Joshua

When the news reached King Jabin of Hazor, he sent messages to King Jobab of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,

and to the other kings in the north—in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinnereth, in the lowlands, and in the districtadistrict Meaning of Heb. uncertain. of Dor on the west;

to the Canaanites in the east and in the west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites at the foot of Hermon, in the land of Mizpah.

They took the field with all their armies—an enormous host, as numerous as the sands on the seashore—and a vast multitude of horses and chariots.

All these kings joined forces; they came and encamped together at the Waters of Merom to give battle to Israel.

But GOD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; tomorrow at this time I will have them all lying slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.”

So Joshua, with all his combat troops, came upon them suddenly at the Waters of Merom, and pounced upon them.

GOD delivered them into the hands of Israel, and they defeated them and pursued them all the way to Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim,band Misrephoth-maim Change of vocalization yields “and Misrephoth on the west.” and all the way to the Valley of MizpehcMizpeh Apparently identical with Mizpah in v. 3. on the east; they crushed them, letting none escape.

And Joshua dealt with them as GOD had ordered him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots.

Joshua then turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword.—Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms.—

They proscribed and put to the sword every person in it. Not a soul survived, and Hazor itself was burned down.

Joshua captured all those royal cities and their kings. He put them to the sword; he proscribed them in accordance with the charge of Moses, the servant of GOD.

However, all those towns that are still standing on their mounds were not burned down by Israel; it was Hazor alone that Joshua burned down.

The Israelites kept all the spoil and cattle of the rest of those cities as booty. But they cut down their populations with the sword until they exterminated them; they did not spare a soul.

Just as the ETERNAL had commanded [God’s] servant Moses, so Moses had charged Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that GOD had commanded Moses.

Joshua conquered the whole of this region: the hill country [of Judah], the Negeb, the whole land of Goshen, the Shephelah, the Arabah, and the hill country and coastal plain of Israel—

[everything] from Mount Halak, which ascends to Seir, all the way to Baal-gad in the Valley of the Lebanondthe Valley of the Lebanon I.e., the valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges. at the foot of Mount Hermon; and he captured all the kings there and executed them.

Joshua waged war with all those kings over a long period.

Apart from the Hivites who dwelt in Gibeon, not a single city made terms with the Israelites; all were taken in battle.

For it was GOD’s doing to stiffen their hearts to give battle to Israel, in order that they might be proscribed without quarter and wiped out, as GOD had commanded Moses.

At that time, Joshua went and wiped out the Anakites from the hill country, from Hebron, Debir, and Anab, from the entire hill country of Judah, and from the entire hill country of Israel; Joshua proscribed them and their towns.

No Anakites remained in the land of the Israelites; but some remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

Thus Joshua conquered the whole country, just as GOD had promised Moses; and Joshua assigned it to Israel to share according to their tribal divisions. And the land had rest from war.