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    Joshua · 27 verses

    Joshua 9

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    The chapter

    What happens here

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    A treaty is made over moldy bread, cracked wineskins, and a journey that never happened—and three days later the treaty has become a permanent job description.

    A coalition gathers, and Gibeon improvisesvv. 1–6

    The kings west of the Jordan assemble for war against Joshua and Israel. Gibeon, having heard what happened to Jericho and Ai, chooses a less martial arrangement: its people dress the part of exhausted travellers, loading donkeys with battered sacks and cracked wineskins, and carry bread already dry and moldy. At Gilgal they ask Joshua and the men of Israel for a treaty, claiming to have come from a distant land.

    The evidence is examined, but not the counselvv. 7–15

    Israel’s men suspect the visitors may be neighbours, while the visitors call themselves servants and give Joshua a carefully rehearsed history. They appeal to the fame of the LORD’s deeds in Egypt and to Sihon and Og beyond the Jordan, then produce the travelling evidence: bread that was warm when packed, wineskins that were new, and clothing and sandals worn thin by the road. The men of Israel sample the provisions, but the text adds one pointed omission: they did not seek the counsel of the LORD. Joshua makes peace with them, and the leaders swear an oath.

    Three days later, the long journey ends nearbyvv. 16–27

    Three days after the oath, Israel learns that the supposed travellers are neighbours living among them. The Israelites reach Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim, but do not attack, because the leaders have sworn by the LORD. The congregation grumbles; the leaders, having given their word, decide that the Gibeonites will live as woodcutters and water carriers. Joshua summons them, hears that fear for their lives prompted the deception, and delivers them from being killed. The treaty survives, though in a distinctly less glamorous form: service for the congregation and for the altar at the place the LORD would choose.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Josh 9:1Now when news of this reached all the kings west of the Jordan—those in the hill country, the foothills, and all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon (the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites)—

    2. Josh 9:2they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

    3. Josh 9:3But the people of Gibeon, having heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

    4. Josh 9:4acted deceptively and set out as envoys, carrying on their donkeys worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

    5. Josh 9:5They put worn, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies, and their whole supply of bread was dry and moldy.

    6. Josh 9:6They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land; please make a treaty with us.”

    7. Josh 9:7But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell near us. How can we make a treaty with you?”

    8. Josh 9:8“We are your servants,” they said to Joshua. Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you and where have you come from?”

    9. Josh 9:9“Your servants have come from a very distant land,” they replied, “because of the fame of the LORD your God. For we have heard the reports about Him: all that He did in Egypt,

    10. Josh 9:10and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.

    11. Josh 9:11So the elders and inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go to meet them and say to them: We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.’

    12. Josh 9:12This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But look, it is now dry and moldy.

    13. Josh 9:13These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.”

    14. Josh 9:14Then the men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not seek the counsel of the LORD.

    15. Josh 9:15And Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

    16. Josh 9:16Three days after they had made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites learned that they were neighbors, living among them.

    17. Josh 9:17So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities—Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

    18. Josh 9:18But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders.

    19. Josh 9:19All the leaders answered, “We have sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.

    20. Josh 9:20This is how we will treat them: We will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them.”

    21. Josh 9:21They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation.” So the leaders kept their promise.

    22. Josh 9:22Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us?

    23. Josh 9:23Now therefore you are under a curse and will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

    24. Josh 9:24The Gibeonites answered, “Your servants were told clearly that the LORD your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and wipe out all its inhabitants before you. So we greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we have done this.

    25. Josh 9:25Now we are in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you.”

    26. Josh 9:26So Joshua did this and delivered them from the hands of the Israelites, and they did not kill the Gibeonites.

    27. Josh 9:27On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers, as they are to this day for the congregation of the LORD and for the altar at the place He would choose.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 196 passages were voted onto 25 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 14Proverbs 3:5–6Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
    • 14Numbers 27:21He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the LORD by the judgment of the Urim. At his command, he and all the Israelites with him—the entire congregation—will go out and come in.”
    • 141 Chronicles 10:13–14So Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance,
    • 142 Samuel 5:19So David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” “Go up,” replied the LORD, “for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
    • 1Numbers 34:6Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west.
    • 3Joshua 10:2So Adoni-zedek and his people were greatly alarmed, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were mighty.
    • 6Joshua 5:10On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover.
    • 7Joshua 11:19No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites living in Gibeon; all others were taken in battle.
    • 9Deuteronomy 20:15This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
    • 141 Samuel 30:7–8Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought it to him,
    • 14Judges 20:28and Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, served before it.) The Israelites asked, “Should we again go out to battle against our brothers the Benjamites, or should we stop?” The LORD answered, “Fight, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”
    • 14Ezra 8:21And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
    • 14Isaiah 30:1–2“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
    • 14Judges 1:1After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”
    • 152 Samuel 21:2At this, David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but in his zeal for Israel and Judah, Saul had sought to kill them.)
    • 21Deuteronomy 29:11your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—

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