The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear.
Parallel Translations
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The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear.
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And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
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And the men said unto her: 'We will be guiltless of this thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Joshua 2:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 30:2 When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
- 2 Samuel 21:7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
- Genesis 24:3-8 I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant said to him, “What if the woman isn’t willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?” Abraham said to him, “Beware that you don’t bring my son there again. Yahweh, the God of heaven—who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your offspring—he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. If the woman isn’t willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this oath to me. Only you shall not bring my son there again.”
- Leviticus 19:11-12 “ ‘You shall not steal. “ ‘You shall not lie. “ ‘You shall not deceive one another. “ ‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
- 2 Samuel 21:1-2 There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn to them; and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);
- Exodus 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.
- Joshua 2:20 But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain We shall be discharged of our oath if thou…
We shall be discharged of our oath if thou dost perform this condition that followeth: for so shalt thou and thine be delivered.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jos 2:17 And the men said unto her, We…
Jos 2:17 And the men said unto her, We [will be] blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
Ver. 17. We will be blameless of this thine oath,] q.d, Great haste though we have, yet will we clear up the terms whereunto we have sworn, to prevent the danger or rebut the suspicion of perjury. An oath is not to be taken but with a great deal of caution and circumspection, {Gen 24:3-5} not in jest, but in judgment, {Jer 4:2 Isa 48:1} not rashly and unadvisedly, {Lev 5:4 1Sa 14:39; 1Sa 14:44} as those that swear in heat and choler, when they should with fear, {Deu 10:20} discerning the nature of an oath, the necessity, the conditions and circumstances.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The men said, or, had said; namely, before she…
The men said, or, had said; namely, before she let them down; it being very improbable, either that she would dismiss them before the condition was expressed and agreed; or that she would discourse with them, or they with her, about such secret and weighty things after they were let down, when others might overhear them; or that she should begin her discourse in her chamber, and not finish it till they were gone out of her house.
Object. They spoke this after they were let down; for it follows, Jos 2:18, this-thread which thou didst let us down by.
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Answ. Those words may be thus rendered, which thou dost let us down by, i.e. art about to do it; it being frequent for the pretertense to be used of a thing about to be done, by an enallage of tenses, as Jos 10:15.
Blameless of this thine oath, i.e. free from guilt or reproach if it be violated, namely, if the following condition be not observed.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the men said unto her,.... Some think that…
And the men said unto her,.... Some think that this discourse, which passed between the spies and her, was while in the house before she let them down, or otherwise they would have been in danger of being overheard, and so the whole affair discovered; but as it was on the other side of the house, and under the wall of the city, and without it, they might with the greater safety converse together:
we will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear; that is, they would most faithfully and punctually keep it, it should be sacred to them, and she should have no occasion to lay any blame upon them in the least.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Said - Or, had said; namely, before she let…
Said - Or, had said; namely, before she let them down; it being very improbable, either that she would dismiss them before the condition was agreed on; or that she would discourse with them, or they with her, about such secret and weighty things after they were let down, when others might overhear them. Blameless - That is, free from guilt or reproach if it be violated, namely, if the following condition be not observed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jos 2:17. The men said — Or, had said;…
Jos 2:17. The men said — Or, had said; namely, before she let them down; it being very improbable either that she would dismiss them before the condition was agreed on, or that she would discourse with them, or they with her, about such secret and weighty things after they were let down, when others might overhear them. Blameless — That is, free from guilt or reproach if it be violated; namely, if the following condition be not observed.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. We will be blameless of this thine oath…
17. We will be blameless of this thine oath — That is, released from the oath which we have taken, provided you do not fulfil the following conditions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. We will be blameless] Or, “We are blameless.”…
17. We will be blameless] Or, “We are blameless.” We must supply “unless you do what we shall now say unto you.” Comp. Gen_24:41, “Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.” Wyclif renders it “we schulen be giltles of this oath.”
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain We will be blameless. Perhaps "we would be blameless,"…
We will be blameless. Perhaps "we would be blameless," and therefore we make the conditions which follow. Something must be supplied to fill up the sense. The most ordinary rule would be to translate "we are blameless," i.e., by making these conditions. But the former yields a better sense.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.