Joshua 10:1–27

¹Now Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and devoted it to destruction^a — doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king — and that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living near them. ²So Adoni-zedek and his people were greatly alarmed, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were mighty.

³Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying, ⁴“Come up and help me. We will attack Gibeon, because they have made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”

⁵So the five kings of the Amorites— the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon— joined forces and advanced with all their armies. They camped before Gibeon and made war against it.

⁶Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, because all the kings of the Amorites from the hill country have joined forces against us.”

⁷So Joshua and his whole army, including all the mighty men of valor, came from Gilgal.

⁸The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have delivered them into your hand. Not one of them shall stand against you.”

⁹After marching all night from Gilgal, Joshua caught them by surprise. ¹⁰And the LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, pursued them along the ascent to Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹As they fled before Israel along the descent from Beth-horon to Azekah, the LORD cast down on them large hailstones from the sky, and more of them were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the Israelites.

¹²On the day that the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD in the presence of Israel:

“O sun, stand still over Gibeon,

O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”^b

¹³So the sun stood still

and the moon stopped

until the nation took vengeance

upon its enemies.^c

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar?^d

“So the sun stopped

in the middle of the sky

and delayed going down

about a full day.”^e

¹⁴There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man, because the LORD fought for Israel.

¹⁵Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.

¹⁶Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah. ¹⁷And Joshua was informed: “The five kings have been found; they are hiding in the cave at Makkedah.”

¹⁸So Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and post men there to guard them. ¹⁹But you, do not stop there. Pursue your enemies and attack them from behind. Do not let them reach their cities, for the LORD your God has delivered them into your hand.”

²⁰So Joshua and the Israelites continued to inflict a terrible slaughter until they had finished them off, and the remaining survivors retreated to the fortified cities. ²¹The whole army returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah, and no one dared to utter a word against the Israelites.

²²Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me.” ²³So they brought the five kings out of the cave — the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon.

²⁴When they had brought the kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.”

So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks.

²⁵“Do not be afraid or discouraged,” Joshua said. “Be strong and courageous, for the LORD will do this to all the enemies you fight.”

²⁶After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees^f and left them there until evening. ²⁷At sunset Joshua ordered that they be taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave in which they had hidden. Then large stones were placed against the mouth of the cave, and the stones are there to this day.