Joshua 9:4
in Joshua 9acted deceptively and set out as envoys, carrying on their donkeys worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
they also did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-skins, old and rent and bound up,
KJV
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;
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This verse in Joshua 9
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThey did work wilily - Finesse of this kind is allowed by the conduct of all nations; and stratagems in war are all considered as legal. Nine tenths of the victories gained are attributable to stratagem; all sides practice them, and therefore none can condemn them. Much time and labor have been lost in the inquiry, “Did not the Gibeonites tell lies?” Certainly they did, and what is that to us? Does the word of God commend them for it? It does not. Are they held up to us as examples!
This site's exposition
the people of Gibeon, having heard
on Joshua 9:3-5
Gibeon hears of Jericho and Ai and answers with a lie instead of an army. The Hebrew behind “deceptively” comes from the root of the serpent’s craftiness at Genesis 3:1. Every prop is chosen because it ages, sacks, wineskins, sandals, clothing and bread, five witnesses to a long road.
This site's exposition
acted deceptively
Albert Barnes renders the opening words they too acted, and reads the too as a link to Israel's own stratagem at Ai in chapter 8. Adam Clarke says plainly that the Gibeonites lied, and adds that Scripture never commends them for it or holds them up as an example.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"In my father's house are many mansions," says the Word of God. Yet even the resurrection of the dead will not exhibit an equal glory of those rising again, for "there is one flesh of birds, another of cattle, and even another of fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of heavenly things is one thing, that of the earthly, another. One glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And they did work wilily,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
These skin bottles are liable to be rent when old and much used; and there are various ways of mending them--by inserting a new piece of leather, or by gathering together the edges of the rent and sewing them in the form of a purse, or by putting a round flat splinter of wood into the hole.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard--This town, as its name imports, was situated on a rocky eminence, about six miles northwest from Jerusalem, where the modern village of El Jib now stands. It was the capital of the Hivites, and a large important city (Jos 10:2).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They did work wilily - literally, “they also,” or “they too, did work, etc.” The “also” serves, apparently, to connect the stratagem of the Gibeonites with that employed by the Israelites before Ai. It hints that the Gibeonites resolved to meet craft with craft. Rent and bound up - i. e. the wine skins were torn and roughly repaired by tying up the edges of the tear. The more thorough and careful way, hardly feasible in a hasty journey, would have been to insert a patch.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּעֲשׂ֤וּ | vaiyaasu | and they acted | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| גַם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| הֵ֙מָּה֙ | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| בְּעָרְמָ֔ה | bearemah | with cunning | H6195 → | |
| וַיֵּלְכ֖וּ | vaiyelekhu | and they went | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וַיִּצְטַיָּ֑רוּ | vaiyitztaiyaru | and they acted as ambassadors | H6737 → | |
| וַיִּקְח֞וּ | vaiyikchu | and they took | H3947 → | 966 times |
| שַׂקִּ֤ים | sakim | sacks | H8242 → | |
| בָּלִים֙ | balim | worn out | H1087 → | 5 times |
| לַחֲמ֣וֹרֵיהֶ֔ם | lachamoreihem | for donkeys their | H2543 → | 96 times |
| וְנֹאד֥וֹת | venodot | and skin-bottles of | H4997 → | |
| יַ֙יִן֙ | yayin | wine | H3196 → | |
| בָּלִ֔ים | balim | worn out | H1087 → | 5 times |
| וּמְבֻקָּעִ֖ים | umevukaim | and split | H1234 → | |
| וּמְצֹרָרִֽים׃ | umetzorarim | and tied up | H6887 → |
וַיַּעֲשׂ֤וּand they acted
vaiyaasuH6213 →2628 times
גַם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
הֵ֙מָּה֙they
hemahH1992 →553 times
בְּעָרְמָ֔הwith cunning
bearemahH6195 →
וַיֵּלְכ֖וּand they went
vaiyelekhuH1980 →1546 times
וַיִּצְטַיָּ֑רוּand they acted as ambassadors
vaiyitztaiyaruH6737 →
וַיִּקְח֞וּand they took
vaiyikchuH3947 →966 times
שַׂקִּ֤יםsacks
sakimH8242 →
בָּלִים֙worn out
balimH1087 →5 times
לַחֲמ֣וֹרֵיהֶ֔םfor donkeys their
lachamoreihemH2543 →96 times
וְנֹאד֥וֹתand skin-bottles of
venodotH4997 →
יַ֙יִן֙wine
yayinH3196 →
בָּלִ֔יםworn out
balimH1087 →5 times
וּמְבֻקָּעִ֖יםand split
umevukaimH1234 →
וּמְצֹרָרִֽים׃and tied up
umetzorarimH6887 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 10:16Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
it leads to
- Philippians 2:15
so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
- Luke 10:3
Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
- 1 Corinthians 14:20
Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
- Colossians 4:5
Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.
- Ephesians 5:15–17
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
- Philippians 2:15
Through
Mark 2:22And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into…
it leads to
- Matthew 9:17
Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins,…
- Psalms 119:83
Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.
- Matthew 9:17
Through
Luke 16:8The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 5:5
For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies5
On this verse
About Joshua
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 10.1.