And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
Ver. 8. Behold, I will set before you the way of life and the way of death.] They should have their option, but a very sad one. Saved they could not be from their enemies but by their enemies, nor escape death but by captivity, which is a kind of living death, and not much to be preferred before death. Only life is sweet, as the Gibeonites held it, and therefore chose rather to be "hewers of wood and drawers of water" than to be cut off with the rest of the Canaanites.