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1 And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;

2 That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

5 And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.

6 And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us.

7 And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you?

8 And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye?

9 And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,

10 And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth.

11 Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us.

12 This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy:

13 And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.

14 And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.

15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.

16 And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them.

17 And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim.

18 And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.

19 But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.

20 This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them.

21 And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.

22 And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us?

23 Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.

24 And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

25 And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.

26 And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not.

27 And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

<html><b>And they too¹<i class=“footnote”>Our verse indicates that others had also practiced deception but does not tell us who it was. Rashi proceeds to tell us who else had deceived them.</i> proceded with deception</b> just as the sons of Yaakov dealt with trickery with Chamor, the father of Shechem, who was a Chivite.²<i class=“footnote”>The Givonim were a branch of Chivites, who were related Shechem who had raped Dinah the daughter of Yaakov. They remembered how their relatives were tricked by the sons of Yaakov and were subsequently killed by the two son of Yaakov. Thus the Gevonim felt justified in perpetrating their deception. (See Bereishis 34:1-26).</i> The people of Givon were descendents of the Chivites, as it is said in this context.</html>

<html><b>They presented themselves as envoys.</b> They made themselves look like messengers. The word יִצְטַיָרוּ messenger, is from, צִיר “וְצִיר בַּגוֹיִם שְׁלַח” (Ovadiah 1:1) [and a messenger was sent among the nations.] Every word whose root begins with a “צ” (צַדִי ), when used as a reflexive either in the form of מִתְפַּעֵל or נִתְפַּעֵל, is constructed with a “ט” (טֶית) in the middle and separates the root letters of the word,³<i class=“footnote”>Rashi thus explains why the letter “ט” was inserted in the word יִצְטַיָרוּ.</i> like מַה נִצְטַדָק, (how can we justify ourselves).⁴<i class=“footnote”>See Bereishis 44:16.</i> the root of נִצְטַדָק is צֶדֶק (justice) which he says as נִצְטַדָק. Similarly, וּמִטַל שְׁמַיָא גִשְׁמֵה יִצְטַבַע [His body was wet from the dew of Heaven)⁵<i class=“footnote”>Daniel 6:21.</i> The root of יִצְטַבַע is צֶבַע.</html>

<html><b>Worn-out sacks.</b> To give the appearance that they were coming from a distant land.</html>

<html><b>And tied together.</b> מְצרָרִים is another expression of מְבוּקָעִים (split), which is an Aramaic expression, “The cleft of the wheat.”⁶<i class=“footnote”>See Pesachim 40A. Rabbi Yoseph said: A man must not scald two grains of wheat together, lest one becomes wedged in the <i>cleft</i> of the other, so that the water does not cover it on all sides and it will cause fermentation.</i> “Which makes the wine-skin burst.”⁷<i class=“footnote”>See Avodah Zara 30A. There is a type of wine which is considered “strong wine,” and it is known to make the wine-skin burst. According to most commentaries however, the word מְצרָרִים is translated tied up.</i></html>

<html><b>Moldy.</b> “Arson” in old French is an expression of מוֹקֵד, fire or heat.⁸<i class=“footnote”>Rashi explains that נִקֻדִים indicates that the bread was not merely dry but burned as toast which would preserve it over a long period. He therefore would reject the translation of נְקֻדִים as moldy.</i> Targum Yonasan also translates נִקֻדִים as כִּסְנִין.</html>

<html><b>Maybe you really live in our midst.</b> Perhaps you are of those who dwell in the land.⁹<i class=“footnote”>The Torah explicitly states that the inhabitants of the land of Canaan were to be totally destroyed. It was forbidden to make any sort of treaty with them, as it is said “Do not make a treaty with them or with their gods.” (Shemos 23:32). The men of Givon therefore attempted to portray themselves as people who were not of Canaan and therefore not included in the destruction that was to befall all those who were inhabitants of the land. The verse states וַיאמְרוּ אִישׁ, and <i>they</i> said, but it is read וַיאמַר אִישׁ “the <i>man</i> of Yisroel said.” They all spoke together as a single person who had doubts about the truth of their presentation.</i></html>

<html><b>We prepared.</b> The word הִצְטַיַדְנוּ is from צֵדָה provision. When we took [the bread] as provisions for our journey.</html>

<html><b>And the men took of their provisions.</b> They accepted their words. They trapped them with their mouths,¹⁰<i class=“footnote”>The men of Yisroel were taken in by their trick.</i> as it is said, “But if he did not set an ambush.”¹¹<i class=“footnote”>Shemos 21:13.</i></html>