Joshua 11-12

Complete Jewish Bible

11 When Yavin king of Hatzor heard of it, he informed Yovav king of Madon; the king of Shimron; the king of Akhshaf; ² the kings to the north, in the hills, in the ‘Aravah south of Kinn’rot, in the Sh’felah and in the regions of Dor on the west; ³ the Kena‘ani to east and west; the Emori, Hitti, P’rizi and Y’vusi in the hills; and the Hivi at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mitzpah. ⁴ So they set out, they and all their armies, many people, in number like the sand at the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. ⁵ All these kings met together, then came and pitched camp together at the Merom Spring, to fight Isra’el.

⁶ Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Don’t be afraid on their account; because at this time tomorrow I will hand them over, all of them dead, before Isra’el. You are to hamstring their horses and burn up their chariots.” ⁷ So Y’hoshua came against them suddenly with all his fighting men and fell on them at the Merom Spring.

⁸ Adonai handed them over to Isra’el — they attacked and chased them to Greater Tzidon, Misrefot-Mayim and eastward to the Mitzpeh Valley; they attacked them until none of them was left. ⁹ Y’hoshua did to them what Adonai had ordered — he hamstrung their horses and burned up their chariots. ¹⁰ Then Y’hoshua turned back and captured Hatzor, striking its king dead with the sword; for in time past Hatzor had been the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹ They put everyone there to death with the sword, completely destroying them; there was nothing left that breathed; and he burned Hatzor to the ground. ¹² Y’hoshua captured all the cities of those kings and the kings as well; he defeated them with the sword and completely destroyed them, as Moshe the servant of Adonai had ordered. ¹³ But as for the cities built on their tels, Isra’el burned none of them except Hatzor; Y’hoshua did burn that one. ¹⁴ All the spoil of these cities and the livestock the people of Isra’el took as booty for themselves; but every human being they put to death with the sword, until they had destroyed them — they left no one breathing. ¹⁵ Moshe had given orders to Y’hoshua, just as Adonai had given orders to Moshe his servant, and Y’hoshua acted accordingly — he did everything Adonai had ordered Moshe.

¹⁶ So Y’hoshua captured all that land, the hills, the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the Sh’felah, the ‘Aravah and the Isra’el hills and Sh’felah, ¹⁷ from the bare mountain that goes up to Se‘ir to Ba‘al-Gad in the L’vanon Valley under Mount Hermon; and he took all their kings, struck them and put them to death. ¹⁸ Y’hoshua made war with all those kings for a long time. ¹⁹ Not one city made peace with the people of Isra’el, except for the Hivi living in Giv‘on; they took everything in battle. ²⁰ For it was Adonai who caused them to harden their hearts and come against Isra’el in battle, so that they would be utterly destroyed, so that they would not find favor but be destroyed, in keeping with the orders Adonai had given Moshe.

²¹ Y’hoshua at that time came and cut off the ‘Anakim from the land — from Hevron, D’vir, ‘Anav and from all the hill-country of Y’hudah and Isra’el; Y’hoshua utterly destroyed them and their cities. ²² No ‘Anakim were left in the land of the people of Isra’el — only in ‘Azah, Gat and Ashdod did some remain. ²³ Y’hoshua took the whole land, in keeping with all that Adonai had said to Moshe and to Isra’el according to their divisions into tribes. Then the land rested from war.

12 These are the kings of the land whom the people of Isra’el defeated and of whose land they took possession, across the Yarden toward the east, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon and all the ‘Aravah eastward:

² Sichon king of the Emori, who lived in Heshbon and ruled the territory that includes ‘Aro‘er, at the edge of the Arnon Valley; the middle of the valley; half of Gil‘ad, to the Yabok River, which forms the border with the people of ‘Amon; ³ the ‘Aravah to Lake Kinneret eastward and to the sea of the ‘Aravah, the Dead Sea, eastward by way of Beit-Yeshimot and on the south under the slopes of Pisgah.

⁴ There was also the territory of ‘Og king of Bashan, who belonged to the remnant of the Refa’im. He lived at ‘Ashtarot and at Edre‘i; ⁵ and he ruled Mount Hermon; Salkhah; all Bashan, to the border with the G’shuri and the Ma‘akhati; and half of Gil‘ad, to its border with Sichon king of Heshbon.

⁶ Moshe the servant of Adonai, with the people of Isra’el, defeated them; and Moshe the servant of Adonai gave it to the Re’uveni, the Gadi and the half-tribe of M’nasheh as their possession.

^7-8 Following are the kings of the land whom Y’hoshua, with the people of Isra’el, defeated in the area west of the Yarden, between Ba‘al-Gad in the L’vanon Valley and the bare mountain that goes up to Se‘ir. Y’hoshua gave this land, inhabited by the Hitti, Emori, Kena‘ani, P’rizi, Hivi and Y’vusi, to the tribes of Isra’el to possess, according to their divisions, in the hills, the Sh’felah, the ‘Aravah, the mountain slopes, the desert and the Negev:

making a total of thirty-one kings.