³ However, when the people of Gibeon^(A) heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,^(B)

¹⁷ So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth^(A) and Kiriath Jearim.^(B)

² The king summoned the Gibeonites^(A) and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.)