Joshua 9:22

22 Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, "Why did you deceive us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you dwell among us?

Joshua 9:22 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 9:22

And Joshua called for them
The Gibeonites, who came as ambassadors for their people, who were detained at Gilgal until the children of Israel returned from Gibeon; and upon their return, and having made their report to Joshua that they found it to be true that they were near neighbours, Joshua ordered them to be brought before him:

and he spake unto them, saying, wherefore have ye beguiled us?
what is your reason and motive for so doing? what has induced you to act such a deceitful part, to tell such lies and falsehoods, and impose upon us after this manner?

saying, we [are] very far from you, when ye dwell among us:
pretending to come from a very far country, when they were inhabitants of the land Israel were come to possess.

Joshua 9:22 In-Context

20 This we will do to them, and let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we swore to them."

21 And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the leaders had said of them.

22 Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, "Why did you deceive us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you dwell among us?

23 Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God."

24 They answered Joshua, "Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; so we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and did this thing.