﻿Joshua.
Chapter 9.
When all the kings beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, in the lowland, and along the entire coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—heard this, 
they gathered together with one accord to fight against Joshua and Israel. 
But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 
they too acted shrewdly. They went and presented themselves as envoys, taking worn-out sacks for their donkeys and worn-out wineskins, split and patched, 
with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet and worn-out clothes on their bodies. All the bread of their provisions was dry and crumbling. 
They went to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Now make a covenant with us.” 
The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us. How, then, can we make a covenant with you?” 
They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?” 
They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very distant land because of the name of the LORD your God, for we have heard of his fame and everything he did in Egypt, 
and everything he did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 
Our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey and go to meet them. Say to them: We are your servants; now make a covenant with us.’ 
This bread of ours was warm 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 crumbling. 
These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are split. These clothes and sandals of ours have worn out from the very long journey.” 
So the men took some of their provisions, but they did not seek counsel from the mouth of the LORD. 
Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. The leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them. 
At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, living among them. 
The people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. 
But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. The whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. 
All the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. 
This is what we will do with them: we will let them live, so that wrath does not come upon us because of the oath we swore to them.” 
The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation, as the leaders had told them. 
Joshua called them and said to them, “Why did you deceive us by saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you live among us? 
Now you are cursed, and there will always be slaves among you, woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” 
They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told that the LORD your God had commanded Moses his servant to give you the whole land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. We feared greatly for our lives because of you, and so we did this. 
Now here we are in your hand. Do to us whatever is good and right in your eyes.” 
So he did this for them: he delivered them from the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. 
That day Joshua appointed them to be woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD at the place he would choose, as they are to this day. 
