Chapter 9

¹It happened, when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it; ²that they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. ³But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, ⁴they also resorted to a ruse, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins, old and torn and bound up, ⁵and old and patched shoes on their feet, and old garments on them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and was become moldy. ⁶They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him, and to the men of Israel, We are come from a far country: now therefore make you a covenant with us. ⁷The men of Israel said to the Hivites, What if you dwell among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you? ⁸They said to Joshua, We are your servants. Joshua said to them, Who are you? and from whence come you? ⁹They said to him, From a very far country your servants are come because of the name of Yahweh your 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, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. ¹¹Our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and tell them, We are your servants: and now make you a covenant with us. ¹²This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go to you; but now, behold, it is dry, and is become moldy: ¹³and these wineskins, which we filled, were new; and behold, they are torn: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. ¹⁴The men took of their provision, and didn’t ask counsel at the mouth of Yahweh. ¹⁵Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation swore to them. ¹⁶It happened at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. ¹⁷The children of Israel traveled, and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. ¹⁸The children of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. All the congregation murmured against the princes. ¹⁹But all the princes said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. ²⁰This we will do to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them. ²¹The princes said to them, Let them live: so they became wood cutters and drawers of water to all the congregation, as the princes had spoken to them. ²²Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have you deceived us, saying, We are very far from you; when you dwell among us? ²³Now therefore you are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondservants, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my God. ²⁴They answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told your servants, how that Yahweh your 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 for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. ²⁵Now, behold, we are in your hand: as it seems good and right to you to do to us, do. ²⁶So did he to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they didn’t kill them. ²⁷That day Joshua made those wood cutters and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, in the place which he should choose.