⁵ All of these kings met together at the waters of Merom [^Cprobably modern Meirun, eight miles northwest of the Sea of Galilee], joined their armies together into one camp, and made plans to fight against the Israelites.

⁶ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, because at this time tomorrow I will give them to you. You will ·cripple [hamstring] their horses and burn all their chariots.”

⁷ So Joshua and his whole army surprised the enemy [10:9] by attacking them at the waters of Merom. ⁸ The Lord ·handed them over to [^Lgave them into the hand of] Israel. They chased them to Greater Sidon, Misrephoth Maim, and the Valley of Mizpah in the east [^Clocations north and west of the battle]. Israel fought until none of the enemy was left alive. ⁹ Joshua did what the Lord said to do; he ·crippled [hamstrung] their horses and burned their chariots [^CIsrael did not take the horses and chariots to use themselves, in order to show their trust in God; Ps. 20:7].

¹⁰ Then Joshua went back and captured the city of Hazor and ·killed [^Lstruck with the sword] its king. (Hazor had been the leader of all the kingdoms that fought against Israel.) ¹¹ Israel ·killed [^Lstruck with the sword] everyone in Hazor, ·completely destroying them [devoting them to destruction; 2:10; 6:21]; no one was left ·alive [^Lthat breathed]. Then they burned Hazor itself.

¹² Joshua captured all of these cities, ·killed [^Lstruck with the edge of the sword] all of their kings, and ·completely destroyed [devoted to destruction; v. 11] everything in these cities. He did this just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. ¹³ But the Israelites did not burn any cities that were built on their mounds [^Cso Israel could immediately occupy these strategically important cities; Deut. 6:10–11], except Hazor; only that city was burned by Joshua. ¹⁴ The ·people [^Lsons; children] of Israel kept for themselves ·everything [the plunder/spoil] they found in the cities, including all the animals. But they ·killed [^Lstruck with the edge of the sword] all the people there; they left no one ·alive [^Lthat breathed]. ¹⁵ Long ago the Lord had commanded his servant Moses to do this, and then Moses had commanded Joshua to do it [Deut. 7:1–6; 20:16–18]. Joshua ·did everything [^Lleft nothing undone that] the Lord had commanded Moses.