Joshua made a peace treaty with them and agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community sealed it with an oath.

We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.”

The other half of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad received their allotted tribal lands beyond the Jordan, just as Moses, the Lord’s servant, had assigned them.

Their assigned land included Beer Sheba, Moladah,

Joshua did as they said; he kept the Israelites from killing them

Their southern border started at the southern tip of the Salt Sea,

They were assigned to the Kohathite clans of the Levites who were descendants of Aaron, for the first lot belonged to them.

Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them.

that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us from death.”

She told them, “Head to the hill country, so the ones chasing you don’t find you. Hide from them there for three days, long enough for those chasing you to return. Then you can be on your way.”

But Israel did plunder the cattle and the goods of the city, in accordance with the Lord’s orders to Joshua.

Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby.

The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. The whole community criticized the leaders,

but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt them!

The leaders then added, “Let them live.” So they became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided.

Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you trick us by saying, ‘We live far away from you,’ when you really live nearby?

Joshua did to them as the Lord had commanded him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots.

Their territory started at Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon Valley) and included the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plain of Medeba,

Their territory included Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half of Ammonite territory as far as Aroer near Rabbah.

However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance to the Levites; their inheritance is the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed them.