9:23a-b

Now therefore you are under a curse and will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now therefore can be translated in two different ways:

(1) It means therefore, or because of this, or for that reason. For example:

Because you did this, God has condemned you. (Good News Translation)

(Berean Standard Bible, Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New American Bible, New American Standard Bible, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, King James Version)

(2) It is a temporal marker now. For example:

You are now under a curse (New International Version)

(New International Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition, God’s Word, New Century Version, NET Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) and make the reason relation explicit. But option (2) is acceptable if the reason relation is implied by the context in your translation.

will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers: The Hebrew words are more literally “not he will be cut off from you a slave.” There are two ways to interpret what this means.

(1) This means that all the Gibeonites became slaves. For example:

every one of you shall always be a slave (New American Bible, Revised Edition)

(Berean Standard Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, NET Bible, Good News Translation, God’s Word, New American Bible, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, New Living Translation (2004), King James Version)

(2) This means that some of the Gibeonites became slaves. For example:

some of you shall never be anything by servants (English Standard Version)

(English Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). God’s curse was on the whole Gibeonite nation. It is not clear from the Hebrew that we can translate this as only “some” of the Gibeonites.

9:23a

you are under a curse: The phrase you are under a curse means that God considered them to be guilty and condemned them.

will perpetually serve: The phrase will perpetually serve indicates the Gibeonites will live in submission to the Israelites.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

shall always be slaves (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
shall never be anything but servants (English Standard Version)
-or-
perpetual servitude (NET Bible)

9:23b

woodcutters: The word woodcutters indicates that they will cut firewood.

and water carriers: The phrase water carriers indicates that they will draw water from the wells and carry it.

for the house of my God: The phrase for the house of my God indicates that the Gibeonites will provide wood and water for the place of worship. During the time of Joshua, the house of my God in which the Israelites worshiped was a tent, not a permanent house. In 9:27 it is clear that the Gibeonites served both the place of worship and also the broader community in this way.

my God: The word my refers to Joshua. Joshua referred to Yahweh as his God.

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