Joshua 9:11

11 So the elders and inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go to meet them and say to them: 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 “Your servants have come from a very distant land,” they replied, “because of the fame of the LORD your God. For we have heard the reports about Him: all that He did in Egypt,

10 and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.

11 So the elders and inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go to meet them and say to them: We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.’

12 This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But look, it is now dry and moldy.

13 These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.”