Beginning
The Gibeonite Trickery
9 All the kings west of the Jordan River heard about these things. These were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They lived in the mountains and on the western mountain slopes. They also lived along the whole Mediterranean Sea coast. 2 All these kings gathered to fight Joshua and the Israelites.
3 The people of Gibeon heard how Joshua had defeated Jericho and Ai. 4 So they decided to trick the Israelites. They gathered old leather wine bags that were cracked and mended. They put them on the backs of their donkeys. They also put old sacks on their donkeys. 5 The men put old sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. They took some dry, moldy bread. 6 Then they went to Joshua in the camp near Gilgal.
The men spoke to Joshua and the men of Israel. They said, “We have traveled from a faraway country. Make a peace agreement with us.”
7 The men of Israel said to these Hivites, “Maybe you live near us. How can we make a peace agreement with you?”
8 The Hivites said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”
But Joshua asked, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”
9 The men answered, “We are your servants. We have come from a far country. We came because we heard of the fame of the Lord your God. We heard about what he has done. We heard about everything he did in Egypt. 10 We heard that he defeated the two kings of the Amorites. They were from the east side of the Jordan River: Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan who was king in Ashtaroth. 11 So our elders and our people spoke to us. They said, ‘Take food for your journey. Go and meet the Israelites. Tell them, “We are your servants. Make a peace agreement with us.”’
12 “Look at our bread. When we left home it was warm and fresh. But now it is dry and moldy. 13 Look at our leather winebags. When we left home they were new and filled with wine. Now they are cracked and old. Look at our clothes and sandals. The long journey has almost destroyed them.”
14 The men of Israel tasted the bread. But they did not ask the Lord what to do. 15 So Joshua agreed to make peace with the Gibeonites. He agreed to let them live. The leaders of the Israelites made a promise to keep the agreement.
16 Three days later the Israelites learned that the Gibeonites lived nearby. 17 So the Israelites went to where they lived. On the third day the Israelites came to their cities. The cities were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim. 18 But the Israelites did not attack those cities. They had made a promise to them before the Lord, the God of Israel.
All the Israelites grumbled against the leaders who had made the agreement. 19 But the leaders answered, “We have given our promise before the Lord, the God of Israel. We cannot attack them now. 20 This is what we must do. We must let them live. We cannot hurt them, or God’s anger will be against us. We would be breaking the promise we made to them. 21 So let them live. But they will cut wood and carry water for our people.” So the leaders kept their promise of peace to them.
22 Joshua called for the Gibeonites. He said, “Why did you lie to us? Your land was near our camp. But you told us you were from a far country. 23 Now, you will be placed under a curse. You will be our slaves. You will have to cut wood and carry water for the people of the house of God.”
24 The Gibeonites answered Joshua, “We lied to you because we were afraid you would kill us. We heard that God commanded his servant Moses to give you all of this land. And God told you to kill all the people who lived in the land. That is why we did this. 25 Now you can decide what to do with us. You can do anything to us that you think is right.”
26 So Joshua saved their lives. He did not allow the Israelites to kill them. 27 But Joshua made the Gibeonites slaves to the Israelites. They cut wood and carried water for the Israelites. And they did it for the altar of the Lord—wherever he chose it to be. They are still doing this today.
The Sun Stands Still
10 At this time Adoni-Zedek was the king of Jerusalem. He heard that Joshua had defeated Ai and completely destroyed it. He learned that Joshua had done the same thing to Jericho and its king. The king also learned that the Gibeonites had made a peace agreement with Israel. And they lived very near Jerusalem. 2 So Adoni-Zedek and his people were very afraid because of this. Gibeon was not a little town like Ai. It was a large city. It was as big as a city that had a king. All its men were good fighters. 3 So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent a message to Hoham king of Hebron. He also sent it to Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon. The king of Jerusalem begged these men, 4 “Come with me and help me attack Gibeon. Gibeon has made a peace agreement with Joshua and the Israelites.”
5 Then these five Amorite kings joined their armies. They were the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. These armies went to Gibeon, surrounded it and attacked it.
6 The Gibeonites sent a message to Joshua in his camp at Gilgal. The message said: “We are your servants. Don’t let us be destroyed. Come quickly and help us! Save us! All the Amorite kings from the mountains have joined their armies. They are fighting against us.”
7 So Joshua marched out of Gilgal with his whole army. His best fighting men were with him. 8 The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of those armies. I will allow you to defeat them. None of them will be able to defeat you.”
9 Joshua and his army marched all night to Gibeon. So Joshua surprised them when he attacked. 10 The Lord confused those armies when Israel attacked. So Israel defeated them in a great victory. They chased them from Gibeon on the road going to Beth Horon. The army of Israel killed men all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11 They chased the enemy down the road from Beth Horon to Azekah. While they were chasing them, the Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky. Many of the enemy were killed by the hailstones. More men were killed by the hailstones than the Israelites killed with their swords.
12 That day the Lord allowed the Israelites to defeat the Amorites. And that day Joshua stood before all the people of Israel and said to the Lord:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon.
Moon, stand still over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 So the sun stood still.
And the moon stopped
until the people defeated their enemies.
These words are written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky. It waited to go down for a full day. 14 That has never happened at any time before that day or since. That was the day the Lord listened to a man. Truly the Lord was fighting for Israel!
15 After this, Joshua and his army went back to the camp at Gilgal.
16 During the fight the five kings ran away. They hid in a cave near Makkedah. 17 But someone found them hiding in the cave and told Joshua. 18 So he said, “Cover the opening to the cave with large rocks. Put some men there to guard it. 19 But don’t stay there yourselves. Continue chasing the enemy. Continue attacking them from behind. Don’t let them get to their cities safely. The Lord your God has given you the victory over them.”
20 So Joshua and the Israelites killed the enemy. But a few were able to get back to their strong, walled cities. 21 After the fighting, Joshua’s men came back safely to him at Makkedah. No one was brave enough to say a word against the Israelites.
22 Joshua said, “Move the rocks that are covering the opening to the cave. Bring those five kings out to me.” 23 So Joshua’s men brought the five kings out of the cave. They were the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. 24 They brought the five kings out to Joshua. He called all his men to come to that place. He said to the commanders of his army, “Come here! Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came close and put their feet on their necks.
25 Then Joshua said to his men, “Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid. I will show you what the Lord will do to the enemies you will fight in the future.” 26 Then Joshua killed the five kings. He hung their bodies on five trees. And he left them hanging on the trees until evening.
27 At sunset Joshua told his men to take the bodies down from the trees. Then they threw their bodies into the same cave where they had been hiding. They covered the opening to the cave with large rocks. They are still there today.
28 That day Joshua defeated Makkedah. He killed the king and completely destroyed all the people in that city. He killed them as an offering to the Lord. There was no one left alive. He did the same thing to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.
Defeating Southern Cities
29 Then Joshua and all the Israelites traveled from Makkedah. They went to Libnah and attacked it. 30 The Lord allowed them to defeat it and its king. They killed every person in the city. No one was left alive. And they did the same thing to that king as they had done to the king of Jericho.
31 Then Joshua and all the Israelites left Libnah and went to Lachish. They camped around Lachish and attacked it. 32 The Lord allowed them to defeat Lachish. On the second day Joshua defeated it. The Israelites killed everyone in that city. This was the same thing they had done to Libnah. 33 During this same time Horam king of Gezer came to help Lachish. But Joshua also defeated him and his army. There was no one left alive.
34 Then Joshua and all the Israelites went from Lachish to Eglon. They camped around Eglon and attacked it. 35 That day they captured Eglon. They killed all its people and completely destroyed everything in it as an offering to the Lord. This is the same thing they had done to Lachish.
36 Then Joshua and the Israelites went from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it. 37 They captured it and all the little towns near it. The Israelites killed everyone in Hebron. No one was left alive there. This was the same thing they had done to Eglon. They completely destroyed the city and all its people as an offering to the Lord.
38 Then Joshua and the Israelites went back to Debir and attacked it. 39 They captured that city, its king and all the little towns near it. They completely destroyed everyone in Debir as an offering to the Lord. No one was left alive there. Israel did to Debir and its king the same thing they had done to Libnah and its king. This was what they had done to Hebron.
40 So Joshua defeated all the kings of the cities of these areas: the mountains, southern Canaan, the western mountain slopes and the eastern mountain slopes. The Lord, the God of Israel, had told Joshua to completely destroy all the people as an offering to the Lord. So he left no one alive in those places. 41 Joshua captured all the cities from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza. And he captured all the cities from Goshen to Gibeon. 42 He captured all these cities and their kings on one trip. He did it because the Lord, the God of Israel, was fighting for Israel.
43 Then Joshua and all the Israelites returned to their camp at Gilgal.
Defeating Northern Kings
11 Jabin king of Hazor heard about all that had happened. He sent messages to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron and to the king of Acshaph. 2 He sent one to the kings in the northern mountains. Jabin also sent a message to the kings in the Jordan Valley south of Lake Galilee and in the western mountain slopes. He sent a message to the king of Naphoth Dor in the west. 3 Jabin also sent one to the kings of the Canaanites in the east and in the west. He sent messages to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the mountains. Jabin also sent one to the Hivites. They lived below Mount Hermon in the area of Mizpah. 4 So the armies of all these kings came together. There were many fighting men, horses and chariots. It was a huge army. It looked like there were as many men as grains of sand on the seashore.
5 All of these kings met together at the Waters of Merom. They joined their armies together into one camp. They made plans to fight against the Israelites.
6 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them. At this time tomorrow I will allow you to defeat them. You will kill all of them. You will cripple their horses and burn all their chariots.”
7 So Joshua and his whole army surprised the enemy. They attacked them at the Waters of Merom. 8 The Lord allowed Israel to defeat them. They chased them to Greater Sidon, Misrephoth Maim and the Valley of Mizpah in the east. Israel fought until none of the enemy was left alive. 9 Joshua did what the Lord said to do. He cut the legs of their horses and burned their chariots.
10 Then Joshua went back and captured the city of Hazor. He killed the king of Hazor. (Hazor had been the leader of all the kingdoms that fought against Israel.) 11 Israel killed everyone in Hazor. They completely destroyed them. There was nothing left alive. Then they burned Hazor itself.
12 Joshua captured all of these cities. He killed all of their kings. He completely destroyed everything in these cities. He did this the way Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. 13 But the Israelites did not burn any cities that were built on their hills, except Hazor. That city alone was burned by Joshua. 14 The people of Israel kept for themselves everything they found in the cities. They kept all the animals they found. But they killed all the people there. They did not leave anyone alive. 15 Long ago the Lord had commanded his servant Moses to do this. Then Moses had commanded Joshua to do it. So Joshua obeyed God. He did everything the Lord had commanded Moses.
16 So Joshua defeated all the people in the land. He had control of the mountains and the area of southern Canaan. He controlled all the areas of Goshen, the western mountain slopes and the Jordan Valley. He controlled the mountains of Israel and all the hills near them. 17 Joshua controlled all the land from Mount Halak near Edom to Baal Gad. Baal Gad was in the Valley of Lebanon, below Mount Hermon. Joshua captured all the kings in the land and killed them. 18 He fought against them for many years. 19 The people of only one city in all the land had made a peace agreement with Israel. They were the Hivites living in Gibeon. All the other cities were defeated in war. 20 The Lord made those people stubborn so they would fight against Israel. This way he could completely destroy them without mercy. This is what the Lord had commanded Moses to do.
21 Now Joshua fought the Anakites who lived in the mountains of Hebron, Debir, Anab, Judah and Israel. And he completely destroyed them and their towns. 22 There were no Anakites left living in the land of the Israelites. Only a few Anakites were left in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. 23 Joshua took control of all the land of Israel. This was what the Lord had told Moses to do long ago. He gave the land to Israel because he had promised it to them. Then Joshua divided the land among the tribes of Israel. The fighting had finally ended. And there was peace in the land.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.