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."
14
The men of Israel tasted the bread, but they did not ask the Lord what to do.
15
So Joshua agreed to make peace with the Gibeonites and to let them live. And the leaders of the Israelites swore an oath to keep the agreement.
16
Three days after they had made the agreement, the Israelites learned that the Gibeonites lived nearby.
17
So the Israelites went to where they lived and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.
18
But the Israelites did not attack those cities, because they had made a promise to them before the Lord, the God of Israel. All the Israelites grumbled against the leaders.
19
But the leaders answered, "We have given our promise before the Lord, the God of Israel, so we cannot attack them now.
20
This is what we must do. We must let them live. Otherwise, God's anger will be against us for breaking the oath we swore to them.
21
So let them live, but they will cut wood and carry water for our people." So the leaders kept their promise to them.