5. Then these five Amorite kings—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon—gathered their armies, went to Gibeon, surrounded it, and attacked it.
6. The Gibeonites sent this message to Joshua in his camp at Gilgal: “Don’t let us, your servants, be destroyed. Come quickly and help us! Save us! All the Amorite kings from the mountains have joined their armies and are fighting against us.”
7. So Joshua marched out of Gilgal with his whole army, including his best fighting men.
8. The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of those armies, because I will hand them over to you. None of them will be able to stand against you.”
9. Joshua and his army marched all night from Gilgal for a surprise attack.
10. The Lord confused those armies when Israel attacked, so Israel defeated them in a great victory at Gibeon. They chased them along the road going up to Beth Horon and killed men all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.
11. As they chased the enemy down the Beth Horon Pass to Azekah, the Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky and killed them. More people were killed by the hailstones than by the Israelites’ swords.
12. On the day that the Lord gave up the Amorites to the Israelites, Joshua stood before all the people of Israel and said to the Lord:“Sun, stand still over Gibeon.Moon, stand still over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13. So the sun stood still,and the moon stoppeduntil the people defeated their enemies.These words are written in the Book of Jashar.The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and waited to go down for a full day.
14. That has never happened at any time before that day or since. That was the day the Lord listened to a human being. Truly the Lord was fighting for Israel!
15. After this, Joshua and his army went back to the camp at Gilgal.
16. During the fight the five kings ran away and hid in a cave near Makkedah,
17. but someone found them hiding in the cave at Makkedah and told Joshua.
18. So he said, “Cover the opening of the cave with large rocks. Put some men there to guard it,