16 Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors, living near 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.
16 At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.
16 And then, three days after making this covenant, they learned that they were next-door neighbors who had been living there all along!
16 And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them.
16 Three days after making the treaty, they learned that these people actually lived nearby!
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Joshua 9:16
Commentary on Joshua 9:14-21
(Read Joshua 9:14-21)
The Israelites, having examined the provisions of the Gibeonites, hastily concluded that they confirmed their account. We make more haste than good speed, when we stay not to take God with us, and do not consult him by the word and prayer. The fraud was soon found out. A lying tongue is but for a moment. Had the oath been in itself unlawful, it would not have been binding; for no obligation can render it our duty to commit a sin. But it was not unlawful to spare the Canaanites who submitted, and left idolatry, desiring only that their lives might be spared. A citizen of Zion swears to his own hurt, and changes not, Psalm 15:4. Joshua and the princes, when they found that they had been deceived, did not apply to Eleazar the high priest to be freed from their engagement, much less did they pretend that no faith is to be kept with those to whom they had sworn. Let this convince us how we ought to keep our promises, and make good our bargains; and what conscience we ought to make of our words.