And the Lord said unto Joshua,.... Either when upon the march, and while he was proceeding on in his journey to the assistance of the Gibeonites, or rather before he set out; and it is highly probable he consulted the Lord on this occasion, having, it may be, some doubt on his mind, whether he should go to their assistance, since the league between them was obtained by fraud; and the words may be rendered, "and the Lord hath said" (n): before he set forward with his men of war: fear them not; the five kings, and their combined army: for I have delivered them into thine hand; had determined to do it, and which was as certain as if it had been actually done: there shall not a man of them stand before thee; but be either cut off, or obliged to flee. (n) "et dixerat", Masius, Drusius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.