2. So Adoni-Zedek and his people were very afraid because of this. Gibeon was not a little town like Ai. It was a large city. It was as big as a city that had a king. All its men were good fighters.
3. So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent a message to Hoham king of Hebron. He also sent it to Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon. The king of Jerusalem begged these men,
4. “Come with me and help me attack Gibeon. Gibeon has made a peace agreement with Joshua and the Israelites.”
5. Then these five Amorite kings joined their armies. They were the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. These armies went to Gibeon, surrounded it and attacked it.
6. The Gibeonites sent a message to Joshua in his camp at Gilgal. The message said: “We are your servants. Don’t let us be destroyed. Come quickly and help us! Save us! All the Amorite kings from the mountains have joined their armies. They are fighting against us.”
7. So Joshua marched out of Gilgal with his whole army. His best fighting men were with him.
8. The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of those armies. I will allow you to defeat them. None of them will be able to defeat you.”
9. Joshua and his army marched all night to Gibeon. So Joshua surprised them when he attacked.
10. The Lord confused those armies when Israel attacked. So Israel defeated them in a great victory. They chased them from Gibeon on the road going to Beth Horon. The army of Israel killed men all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.
11. They chased the enemy down the road from Beth Horon to Azekah. While they were chasing them, the Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky. Many of the enemy were killed by the hailstones. More men were killed by the hailstones than the Israelites killed with their swords.
12. That day the Lord allowed the Israelites to defeat the Amorites. And that day Joshua stood before all the people of Israel and said to the Lord:“Sun, stand still over Gibeon.Moon, stand still over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13. So the sun stood still.And the moon stoppeduntil the people defeated their enemies.These words are written in the Book of Jashar.The sun stopped in the middle of the sky. It waited to go down for a full day.
14. That has never happened at any time before that day or since. That was the day the Lord listened to a man. Truly the Lord was fighting for Israel!
15. After this, Joshua and his army went back to the camp at Gilgal.
16. During the fight the five kings ran away. They hid in a cave near Makkedah.
17. But someone found them hiding in the cave and told Joshua.