14 The men of Israel wanted to know if these men were telling the truth. So they tasted the bread—but they did not ask the Lord what they should do.
15 Joshua agreed to make peace with them. He agreed to let them live. The leaders of Israel agreed with this promise of Joshua.
16 Three days later the Israelites learned that these men lived very near their camp.
17 So the Israelites went to the place where they lived. On the third day the Israelites came to the cities of Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.
18 But the army of Israel did not try to fight against those cities. They had made a peace agreement with them. They had made a promise to them before the Lord, the God of Israel. All the people complained against the leaders who made the agreement.
19 But the leaders answered, “We have given our promise. We promised before the Lord, the God of Israel. We cannot fight against them now.
20 This is what we must do. We must let them live. We cannot hurt them or God will be angry with us because we broke the promise we made to them.