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¹ And when al ye kinges that dwell beyonde Iordane in the hylles and valleys, & along by all the coastes of the great sea, ouer against Libanon: [Namely] the Hethites, the Amorites, the Chanaanites, the Pherezites, the Heuites, and the Iebusites, hearde therof:² They gathered them selues together, to fyght against Iosuah, and against Israel, with one accorde.

³ And the inhabitours of Gibeon heard what Iosuah had done vnto Iericho, and to Ai,⁴ And they dyd worke wylylye, & went and made them selues embassadours, and toke olde sackes vpon their asses, & wine bottels old, both rent & boude vp:⁵ And olde clowted shoes vpon their feete, and their rayment was olde: and all their prouision of bread was dryed vp, and hored.⁶ And they came vnto Iosuah into the hoast to Gilgal, and sayde vnto him and vnto all the men of Israel, We be come from a far countrey: and nowe make ye agreement with vs.⁷ And the men of Israel sayde vnto the Heuite: It may be thou dwellest amog vs, and then howe can I make peace with thee?⁸ And they sayde vnto Iosuah: We are thy seruauntes. And Iosuah sayde vnto them againe: What are ye, & whence come ye?⁹ They aunswered him: From a very farre coutrey thy seruauntes are come, for the name of the Lorde thy God: for we haue hearde the fame of him, & all that he did in Egypte,¹⁰ And all that he did to the two kinges of ye Amorites that were beyonde Iordane, Sehon king of Hesbon, and Og king of Basa, which were at Astaroth.¹¹ Wherfore our elders and all the enhabitours of our countrey spake to vs, saying: Take vitailes with you to serue by the way, and go meete them, and say vnto them, We are your seruautes: And now make ye a couenaunt of peace with vs.¹² This our foode of bread we toke with vs out of our houses whot, ye daye we departed to come vnto you: But nowe beholde, it is dried vp, and hored.¹³ And these bottelles of wine whiche we filled, were newe, and see they be rent: And these our garmentes and shoes are worne for oldenesse, by the reason of the exceeding long iourney.¹⁴ And the men toke of theyr vitayles, & counseled not with the mouth of the Lorde.

¹⁵ And Iosuah made peace which the, and made a couenaunt with them, that they shulde be suffered to liue: And the princes of the congregation sware vnto them.¹⁶ But at the ende of three dayes, after they had made a league with them, they hearde that they were their neighbours, & that they dwelt among them.¹⁷ And the children of Israel toke their iorney, and came vnto their cities the thirde day: and their cities were Gibeon, and Caphira, Beroth, and Kiriathiarim.¹⁸ And the children of Israel slue them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworne vnto them by the Lord God of Israel: and all the multitude mourned agaynst the princes.¹⁹ But all the princes sayde vnto all the congregation: We haue sworne vnto them by the Lorde God of Israel, and therfore we may not hurt them.²⁰ But this we wyll do to them, We wyll let them liue, lest wrath be vpon vs because of the othe which we sware vnto them.²¹ And the princes said vnto them againe, Let them liue, and hewe wood, & drawe water vnto all the congregation, [and they dyd] as the princes sayde vnto them.

²² And Iosuah called for them, & talked with them, and sayde, Wherfore haue ye beguiled vs, saying, We dwell farre from you: when ye dwell among vs?²³ And nowe are ye cursed, and there shal not ceasse to be of you bondmen, and hewers of wood, & drawers of water for the house of my God.²⁴ And they aunswered Iosuah, & sayd, It was tolde thy seruauntes how that the Lorde thy God had commaunded his seruaunt Moyses to geue you all the lande, and to destroy all the inhabitours therof out of your sight, and therfore we were exceedyng sore afrayde for our liues at the presence of you, and haue done this thing.²⁵ And beholde, we are in thyne hande: as it seemeth good and right in thyne eyes to do vnto vs, so do.²⁶ And euen so did he vnto them, and rid them out of the hande of the chyldren of Israel, that they slue them not.²⁷ And Iosuah made them that same day hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the congregation and for the aulter of God, vnto this day, in the place whiche he shoulde choose.