¹⁶ Three days after they had sworn peace with these deceptive messengers, they discovered the visitors were Gibeonites from the land of Canaan, their neighbors, who, in fact, were living in part of the land God had promised the Israelites. ¹⁷ So the Israelites went to their cities: Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim on the third day, ¹⁸ but they did not attack them. Even though they had been tricked into making a treaty, an oath made in the name of the Eternal was sacred. The people of Israel grumbled and complained against their leaders,