It is interesting to note that in verse 6 the Gibeonites address Joshua and the men of Israel; in verse 7 the men of Israel speak, and in verse 8 the Gibeonites address Joshua, and he answers.

Verse 7 indicates that the Israelites are suspicious. Good News Translation inverts the order of their response (compare Revised Standard Version) so that the question (Why should we make a treaty with you?) comes first. The question may also be expressed as a statement: “We cannot make a treaty with you as easily as that!”

Maybe you live nearby (literally “among us”—see Revised Standard Version); if this is the case, the Israelites cannot make a peace treaty with them. The response of the Israelites implies shared information; it intimates that the strangers already knew that the Israelites were not allowed to make a treaty with people who lived in the same vicinity. This may be expressed as a direct statement: “We are not allowed to make a treaty with people who live nearby, and we do not know where you come from.” This would in fact suffice for the rendering of the entire response of the Israelites.

They then speak to Joshua: “We are your servants” (Revised Standard Version), indicating at once that they do not presume to be treated as equals but as inferiors. It may be necessary to translate They said as “The men from Gibeon said.” It is Joshua, then, who asks the obvious questions: “Who are you? Where do you come from?”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .