Joshua 9:5

5 Their sandals were worn-out and repaired, and their clothes were tattered. All their bread was dried out and crumbling.

Joshua 9:5 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 9:5

And old shoes and clouted upon their feet
Which being worn out, were patched with various pieces of leather:

and old garments upon them;
full of holes and rents, ragged and patched:

and the bread of their provision was dry [and] mouldy;
having been kept a long time, and unfit for use; or like cakes over baked and burnt, as the Targum and Jarchi: the word for "mouldy" signifies pricked, pointed, spotted, as mouldy bread has in it spots of different colours, as white, red, green, and black, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; or it signifies bread so dry, as Ben Gersom notes, that it crumbles into pieces easily, with which the Vulgate Latin version agrees; or rather through being long kept, it was become dry and hard like crusts, so Noldius ^F9; or very hard, like bread twice baked, as Castell ^F11.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 P. 379. No. 1218.
F11 Lex. col. 2395.

Joshua 9:5 In-Context

3 When the people living in Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

4 they devised a scheme. They posed as messengers. They took worn-out sacks on their donkeys. Their wineskins were old, split, and patched.

5 Their sandals were worn-out and repaired, and their clothes were tattered. All their bread was dried out and crumbling.

6 They came to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal. They told Joshua and the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant country. Make a treaty with us right now."

7 The men of Israel said to the Hivites, "What if you're living in this area? We wouldn't be able to make a treaty with you."