Joshua 9:4

4 they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded^[a] with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

Joshua 9:4 in Other Translations

4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

4 they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended,

4 they resorted to deception to save themselves. They sent ambassadors to Joshua, loading their donkeys with weathered saddlebags and old, patched wineskins.

4 and cooked up a ruse. They posed as travelers: their donkeys loaded with patched sacks and mended wineskins,

4 they also did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-skins, old and rent and bound up,

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

4 they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

4 So they decided to trick the people of Israel. They packed supplies as if they were going on a long trip. They loaded their donkeys with old sacks and old wineskins. The wineskins were cracked but had been mended.

Joshua 9:4 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 9:4

And they did work wilily
Acted craftily, dealt in much cunning and subtlety; our version leaves out a very emphatic word, "also"; they also, as well as other nations, acted a cunning part, but in a different way; they did not enter into consultations and alliances with others, how to defend themselves, but made use of a stratagem to make peace, and enter into a league with Israel; or also as the Israelites had done, either as Simeon and Levi had dealt craftily with the Shechemites, who were Hivites, ( Genesis 34:2 Genesis 34:13 ) ; so now the Gibeonites, who also were Hivites, ( Joshua 9:7 ) ; wrought in a wily and crafty manner with them, so Jarchi; or as the Israelites had lately done in the affair of Ai:

and went and made as if they had been ambassadors:
from some states in a foreign country, sent on an embassy to the people of Israel, to compliment them on their successes, and to enter into alliance with them, which they thought would be pleasing and acceptable to them; the Targum is,

``they prepared food,''

which they took with them for their journey; and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions:

and took old sacks upon their asses:
in which they put, their provisions:

and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up:
not made of glass, as ours usually are, but of the skins of beasts, as the bottles in the eastern countries commonly were; which in time grew old, and were rent and burst, and they were obliged to mend them, and bind them up, that they might hold together, and retain the liquor put into them, see ( Matthew 9:17 ) .

Joshua 9:4 In-Context

2 they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

3 However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

4 they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

5 They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy.

6 Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”

Footnotes

• [a]. Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint) "They prepared provisions and loaded their donkeys"