Not far from the place where Jericho had stood was another large city. The name of this city was Jerusalem. The people who lived here were wicked, and they were ruled by a wicked king. Other cities ruled by other wicked kings were south and west and north of Jerusalem. After the Gibeonites became servants of the Israelites, the kings of Canaan felt angry toward them. The king of Jerusalem called four other kings and said, “Let us make war against the Gibeonites.” So they gathered their armies together and marched across the hills and valleys toward the place where the Gibeonites lived.
When the Gibeonites heard that a great army was coming to fight against them they were afraid. They sent a messenger to the camp at Gilgal and asked Joshua to come with his soldiers to help them. Because they were servants of the Israelites, Joshua started quickly with his army. All night they marched from Gilgal to Gibeon, and the next morning the five kings were greatly surprized to see the Israelites coming out to fight against them; with the Gibeonites.
Joshua was a brave leader, and his soldiers were brave. God had told them to be brave, because he would help them to gain the victory. The soldiers from Jerusalem and from the other four cities had heard about God’s power at Jericho, and they were afraid. Yet they fought; but soon they turned to run away. Then God sent hailstones from the sky and they fell upon the frightened men who were running and killed many more than had been killed in the battle. The five kings found a cave in the mountains and they ran into it to hide. But some one saw them, and sent word to Joshua. Joshua commanded that heavy stones should be rolled before the door of the cave and that soldiers should watch to see that the kings did not escape from this prison. Then the Israelite soldiers chased their enemies over the hills and through the valleys of Canaan. They did not want to let one of them get away. When Joshua saw that the people were scattering everywhere, he thought many of the enemies might hide in the woods when night came on. Then they could come out again and fight against the Israelites. Joshua believed God wanted him and his soldiers to completely destroy these enemies and not give them another chance to fight. He knew the day would not be long enough to destroy them all, so he spoke to the sun and to the moon and commanded them to stand still. And while the sun and the moon stood still, the Israelites fought and gained a great victory. No day like that one had ever been before that time, nor has there been one since, when God listened to a man’s voice and caused the sun to stand still in the sky while his people fought against their enemies.
After this great victory the five kings were taken out of the cave and killed. Then they were buried together in the cave and stones were piled in front of the door.
News of this battle soon reached the other cities of Canaan, and everywhere the people were afraid of the Israelites. Joshua felt sure God was pleased with him, and he marched on to other places and gained other victories. One by one he took the cities of Canaan until he had destroyed thirty-one kings and had taken the cities and country places where they ruled. Then the Israelites rested from war, in their camp at Gilgal.