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.