9. We are your servants, and we live far from here. We came because the Lord your God is so famous. We heard what the Lord did in Egypt
10. and what he did to those two Amorite kings on the other side of the Jordan: King Og of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, and King Sihon of Heshbon.
11. Our leaders and everyone who lives in our country told us to meet with you and tell you that all of us are your servants. They said to ask you to make a peace treaty with our people. They told us to be sure and take along enough food for our journey.
12. See this dry, crumbly bread of ours? It was hot out of the oven when we packed the food on the day we left our homes.
13. These cracked wineskins were new when we filled them, and our clothes and sandals are worn out because we have travelled so far.
14. The Israelites tried some of the food, but they did not ask the Lord if he wanted them to make a treaty.
15. So Joshua made a peace treaty with the messengers and promised that Israel would not kill their people. Israel's leaders swore that Israel would keep this promise.
16-17. A couple of days later, the Israelites found out that these people actually lived in the nearby towns of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-Jearim. So the Israelites left the place where they had camped and arrived at the four towns two days later.
18. But they did not attack the towns, because the Israelite leaders had sworn in the name of the Lord that they would let these people live.The Israelites complained about their leaders' decision not to attack,
19-21. but the leaders reminded them, “We promised these people in the name of the Lord God of Israel that we would let them live, so we must not harm them. If we break our promise, God will punish us. We'll let them live, but we'll make them cut wood and carry water for our people.”