Study Desk

And they went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country; now then, make a covenant with us."

So they said to Joshua, "We are your servants." Then Joshua said to them, "Who are you and where do you come from?"

They said to him, "Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the LORD your God; for we have heard the report about Him and all that He did in Egypt,

"And these wineskins which we filled were new, and behold, they are split open; and these clothes of ours and our sandals are worn out from the very long journey."

However, it came about at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were neighbors and that they were living within their land.

So the leaders said to them, "Let them live." And they became gatherers of firewood and labor to draw water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them.

So they answered Joshua and said, "Since your servants were fully informed 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 before you, we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and did this thing.

This he did to them, and saved them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them.

So the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they with all their armies, and camped by Gibeon and fought against it.

And as they fled from Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the LORD hurled large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

It came about when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them down in a very great defeat, until they were destroyed, and the survivors of them who escaped had entered the fortified cities,

They did so, and brought these five kings out to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the leaders of the men of war who had gone with him, "Come forward, put your feet on the necks of these kings." So they came forward and put their feet on their necks.

So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they were hung on the trees until evening.

Then it came about at sunset that Joshua gave the command, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and put large stones over the mouth of the cave, to this very day.

And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish, and they camped by it and fought against it.

And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon, and they camped by it and fought against it.

They captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; and he utterly destroyed on that day every person who was in it, according to all that he had done to Lachish.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it.

And they captured it and struck it and its king and all its cities and all the persons who were in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor, according to all that he had done to Eglon. And he utterly destroyed it and every person who was in it.