²He and his people were terribly afraid because Gibeon was a large city. It was like one of the royal cities, larger than Ai. All its men were warriors. ³So King Adoni Zedek of Jerusalem sent ⸤this message⸥ to King Hoham of Hebron, King Piram of Jarmuth, King Japhia of Lachish, and King Debir of Eglon: ⁴“Come, help me destroy Gibeon because it has made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel.” ⁵So the five Amorite kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon combined their armies. They marched to Gibeon, camped there, and attacked it.

⁶The men of Gibeon sent this message to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal: “Don’t abandon us! Come quickly, and save us. Help us because all the Amorite kings who live in the mountains have united against us.”

⁷So Joshua, with all his soldiers and best warriors, set out from Gilgal. ⁸The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them. I have handed them over to you. None of them can stand up to you.” ⁹So Joshua marched all night from Gilgal and took them by surprise. ¹⁰The Lord threw the enemy into disorder in front of Israel and defeated them decisively at Gibeon. He chased them along the road that goes to the slope of Beth Horon and continued to defeat them all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.

¹¹As they fled from the Israelites down the slope of Beth Horon toward Azekah, the Lord threw huge hailstones on them. More died from the hailstones than from Israelite swords.

¹²The day the Lord handed the Amorites over to the people of Israel, Joshua spoke to the Lord while Israel was watching,

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,

and moon, stand still over the valley of Aijalon!”

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