You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”

Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.

But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.”

“‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.

the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him.

From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying,

When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.

If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.

Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.

The Sun Stands Still

Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and had become their allies.

“Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”

Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle.

So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

“So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years.

But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon’s Death

Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land had peace forty years.

The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”

The priest answered them, “Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord’s approval.”

So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, at peace and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.

Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.

Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon.