Joshua 9
9
The Gibeonite Deception
1#Nu 34:6; Ex 3:17When all the kings west of the Jordan in the hill country, in the low country, and along all the coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite kings—heard this, 2they gathered together as one to wage war against Joshua and Israel.
3#Jos 10:2; 9:17But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4they acted craftily, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and old wineskins, torn and mended, 5old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves. All the bread of their provision was dry and crumbly. 6#Jos 5:10They went to Joshua at the Gilgal settlement and said to him and the children of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Now make a pact with us.”
7#Jos 11:19; Jdg 2:2Then the children of Israel said to these Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us, so how could we make a pact with you?”
8#Dt 20:11; 2Ki 10:5Yet they said to Joshua, “We are your slaves.”
Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?”
9#Dt 20:15; Jos 9:24They said to him, “We, your slaves, have come from a very distant land because of the name of the Lord your God, for we heard news of Him and all He did in Egypt 10#Nu 21:24–35; Dt 1:4and all that He did to the two Amorite kings on the other side of the Jordan, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan in Ashtaroth. 11#Est 8:17; Jos 9:8So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take food provisions for the journey and go to meet them. Say to them, “We are your slaves. So now, make a pact with us.” ’ 12This bread of ours was hot as we took it from our homes on the day we left to come to you, but now, see, it is dry and crumbly. 13These wineskins that we filled were new, but see, they are ripped open. These clothes and sandals wore out due to the very long journey.”
14#Nu 27:21So the men examined some of the food provisions, but they did not ask the Lord about it. 15#2Sa 21:2; Jos 11:19Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
16Three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were neighbors to them and lived among them. 17#Jos 18:25–28; 1Sa 7:1So the children of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. 18#Ps 15:4Now the children of Israel did not attack them, for the leaders of the congregation had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, so the congregation murmured against the leaders.
19Yet all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We swore to them by the Lord God of Israel, so now we may not harm them. 20This is what we will do to them. We will let them live so that wrath will not come upon us due to the oath that we swore to them.” 21#Dt 29:11; Jos 9:23The leaders of the congregation also said to them, “Let them live!” So they became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation, as the leaders told them.
22#Jos 9:6; 9:16Joshua met them and said, “Why did you trick us, saying, ‘We are very distant from you,’ but you are living in our midst? 23#Jos 9:21; 9:27Therefore now you are cursed, and you will always be slaves, cutting wood and carrying water for the house of my God.”
24#Dt 7:1–2They answered Joshua, “It was told to your slaves that the Lord your God commanded Moses His servant to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. So we were very afraid for our lives, and we did this thing. 25#Ge 16:6Now here we are, in your hands. Do to us whatever is good and right in your eyes.”
26Thus he did to them, and delivered them from the hand of the children of Israel; and they did not kill them. 27#Dt 12:5That day he made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and the altar of the Lord, even to this day, at the place He would choose.
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Joshua 9: MEV
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Military Bible Association
Joshua 9
9
The People of Gibeon Trick the Leaders of Israel
1-2The kings west of the Jordan River heard about Joshua's victories, so they got together and decided to attack Joshua and Israel. These kings were from the hill country and from the foothills to the west, as well as from the Mediterranean seacoast as far north as the Lebanon Mountains. Some of them were Hittites, others were Amorites or Canaanites, and still others were Perizzites, Hivites, or Jebusites.
3The people of Gibeon had also heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai. 4So they decided that some of their men should pretend to be messengers to Israel from a faraway country.#9.4 So … country: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. The men put worn-out bags on their donkeys and found some old wineskins that had cracked and had been sewn back together. 5Their sandals were old and patched, and their clothes were worn out. They even took along some dry and crumbly bread. 6Then they went to the Israelite camp at Gilgal, where they said to Joshua and the men of Israel, “We have come from a country that is far from here. Please make a peace treaty with us.”
7-8 #
Ex 23.32; 34.12; Dt 7.2. The Israelites replied, “But maybe you really live near us. We can't make a peace treaty with you if you live nearby.”#9.7,8 nearby: See Deuteronomy 20.10-18.
The Gibeonites#9.7,8 Gibeonites: Hebrew “Hivites.” said, “If you make a peace treaty with us, we will be your servants.”
“Who are you?” Joshua asked. “Where do you come from?”
They answered:
9We are your servants, and we live far from here. We came because the Lord your God is so famous. We heard what the Lord did in Egypt 10#Nu 21.21-35. and what he did to those two Amorite kings on the other side of the Jordan: King Og of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, and King Sihon of Heshbon.
11Our leaders and everyone who lives in our country told us to meet with you and tell you that all of us are your servants. They said to ask you to make a peace treaty with our people. They told us to be sure and take along enough food for our journey. 12See this dry, crumbly bread of ours? It was hot out of the oven when we packed the food on the day we left our homes. 13These cracked wineskins were new when we filled them, and our clothes and sandals are worn out because we have traveled so far.
14The Israelites tried some of the food,#9.14 tried … food: Probably to see if it really was old or to show that they wanted peace. but they did not ask the Lord if he wanted them to make a treaty. 15So Joshua made a peace treaty with the messengers and promised that Israel would not kill their people. Israel's leaders swore that Israel would keep this promise.
16-17A couple of days later,#9.16,17 A couple … later: The Hebrew text has “At the end of three days,” meaning two days after the day the treaty was made. the Israelites found out that these people actually lived in the nearby towns of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-Jearim.#9.16,17 Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-Jearim: These towns were 30 to 50 kilometers west of the Israelite camp at Gilgal. So the Israelites left the place where they had camped and arrived at the four towns two days later.#9.16,17 A couple of days … later: Or “A couple of days later, the Israelites moved their camp to the area near the towns of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-Jearim. When they arrived, they realized that they had made a peace treaty with the people of these nearby towns!” 18But they did not attack the towns, because the Israelite leaders had sworn in the name of the Lord that they would let these people live.
The Israelites complained about their leaders' decision not to attack, 19-21but the leaders reminded them, “We promised these people in the name of the Lord God of Israel that we would let them live, so we must not harm them. If we break our promise, God will punish us. We'll let them live, but we'll make them cut wood and carry water for our people.”
22Joshua told some of his soldiers, “I want to meet with the Gibeonite leaders. Bring them here.”
When the Gibeonites came, Joshua said, “You live close to us. Why did you lie by claiming you lived far away? 23So now you are under a curse, and from now on your people will have to send workers to cut wood and carry water for the place of worship.”#9.23 the place of worship: The Hebrew text has “God's house,” which at that time was the sacred tent.
24The Gibeonites answered, “The Lord your God told his servant Moses that you were to kill everyone who lives here and take their land for yourselves. We were afraid you would kill us, and so we tricked you into making a peace treaty. But we agreed to be your servants, 25and you are strong enough to do anything to us that you want. We just ask you to do what seems right.”
26Joshua did not let the Israelites kill the Gibeonites, 27but he did tell the Gibeonites that they would have to be servants of the nation of Israel. They would have to cut firewood and bring it for the priests to use for burning sacrifices on the Lord's altar, wherever the Lord decided the altar would be. The Gibeonites would also have to carry water for the priests. And that is still the work of the Gibeonites.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
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