Joshua 9:11

11 So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, 'Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, "We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us." '

Joshua 9:11 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 9:11

Wherefore our elders, and all the inhabitants of our country,
spake unto us
They suggest, that their senate, or the states of their country, their principal men were convened, and that it was the unanimous voice of them, and of the people, that they should go on this embassy:

saying, take victuals with you for the journey;
sufficient for so long a journey; for, in those times and countries, inns on the road were not frequent as now:

and go to meet them;
to prevent their coming in an hostile manner unto them, and make peace, and enter into an alliance with them:

and say unto them, we [are] your servants;
ready to come into any terms with them, just and reasonable:

therefore now make ye a league with us;
that we may live in friendship, and mutually assist each other, as occasion should require.

Joshua 9:11 In-Context

9 They replied to him, "Your servants have come from a far away land because of the reputation of the Lord your God. For we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt,

10 and all that He did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan-Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth.

11 So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, 'Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, "We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us." '

12 This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you. But take a look, it is now dry and crumbly.

13 These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey."