Joshua 9
9
The Gibeonite Trickery
1All the kings west of the Jordan River heard about these things. These were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They lived in the mountains and on the western mountain slopes. They also lived along the whole Mediterranean Sea coast. 2All these kings gathered to fight Joshua and the Israelites.
3The people of Gibeon heard how Joshua had defeated Jericho and Ai. 4So they decided to trick the Israelites. They gathered old leather wine bags that were cracked and mended. They put them on the backs of their donkeys. They also put old sacks on their donkeys. 5The men put old sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. They took some dry, moldy bread. 6Then they went to Joshua in the camp near Gilgal.
The men spoke to Joshua and the men of Israel. They said, “We have traveled from a faraway country. Make a peace agreement with us.”
7The men of Israel said to these Hivites, “Maybe you live near us. How can we make a peace agreement with you?”
8The Hivites said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”
But Joshua asked, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”
9The men answered, “We are your servants. We have come from a far country. We came because we heard of the fame of the Lord your God. We heard about what he has done. We heard about everything he did in Egypt. 10We heard that he defeated the two kings of the Amorites. They were from the east side of the Jordan River: Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan who was king in Ashtaroth. 11So our elders and our people spoke to us. They said, ‘Take food for your journey. Go and meet the Israelites. Tell them, “We are your servants. Make a peace agreement with us.”’
12“Look at our bread. When we left home it was warm and fresh. But now it is dry and moldy. 13Look at our leather winebags. When we left home they were new and filled with wine. Now they are cracked and old. Look at our clothes and sandals. The long journey has almost destroyed them.”
14The men of Israel tasted the bread. But they did not ask the Lord what to do. 15So Joshua agreed to make peace with the Gibeonites. He agreed to let them live. The leaders of the Israelites made a promise to keep the agreement.
16Three days later the Israelites learned that the Gibeonites lived nearby. 17So the Israelites went to where they lived. On the third day the Israelites came to their cities. The cities were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim. 18But the Israelites did not attack those cities. They had made a promise to them before the Lord, the God of Israel.
All the Israelites grumbled against the leaders who had made the agreement. 19But the leaders answered, “We have given our promise before the Lord, the God of Israel. We cannot attack them now. 20This is what we must do. We must let them live. We cannot hurt them, or God’s anger will be against us. We would be breaking the promise we made to them. 21So let them live. But they will cut wood and carry water for our people.” So the leaders kept their promise of peace to them.
22Joshua called for the Gibeonites. He said, “Why did you lie to us? Your land was near our camp. But you told us you were from a far country. 23Now, you will be placed under a curse. You will be our slaves. You will have to cut wood and carry water for the people of the house of God.”
24The Gibeonites answered Joshua, “We lied to you because we were afraid you would kill us. We heard that God commanded his servant Moses to give you all of this land. And God told you to kill all the people who lived in the land. That is why we did this. 25Now you can decide what to do with us. You can do anything to us that you think is right.”
26So Joshua saved their lives. He did not allow the Israelites to kill them. 27But Joshua made the Gibeonites slaves to the Israelites. They cut wood and carried water for the Israelites. And they did it for the altar of the Lord—wherever he chose it to be. They are still doing this today.
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Joshua 9: ICB
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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®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.