³But the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai, ⁴and they acted on their part with cunning: they went and prepared provisions,^k and took worn-out sacks^l for their donkeys and old wineskins that were torn and mended. ⁵The sandals on their feet were patched and old, their clothes were old, and their food was dry and crumbled. ⁶And they went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far land; so then make a covenant with us.”^m ⁷And the men of Israel said to the Hivites,ⁿ “Perhaps you are living among us; how can we make a covenant^o with you?” ⁸They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and from where do you come?” ⁹And they said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far land because of the name of Yahweh your God; we have heard of his reputation, of all that he did in Egypt, ¹⁰and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan—to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. ¹¹So our elders said to us and all the inhabitants of our land, ‘Take in your hand provisions for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, “We are your servants; so then make a covenant with us.” ’^p ¹²This is our bread; it was hot when we took it from our houses as provisions on the day we set out to come to you. But now, look, it is dry and crumbled. ¹³These are the wineskins that we filled new, but look, they have burst; and these are our clothes and sandals that have worn out from the very long journey.” ¹⁴So the leaders^q took from their provisions, but they did not ask direction from Yahweh.^r ¹⁵And Joshua made peace with them, and he made a covenant with them^s to allow them to live happily, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

¹⁶And it happened that at the end of three days, after they made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors^t and living among them. ¹⁷And the Israelites^u set out and went to their cities on the third day (their cities were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim).

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Footnotes

kThe Hebrew is difficult here. Some ancient manuscripts read, “they sent out a delegation/an envoy”
lOr “sackcloths”
mLiterally “cut for us a covenant”
nHebrew “Hivite”
oLiterally “cut a covenant”
pLiterally “cut for us a covenant”
qOr “men”
rLiterally “the mouth of Yahweh they did not ask”
sLiterally “he cut a covenant with them”
tLiterally “they were near them”
uLiterally “sons/children of Israel”