Joshua 9:8-24

⁸And they said to Joshua, We be thy servants. To whom Joshua said, What men be ye, and from whence came ye?

⁹They answered, (We) Thy servants came from a full far land in the name of thy Lord God; for we have heard the fame of his power, and all (the) things which he did in Egypt,

¹⁰and to the two kings of Amorites beyond (the) Jordan; to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, that were in Ashtaroth. (and to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan River; that is, to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, and to Og, the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.)

¹¹And the elder men and all the dwellers of our land said to us, Take ye meats in your hands, for the full long way; and go ye to them, and say ye, We be your servants; make ye bond of peace with us. (And the elders and all the citizens of our land said to us, Take ye food with you, for the very long way; and go ye to them, and say ye, We be your servants; make ye a covenant with us.)

¹²And we took hot loaves, when we went out of our houses to come to you; (but) now they be made dry and broken, for great eldness;

¹³we filled new bottles of wine (or and we filled new bottles with wine); (but) now they be broken and unsewed; (and) the clothes and (the) shoes, with which we be clothed, and which we have on our feet, be broken and well-nigh wasted, from the length of (the) long way.

¹⁴Then they took of the meats of these men, and they asked not counsel of the Lord. (And they took some food from these men, but they did not ask any counsel from the Lord.)

¹⁵And Joshua made peace with them. And when the bond of peace was made, he promised, that they should not be slain; and the princes of the multitude swore to them. (And so Joshua made peace with them. And when the covenant was made, he promised, that they would not be killed; and the leaders of the multitude swore to them as well. And they went away.)

¹⁶And after three days of the bond of peace made, the men of Israel heard, that those men dwelled in nigh place, and that they should be soon among those men. (And three days after that the covenant was made, the Israelites heard that those men lived nearby, and that they would soon be among them.)

¹⁷And the sons of Israel moved their tents, and came in the third day into the cities of them, (or And the Israelites moved their camp, and came on the third day into their cities), of which cities these be the names; Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriathjearim.

¹⁸And Israel destroyed not them, for the princes of the multitude had sworn to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. Therefore all the common people grouched against the princes of Israel; (But Israel did not destroy them, for the leaders of the multitude had sworn to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. And so all the common people grumbled against Israel’s leaders;)

¹⁹and the princes answered to them, We swore to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and therefore we may not touch them; (and the leaders answered to them, and said, We swore to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and so we cannot touch them;)

²⁰but we shall do this thing to them; be they kept that they live, lest the ire of the Lord be stirred against us, if we forswear us to them; (but we shall do this to them; let them be kept alive, lest the Lord’s anger be stirred up against us, if we break our oath to them;)

²¹but so live they, that they hew trees, and bear waters, into the uses of all the multitude. And while they spake these things, (but let them live, so that they can cut wood, and carry water, for the use of all the multitude of Israel. And while they spoke of these things,)

²²Joshua called (for the) Gibeonites, and said to them, Why would ye deceive us by fraud, (so) that ye said, We dwell full far from you, since ye be in the midst of us? (or We live far away from you, when truly ye live right here in the midst of us?)

²³Therefore ye shall be under cursing, and none shall fail of your generation, hewing trees and bearing waters, into the house of my God. (And so because ye did this, ye shall all be cursed, and none of your generation shall ever be free, from cutting wood and carrying water, for the House of my God or for God’s household, or his family.)

²⁴Which answered, It was told to us thy servants, that thy Lord God promised to Moses, his servant, that he should betake to you all the land, and should lose all the dwellers thereof; therefore we dreaded greatly, and purveyed to our lives, and we were compelled by your dread, and we took this counsel. (And they answered, It was told to us thy servants, that the Lord thy God promised to his servant Moses, that he would deliver all the land to you, and would destroy all of its inhabitants; and so we greatly feared, and purveyed for our own lives, and we were compelled by our fear of you, and so we did this thing.)