“Come up and help me. We will attack Gibeon, because they have made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Come up to me and help me. Let us strike Gibeon; for they have made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.”
- KJV Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.
- NKJV “Come up to me and help me, that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.”
- NASB “Come up to me and help me, and let’s attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel.”
- NLT “Come and help me destroy Gibeon,” he urged them, “for they have made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The coalition's stated aim is to punish Gibeon for making peace with Joshua. They intend to strike the city that aligned with Israel.
Overview
Adoni-Zedek calls his allies to attack Gibeon precisely because it submitted to Israel, treating that peace as betrayal. The coalition thus turns its hostility first against those who sought safety among God's people. This sets up the occasion for Israel to defend its new ally, fulfilling the protection promised by covenant and demonstrating that God shelters those who take refuge with Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Josh 9:15And Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
- Josh 10:1Now Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and devoted it to destruction—doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king—and that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living near them.
- Acts 9:23–27After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,
- Isa 8:9–10Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
- 2 Tim 3:12Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
- Matt 16:24Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- Acts 21:28crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”
- 1 Pet 4:4Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you.
- Isa 41:5–7The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward.
- John 15:19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- Rev 20:8–10and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to assemble them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the seashore.
- Rev 16:14These are demonic spirits that perform signs and go out to all the kings of the earth, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.
- Jas 4:4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
- John 16:2–3They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 10:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.