Joshua 9–10

The Gibeonite Trickery

9All the kings west of the Jordan River heard about these things: the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. They lived in the mountains and on the western hills and along the whole Mediterranean Sea coast. ²So all these kings gathered to fight Joshua and the Israelites.

³When the people of Gibeon heard how Joshua had defeated Jericho and Ai, ⁴they decided to trick the Israelites. They gathered old sacks and old leather wine bags that were cracked and mended, and they put them on the backs of their donkeys. ⁵They put old sandals on their feet and wore old clothes, and they took some dry, moldy bread. ⁶Then they went to Joshua in the camp near Gilgal.

The men said to Joshua and the Israelites, “We have traveled from a faraway country. Make a peace agreement with us.”

⁷The Israelites 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 who have come from a far country, because we heard of the fame of the Lord your God. We heard about what he has done and everything he did in Egypt. ¹⁰We heard that he defeated the two kings of the Amorites from the east side of the Jordan River—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan who ruled in Ashtaroth. ¹¹So our elders and our people said to us, ‘Take food for your journey and go and meet the Israelites. Tell them, “We are your servants. Make a peace agreement with us.” ’

¹²“Look at our bread. On the day we left home to come to you it was warm and fresh, but now it is dry and moldy. ¹³Look at our leather wine bags. They were new and filled with wine, but now they are cracked and old. Our clothes and sandals are worn out from the long journey.”

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 and to let them live. And the leaders of the Israelites swore an oath to keep the agreement.

¹⁶Three days after they had made the agreement, the Israelites learned that the Gibeonites lived nearby. ¹⁷So the Israelites went to where they lived and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. ¹⁸But the Israelites did not attack those cities, because they had made a promise to them before the Lord, the God of Israel.

All the Israelites grumbled against the leaders. ¹⁹But the leaders answered, “We have given our promise before the Lord, the God of Israel, so we cannot attack them now. ²⁰This is what we must do. We must let them live. Otherwise, God’s anger will be against us for breaking the oath we swore to them. ²¹So let them live, but they will cut wood and carry water for our people.” So the leaders kept their promise to them.

²²Joshua called for the Gibeonites and asked, “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 to be our slaves. You will have to cut wood and carry water for the house of my God.”

²⁴The Gibeonites answered Joshua, “We lied to you because we were afraid you would kill us. We heard that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all of this land and to kill all the people who lived in it. That is why we did this. ²⁵Now you can decide what to do with us, whatever you think is right.”

²⁶So Joshua saved their lives by not allowing the Israelites to kill them, ²⁷but he made the Gibeonites slaves. 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.

The Sun Stands Still

10At this time Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had defeated Ai and completely destroyed it, as he had also done to Jericho and its king. The king also learned that the Gibeonites had made a peace agreement with Israel and that they lived nearby. ²Adoni-Zedek and his people were very afraid because of this. Gibeon was not a little town like Ai; it was a large city, as big as a city that had a king, and all its men were good fighters. ³So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent a message to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon. He begged them, ⁴“Come with me and help me attack Gibeon, which has made a peace agreement with Joshua and the Israelites.”

⁵Then these five Amorite kings—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon—gathered their armies, went to Gibeon, surrounded it, and attacked it.

⁶The Gibeonites sent this message to Joshua in his camp at Gilgal: “Don’t let us, your servants, be destroyed. Come quickly and help us! Save us! All the Amorite kings from the mountains have joined their armies and are fighting against us.”

⁷So Joshua marched out of Gilgal with his whole army, including his best fighting men. ⁸The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of those armies, because I will hand them over to you. None of them will be able to stand against you.”

⁹Joshua and his army marched all night from Gilgal for a surprise attack. ¹⁰The Lord confused those armies when Israel attacked, so Israel defeated them in a great victory at Gibeon. They chased them along the road going up to Beth Horon and killed men all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹As they chased the enemy down the Beth Horon Pass to Azekah, the Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky and killed them. More people were killed by the hailstones than by the Israelites’ swords.

¹²On the day that the Lord gave up the Amorites to the Israelites, Joshua stood before all the people of Israel and said to the Lord:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon.

Moon, stand still over the Valley of Aijalon.”

¹³So the sun stood still,

and the moon stopped

until the people defeated their enemies.

These words are written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and waited to go down for a full day. ¹⁴That has never happened at any time before that day or since. That was the day the Lord listened to a human being. Truly the Lord was fighting for Israel!

¹⁵After this, Joshua and his army went back to the camp at Gilgal.

¹⁶During the fight the five kings ran away and hid in a cave near Makkedah, ¹⁷but someone found them hiding in the cave at Makkedah and told Joshua. ¹⁸So he said, “Cover the opening of the cave with large rocks. Put some men there to guard it, ¹⁹but don’t stay there yourselves. Continue chasing the enemy and attacking them from behind. Don’t let them get to their cities, because the Lord your God will hand them over to you.”

²⁰So Joshua and the Israelites killed the enemy, but a few were able to get back to their strong, walled cities. ²¹After the fighting, Joshua’s men came back safely to him at Makkedah. No one was brave enough to say a word against the Israelites.

²²Joshua said, “Move the rocks that are covering the opening of the cave and bring those five kings out to me.” ²³So Joshua’s men brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. ²⁴When they brought the five kings out to Joshua, he called for all his men. He said to the commanders of his army, “Come here! Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came close and put their feet on their necks.

²⁵Joshua said to his men, “Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid, because I will show you what the Lord will do to the enemies you will fight in the future.” ²⁶Then Joshua killed the five kings and hung their bodies on five trees, where he left them until evening.

²⁷At sunset Joshua told his men to take the bodies down from the trees. Then they threw them into the same cave where they had been hiding and covered the opening of the cave with large rocks, which are still there today.

²⁸That day Joshua defeated Makkedah. He killed the king and completely destroyed all the people in that city as an offering to the Lord; no one was left alive. He did the same thing to the king of Makkedah that he had done to the king of Jericho.

Defeating Southern Cities

²⁹Joshua and all the Israelites traveled from Makkedah to Libnah and attacked it. ³⁰The Lord handed over the city and its king. They killed every person in the city; no one was left alive. And they did the same thing to that king that they had done to the king of Jericho.

³¹Then Joshua and all the Israelites left Libnah and went to Lachish, which they surrounded and attacked. ³²The Lord handed over Lachish on the second day. The Israelites killed everyone in that city just as they had done to Libnah. ³³During this same time Horam king of Gezer came to help Lachish, but Joshua also defeated him and his army; no one was left alive.

³⁴Then Joshua and all the Israelites went from Lachish to Eglon. They surrounded Eglon, attacked it, and ³⁵captured it the same day. They killed all its people and completely destroyed everything in it as an offering to the Lord, just as they had done to Lachish.

³⁶Then Joshua and the Israelites went from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it, ³⁷capturing it and all the little towns near it. The Israelites killed everyone in Hebron; no one was left alive there. Just as they had done to Eglon, they completely destroyed the city and all its people as an offering to the Lord.

³⁸Then Joshua and the Israelites went back to Debir and attacked it. ³⁹They captured that city, its king, and all the little towns near it, completely destroying everyone in Debir as an offering to the Lord; no one was left alive there. Israel did to Debir and its king just as they had done to Libnah and its king, just as they had done to Hebron.

⁴⁰So Joshua defeated all the kings of the cities of these areas: the mountains, southern Canaan, the western hills, and the slopes. The Lord, the God of Israel, had told Joshua to completely destroy all the people as an offering to the Lord, so he left no one…