³ The inhabitants of ^(A)Gibeon also heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, ⁴ but they on their part acted craftily and went and took provisions for a journey, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins that were worn out, split open, and patched, ⁵ and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled. ⁶ And they went to Joshua at the ^(B)camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now then, make a covenant with us.” ⁷ But the men of Israel said to the ^(C)Hivites, “Perhaps you are living ^[a]within our land; ^(D)how then are we to make a covenant with you?” ⁸ So they said to Joshua, “^(E)We are your servants.” Then Joshua said to them, “Who are you and where do you come from?” ⁹ They said to him, “Your servants have come from ^(F)a very distant country because of the ^[b]fame of the Lord your God; for ^(G)we have heard the report about Him and all that He did in Egypt, ¹⁰ and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was in Ashtaroth. ¹¹ So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, “^(H)We are your servants; now then, make a covenant with us.”’ ¹² This bread of ours was hot when we took it for our provisions from our houses on the day that we left to come to you; but now behold, it is dry and has become crumbled. ¹³ And these wineskins which we filled were new, and behold, they are split open; and these clothes of ours and our sandals are worn out from the very long journey.” ¹⁴ So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and ^(I)did not ask for the ^[c]counsel of the Lord. ¹⁵ And ^(J)Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

¹⁶ However, it came about at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were neighbors and that they were living ^[d]within their land. ¹⁷ Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were ^(K)Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸ But the sons of Israel did not ^[e]attack them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. ¹⁹ But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. ²⁰ This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be on us because of the oath which we swore to them.” ²¹ So the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” And they became ^(L)gatherers of firewood and ^[f]labor to draw water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them.

²² Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ ^(M)when you are living ^[g]within our land? ²³ Now therefore, you are ^(N)cursed, and ^[h]you will never cease to be slaves, both gatherers of firewood and ^[i]labor to draw water for the house of my God.” ²⁴ So they answered Joshua and said, “^(O)Since your servants were fully informed that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you, we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and did this thing. ²⁵ And now behold, ^(P)we are in your hands; do to us as it seems good and right in your sight to do.” ²⁶ This he did to them, and saved them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them. ²⁷ But on that day Joshua made them gatherers of firewood and ^[j]labor to draw water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, ^(Q)in the place which He would choose.

²⁴ Now some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla his ^[a]wife, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about ^(A)faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ But as he was discussing ^(B)righteousness, ^(C)self-control, and ^(D)the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and responded, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, I will summon you.” ²⁶ At the same time he was also hoping that ^(E)money would be given to him by Paul; therefore he also used to send for him quite often and talk with him. ²⁷ But after two years had passed, Felix ^[b]was succeeded by Porcius ^(F)Festus; and Felix, ^(G)wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul ^(H)imprisoned.

Paul before Festus

25 Festus, then, after arriving in ^(I)the province, went up to Jerusalem from ^(J)Caesarea three days later. ² And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews ^(K)brought charges against Paul, and they were pleading with ^[c]Festus, ³ requesting a ^[d]concession against ^[e]Paul, that he might ^[f]have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, ^(L)setting an ambush to kill him on the way). ⁴ Festus then ^(M)answered that Paul ^(N)was being kept in custody in ^(O)Caesarea, and that he himself was about to leave shortly. ⁵ “Therefore,” he *said, “have the influential men among you ^[g]go there with me, and if there is anything wrong ^[h]about the man, have them bring charges against him.”

⁶ After Festus had spent no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to ^(P)Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on ^(Q)the tribunal and ordered that Paul be brought. ⁷ After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing ^(R)many, and serious, charges against him ^(S)which they could not prove, ⁸ while Paul said in his own defense, “^(T)I have not done anything wrong either against the Law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar.” ⁹ But Festus, ^(U)wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul and said, “^(V)Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and ^[i]stand trial before me on these charges?” ¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s ^(W)tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. ¹¹ If, therefore, I am in the wrong and have committed something deserving death, I am not trying to avoid execution; but if there is nothing to the accusations which these men are bringing against me, no one can hand me over to them. I ^(X)appeal to Caesar.” ¹² Then when Festus had conferred with ^[j]his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.”

Five Kings Attack Gibeon

10 Now it came about when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai, and had ^[a]utterly destroyed it (just ^(A)as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had ^(B)made peace with Israel and were ^[b]within their land, ² that ^[c]he ^(C)feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. ³ Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word ^(D)to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, ⁴ “Come up to me and help me, and let’s ^[d]attack Gibeon, for it has ^(E)made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel.” ⁵ So the five kings of ^(F)the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they with all their armies, and camped by Gibeon and fought against it.

⁶ Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, “Do not ^[e]abandon your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that live in the hill country have assembled against us.” ⁷ So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and ^(G)all the people of war with him, and all the valiant warriors. ⁸ And the Lord said to Joshua, “^(H)Do not fear them, for I have handed them over to you; not ^[f]one of them will stand against you.” ⁹ So Joshua came upon them suddenly ^[g]by marching all night from Gilgal. ^10 (I)And the Lord brought them into confusion before Israel, and He struck them down in a great defeat at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent to Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹ And as they fled from Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, ^(J)the Lord hurled large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died ^[h]from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

¹² Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord turned the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

Is it not written in ^(M)the Book of Jashar? And ^(N)the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hurry to go down for about a whole day. ¹⁴ There was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for ^(O)the Lord fought for Israel.

¹⁵ Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp ^[i]at Gilgal.

¹³ Now when several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in ^(A)Caesarea, paying their respects to Festus. ¹⁴ And while they were spending many days there, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There is a man who was ^(B)left as a prisoner by Felix; ¹⁵ and when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews ^(C)brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. ¹⁶ I ^(D)replied to them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any person before ^(E)the accused meets his accusers face to face, and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. ¹⁷ So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on ^(F)the tribunal and ordered that the man be brought. ¹⁸ When the accusers stood up, they did not begin bringing any charges ^[a]against him of crimes that I suspected, ¹⁹ but they simply had some ^(G)points of disagreement with him about their own ^[b](H)religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. ²⁰ And ^(I)being at a loss how to investigate ^[c]such matters, I ^[d]asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these matters. ²¹ But when Paul ^(J)appealed to be held in custody for ^[e]the Emperor’s decision, I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.” ²² Then ^(K)Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

Paul before Agrippa

²³ So, on the next day when ^(L)Agrippa and ^(M)Bernice came amid great pomp and entered the auditorium, ^[f]accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought before them. ²⁴ And Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen present with us, you see this man about whom ^(N)all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that ^(O)he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵ But I found that he had committed ^(P)nothing deserving death; and since he himself ^(Q)appealed to ^[g]the Emperor, I decided to send him. ^26 [h]Yet, I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore, I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. ²⁷ For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well.”