Joshua 9

News of all this reached the kings west of the Jordan River, those in the hill country, in the western foothills, and all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon. These were the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

1And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;

NoteThe Great Sea is the Mediterranean. The six names are the peoples already living in Canaan, listed here as a standard set rather than as a precise ethnic map; each was organized around its own walled towns under local kings rather than as a single nation. "West of the Jordan" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning literally "across the Jordan," whose direction depends on where the speaker stands.

2They joined together as one to go to war against Joshua and Israel.

2That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

3But the people who lived in Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to the cities of Jericho and Ai.

3And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

NoteJericho and Ai were the two towns Israel had just captured and destroyed (chapters 6 and 8). Gibeon lay a few miles further into the hill country, in the obvious path of the next advance, which is why its people acted first.

4So they used a trick. They set out pretending to be messengers from a faraway country. They loaded their donkeys with worn-out sacks and with old wineskins that were cracked and patched up.

4They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

NoteWineskins were whole animal hides sewn shut; with age they grow brittle and split, so cracked, restitched skins were visible proof of a long journey. The Hebrew of the first half of this verse is uncertain: the same consonants can be read as "acted as envoys" or "took provisions for themselves," and translators are divided.

5They put worn-out, patched sandals on their feet and shabby clothes on their bodies. All the bread they carried was dry and moldy.

5And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.

6They went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a country far away. Please make a peace agreement with us."

6And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us.

NoteGilgal was Israel's base camp near the Jordan, close to Jericho. A "peace agreement" is a treaty sworn before the gods of both parties; such treaties were held to be permanent and unbreakable, and typically placed the weaker side under the protection and authority of the stronger.

7But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Maybe you live nearby. If so, how can we make an agreement with you?"

7And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you?

NoteThe Hivites are one of the peoples of the land listed in verse 1. The question matters because Israel had been commanded to make no treaty at all with the peoples living in Canaan; a treaty with a genuinely distant nation was permitted.

8They said to Joshua, "We are your servants." Joshua asked them, "Who are you? Where do you come from?"

8And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye?

Note"We are your servants" is diplomatic language, not a confession of slavery: it is the formal way a weaker party offers to become a subject people under a stronger one.

9They answered him, "Your servants have come from a country very far away, because of the fame of the LORD your God. We have heard the reports about him and all that he did in Egypt,

9And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,

10and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan River, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who ruled at Ashtaroth.

10And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth.

NoteThese were Israel's victories east of the Jordan, before crossing into Canaan. Sihon and Og were kings of territory in what is now Jordan and southern Syria; naming them shows the Gibeonites are up to date on very recent news, which sits oddly with their claim to have come from far away.

11So our elders and everyone who lives in our country said to us, 'Take food with you for the journey. Go and meet them, and say to them: We are your servants. Now please make a peace agreement with us.'

11Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us.

12This bread of ours was still warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But look at it now: it is dry and moldy.

12This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy:

13These wineskins were new when we filled them, and look, they are cracked. And our clothes and sandals are worn out from the very long trip."

13And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.

14The men of Israel sampled the food the strangers carried, but they did not ask the LORD what to do.

14And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew says literally that the men "took from their provisions." This may mean they inspected the stale bread as evidence, or that they ate a meal with the strangers, since sharing food was a customary way of sealing an agreement; the wording allows both. "Asking the LORD" refers to the formal procedure of putting a yes-or-no question to God through a priest, the standard way of deciding matters of this weight.

15Joshua made peace with them and agreed to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to keep that promise.

15And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.

NoteAn oath sworn in the name of a god called that god to witness the promise and to punish whoever broke it. This is why the agreement holds in what follows even once the deception is exposed.

16Three days after they had made the agreement, the Israelites heard that these people were their neighbors and lived close by.

16And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them.

17So the Israelites set out and reached their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.

17And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim.

NoteThe four towns formed a single allied group. Gibeon lay roughly twenty miles from the camp at Gilgal, about six miles from the later site of Jerusalem, so the pretended long journey had in fact been a walk of a day or two.

18The Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. The whole community complained against the leaders.

18And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.

Note"The community" is the whole assembly of Israel, the people gathered as a body able to hold its leaders to account.

19But all the leaders said to the whole community, "We swore an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. So now we cannot harm them.

19But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.

20This is what we will do with them: we will let them live, so that no anger falls on us for breaking the oath we swore to them."

20This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them.

Note"Anger" here means the punishment expected to fall on people who break an oath sworn in God's name; the leaders are describing a consequence, not a mood.

21The leaders said, "Let them live, but let them cut wood and carry water for the whole community." So the leaders kept the promise they had made to them.

21And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.

NoteCutting wood and carrying water was the lowest and heaviest household labor, normally the work of women, slaves, or resident foreigners. The pair of tasks was a set phrase in Hebrew for the bottom rung of the social order.

22Then Joshua sent for them and said, "Why did you deceive us? You told us you lived very far away, when in fact you live right here among us.

22And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us?

23So now you are under a curse. From now on some of you will always be servants, cutting wood and carrying water for the house of my God."

23Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.

NoteA curse in this setting is a formal legal pronouncement fixing a permanent status, not an insult or a spell. "The house of my God" means the sanctuary, at this stage the portable tent shrine, so the Gibeonites become its permanent labor force.

24They answered Joshua, "Your servants were told plainly that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to destroy everyone living in it ahead of you. So we were terrified you would kill us, and that is why we did this.

24And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

NoteThe command referred to is the instruction, given through Moses, to devote the peoples of Canaan to destruction rather than to treaty or tribute. The Gibeonites are arguing that they deceived Israel only because surrender by ordinary means was not open to them.

25Now we are in your hands. Do to us whatever you think is good and right."

25And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.

26So that is what Joshua did for them. He rescued them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

26And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not.

27That day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the LORD, and they still do this today, at the place the LORD would choose.

27And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

Note"They still do this today" is the voice of the book's writer, looking back from a later time. "The place the LORD would choose" refers to the single central sanctuary site, which is not named here; readers of a later period understood it as Jerusalem.