²¹ The leaders went on to say to them, “Let them live.” So they became woodcutters and water haulers for the whole community, exactly as the leaders had intended for them.

²² Joshua called for the Gibeonites and spoke to them: “Why have you deceived us by saying, ‘We live very far away from you,’ when actually you live among us? ²³ So now you are cursed. Some of you will always serve as woodcutters and water haulers for my God’s house.”

²⁴ They answered Joshua, “Your servants had been told that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the entire land and to wipe out all its population on your account. So we feared for our very lives because of you and did this thing. ²⁵ Now, here we are in your power. Do to us whatever seems good and proper to you.” ²⁶ So Joshua treated them in this way. He spared them from the power of the Israelites, and they didn’t kill them. ²⁷ That day Joshua assigned them as woodcutters and water haulers for the community and for the Lord’s altar, located wherever God^[a] would choose. That is still the case today.

Gibeonites under attack

10 Jerusalem’s King Adoni-zedek heard that Joshua had captured Ai and had wiped it out as something reserved for God. Joshua did the same thing to Ai and its king that he had done to Jericho and its king. He also heard that the population of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living among them. ² Adoni-zedek and his people^[a] were very afraid, because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai. All its men were soldiers. ³ So Jerusalem’s King Adoni-zedek sent word to Hebron’s King Hoham, Jarmuth’s King Piram, Lachish’s King Japhia, and Eglon’s King Debir: