Joshua 9 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible

The Gibeonites Deceive God's People

Chapter 9.

Now when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan—in the hill country, in the lowland, and all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, heard of this, they gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel. But when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they too acted with cunning: they went and disguised themselves as envoys, taking worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins that were old, split, and patched together, with worn and patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothes on their backs. And all the bread of their provisions was dry and crumbling. They went to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant land; now make a covenant with us."

But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live right among us. How then can we make a covenant with you?"

They said to Joshua, "We are your servants." And 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 the report of him—all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan—to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the people of our land said to us, 'Take provisions with you for the journey, go to meet them, and say to them, "We are your servants; now make a covenant with us."' This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at our homes 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, and look—they are split. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey."

So the men sampled their provisions, but they did not seek counsel from our Father. Then Joshua made peace with them and cut a covenant to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them. ¹ But at the end of three days, after they had made the covenant with them, they heard that these people were their neighbors, living right among them. So the people of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. But the people of Israel did not strike them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by our Father, the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, "We have sworn to them by our Father, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. This is what we will do to them: we will let them live, so that no wrath falls upon us because of the oath we swore to them." And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had promised them.

Then Joshua summoned them and said to them, "Why did you deceive us, saying, 'We live very far from you,' when in fact you live right among us? Now therefore you are cursed, and you will never cease to be servants—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my Father."

They answered Joshua, "It was plainly told to your servants how the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and we did this thing. And now, here we are in your hand. Do to us whatever seems good and right in your eyes."

So he did this for them: he rescued them from the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. That day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of our Father, in the place that he would choose—and so they remain to this day.

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