³ The people of Gibeon had also heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai. ⁴ So they decided that some of their men should pretend to be messengers to Israel from a faraway country.^[a] The men put worn-out bags on their donkeys and found some old wineskins that had cracked and had been sewn back together. ⁵ Their sandals were old and patched, and their clothes were worn out. They even took along some dry and crumbly bread. ⁶ Then they went to the Israelite camp at Gilgal, where they said to Joshua and the men of Israel, “We have come from a country that is far from here. Please make a peace treaty with us.”

^7-8 (A) The Israelites replied, “But maybe you really live near us. We can't make a peace treaty with you if you live nearby.”^[b]

The Gibeonites^[c] said, “If you make a peace treaty with us, we will be your servants.”

“Who are you?” Joshua asked. “Where do you come from?”

They answered:

⁹ We are your servants, and we live far from here. We came because the Lord your God is so famous. We heard what the Lord did in Egypt ^10 (B) and what he did to those two Amorite kings on the other side of the Jordan: King Og of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, and King Sihon of Heshbon.

¹¹ Our leaders and everyone who lives in our country told us to meet with you and tell you that all of us are your servants. They said to ask you to make a peace treaty with our people. They told us to be sure and take along enough food for our journey. ¹² See this dry, crumbly bread of ours? It was hot out of the oven when we packed the food on the day we left our homes. ¹³ These cracked wineskins were new when we filled them, and our clothes and sandals are worn out because we have traveled so far.

¹⁴ The Israelites tried some of the food,^[d] but they did not ask the Lord if he wanted them to make a treaty. ¹⁵ So Joshua made a peace treaty with the messengers and promised that Israel would not kill their people. Israel's leaders swore that Israel would keep this promise.