Joshua 9:11

11 So our older leaders and our people said to us, 'Take food for your journey and go and meet the Israelites. Tell them, "We are your servants. Make a peace agreement 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 The men answered, "We are your servants who have come from a far country, because we heard of the fame of the Lord your God. We heard about what he has done and everything he did in Egypt.

10 We heard that he defeated the two kings of the Amorites from the east side of the Jordan River -- Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan who ruled in Ashtaroth.

11 So our older leaders and our people said to us, 'Take food for your journey and go and meet the Israelites. Tell them, "We are your servants. Make a peace agreement with us."'

12 "Look at our bread. On the day we left home to come to you it was warm and fresh, but now it is dry and moldy.

13 Look at our leather wine bags. They were new and filled with wine, but now they are cracked and old. Our clothes and sandals are worn out from the long journey."