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

⁷ The Israelites said to the Hivites,^(A) “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty^(B) with you?”

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.)