted; and many interpreters have supposed, that none could be offered by the Israelites. See Deuteronomy xx. 15.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

24. It was certainly told thy servants — This information could have been brought by spies sent from Canaan to ascertain the intentions of so formidable a mass of people marching through the wilderness toward Palestine. The language of both nations was nearly the same.

We were sore afraid — They had grounds for their great fear, in view of the fate of their brethren, the Amorites east of the Jordan.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

The Lord thy God Commanded. (see Exo_23:32 Deu_7:1, Deu_7:2) The prophecies of Moses during their sojourn in "the plains of Jordan by Jericho". (see Nu 22 sqq.) We were sore afraid. Prophesied in Exo_15:14.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

The Gibeonites offered this excuse for their conduct, that having heard of the command of God which had been issued through Moses, that all the Canaanites were to be destroyed (Deu 7:1; Deu 20:16-17), they had feared greatly for their lives, and readily submitted to the resolution which Joshua made known to them.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Whatever seems good and right

The words "good" and "right" mean basically the same thing. AT: "Whatever seems fair and just" (See: Doublet)

translationWords

Joshua

servant

Yahweh

God

command

Moses

power

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 35 words (24 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is shâmad (“to destroy”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to destroy” (shâmad) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Deuteronomy 7:1–2, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “to make known” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַיַּעֲנ֨וּ» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 35 Hebrew ↔ 49 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 17 words in this verse.
“to make known” occurs 2× in this single verse.
24 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 35 words in this verse.