10:9a

After marching all night from Gilgal: The clause marching all night from Gilgal indicates that it took all night for Joshua and the Israelite army to walk uphill from Gilgal to Gibeon. The distance from Gilgal to Gibeon was about twenty to twenty-five miles up a fairly steep hill.

marching: The English verb marching is used for soldiers who are walking.

10:9b

Joshua caught them by surprise: Joshua was the leader of the Israelites, and he attacked the Amorites along with his army. The word them refers to the Amorites.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

Joshua ⌊and the Israelite army⌋ made a surprise attack upon the ⌊Amorite armies⌋ .

caught them by surprise: The phrase caught them by surprise is a Hebrew idiom. It indicates that the Amorites did not know that the Israelites were going to attack them. It was a surprise.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

attacked them by surprise (NET Bible)
-or-
attacked them when they were not expecting it

General Comment on 10:9a-b

In some languages it may be more natural to reorder 9a and 9b so that the events are in the Hebrew sentence order. For example:

So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal (Revised Standard Version)

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