Bible Strands
Joshua 10:2
So Adoni-zedek and his people were greatly alarmed, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were mighty.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem and his people react to the report that Gibeon has secured a peace treaty with Israel following Joshua’s destruction of Ai. This moment occurs immediately before Adoni-zedek dispatches envoys to rally a southern coalition against Gibeon.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיִּירְאוּ (va-yiyr'û) means "they were afraid," modified by מְאֹד (me'ôd), which literally means "very" or "greatly." These terms quantify the political panic triggered by Gibeon’s fortified status and military strength.
The thread — The pattern of foreign rulers fearing Israel’s advance appears in Exodus 15:14 and Deuteronomy 11:25. Joshua 2:24 similarly records non-Israelites acknowledging Israel’s God, though that account involves Rahab’s testimony in Jericho, not the Gibeonites.
Why it lands — The passage records a strategic calculation, not a spiritual turning. A reader must note that human alliances form in response to perceived military threats, independent of the theological reality driving those threats.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 11:25 No man will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the land, wherever you set foot, as He has promised you.
- Exodus 15:14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.
- Joshua 2:24 “The LORD has surely delivered the entire land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of us.”
- Deuteronomy 28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you.
- Joshua 2:9 and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you.
- 1 Samuel 27:5 Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be assigned a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
- 2 Samuel 12:26 Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress.
- Psalms 48:4 For behold, the kings assembled; they all advanced together.
- Proverbs 1:26 in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,
- Proverbs 10:24 What the wicked man dreads will overtake him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.