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Joshua 11
New English Translation

Israel Defeats a Northern Coalition

11 When King Jabin of Hazor heard the news about Israel’s victories,[a] he organized a coalition, including[b] King Jobab of Madon, the king of Shimron, the king of Acshaph, 2 and the northern kings who ruled in[c] the hill country, in the rift valley south of Kinnereth,[d] in the foothills, and on the heights of Dor to the west. 3 Canaanites came[e] from the east and west; Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites from the hill country; and Hivites from below Hermon in the area[f] of Mizpah. 4 These kings came out with their armies; they were as numerous as the sand on the seashore and had a large number of horses and chariots.[g] 5 All these kings gathered and joined forces[h] at the Waters of Merom to fight Israel.

6 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, for about this time tomorrow I will cause all of them to lie dead before Israel. You must hamstring their horses and burn[i] their chariots.” 7 Joshua and his whole army caught them by surprise at the Waters of Merom and attacked them.[j] 8 The Lord handed them over to Israel, and they struck them down and chased them all the way to Greater Sidon, Misrephoth Maim,[k] and the Mizpah Valley to the east. They struck them down until no survivors remained. 9 Joshua did to them as the Lord had commanded him; he hamstrung their horses and burned[l] their chariots.

10 At that time Joshua turned, captured Hazor, and struck down its king with the sword, for Hazor was at that time[m] the leader of all these kingdoms. 11 They annihilated everyone who lived there with the sword[n]—no one who breathed remained—and burned[o] Hazor.

12 Joshua captured all these royal cities and all their kings and annihilated them with the sword,[p] as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded. 13 But Israel did not burn any of the cities located on mounds[q] except for Hazor; it was the only one Joshua burned. 14 The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people[r] and allowed no one who breathed to live. 15 Moses the Lord’s servant passed on the Lord’s commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses.[s]

A Summary of Israel’s Victories

16 Joshua conquered the whole land,[t] including the hill country, all the Negev,[u] all the land of Goshen, the foothills,[v] the rift valley,[w] the hill country of Israel and its foothills, 17 from Mount Halak up to Seir, as far as Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and executed them.[x] 18 Joshua campaigned against[y] these kings for quite some time.[z] 19 No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon);[aa] they had to conquer all of them,[ab] 20 for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses.[ac]

21 At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country[ad]—from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel.[ae] Joshua annihilated them and their cities. 22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory, though some remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. 23 Joshua conquered[af] the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses,[ag] and he assigned Israel their tribal portions.[ah] Then the land was free of war.

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 11:1 tn The words “about Israel’s victories” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied for clarity.
  2. Joshua 11:1 tn Heb “he sent to.”
  3. Joshua 11:2 tn Heb “and to the kings who [are] from the north in.”
  4. Joshua 11:2 tn Heb “Chinneroth,” a city and plain located in the territory of Naphtali in Galilee (BDB 490 s.v. כִּנֶּרֶת, כִּנֲרוֹת).sn Kinnereth was a city in Galilee located near the Sea of Galilee (Deut 3:17). The surrounding region also became known by this name (1 Kgs 15:20; cf. Matt 14:34), and eventually even the lake itself (Josh 12:3; cf. Luke 5:1). The “rift valley south of” Galilee probably refers to the northern part of the Jordan Valley from the lake to where the Jezreel Valley joins the rift valley. Dor is nearly due west from that point.
  5. Joshua 11:3 tn The verb “came” is supplied in the translation (see v. 4).
  6. Joshua 11:3 tn Or “land.”
  7. Joshua 11:4 tn Heb “They and all their camps with them came out, a people as numerous as the sand which is on the edge of the sea in multitude, and [with] horses and chariots very numerous.”
  8. Joshua 11:5 tn Heb “and came and camped together.”
  9. Joshua 11:6 tn Heb “burn with fire”; the words “with fire” are redundant in English and have not been included in the translation.
  10. Joshua 11:7 tn Heb “Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them at the Waters of Merom suddenly and fell upon them.”
  11. Joshua 11:8 tn The meaning of the Hebrew name “Misrephoth Maim” is perhaps “lime-kilns by the water” (see HALOT 641 s.v. מִשְׂרָפוֹת).
  12. Joshua 11:9 tn Heb “burned with fire”; the words “with fire” are redundant in English and have not been included in the translation.
  13. Joshua 11:10 tn Or “formerly.”
  14. Joshua 11:11 tn Heb “and they struck down all life which was in it with the edge of the sword, annihilating.”
  15. Joshua 11:11 tn Heb “burned with fire”; the words “with fire” are redundant in English and have not been included in the translation.
  16. Joshua 11:12 tn Heb “and he struck them down with the edge of the sword, he annihilated them.”
  17. Joshua 11:13 tn Heb “standing on their mounds.”
  18. Joshua 11:14 tn Heb “but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword until they destroyed them.”
  19. Joshua 11:15 tn Heb “As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua acted accordingly; he did not turn aside a thing from all which the Lord commanded Moses.”
  20. Joshua 11:16 tn Heb “Joshua took all this land.”
  21. Joshua 11:16 sn The Negev is an area south of the Judean hill country and west of the rift valley. As a geographic feature it is an arid depression extending south to the Gulf of Aqabah, but the biblical reference is probably to the northern part of this region.
  22. Joshua 11:16 sn The foothills (שְׁפֵלָה, “shephelah”) refer to the transition region between the Judean hill country and the Mediterranean coastal plain.
  23. Joshua 11:16 sn As a geographic feature, the rift valley (עֲרָבָה, ʿaravah) extends from Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba. The reference here is probably to the Jordan Valley and the wider part of the rift valley below the Dead Sea.
  24. Joshua 11:17 tn Heb “and struck them down and killed them.”
  25. Joshua 11:18 tn Heb “made war with.”
  26. Joshua 11:18 tn Heb “for many days.”
  27. Joshua 11:19 tn The LXX omits this parenthetical note, which may represent a later scribal addition.
  28. Joshua 11:19 tn Heb “the whole they took in battle.”
  29. Joshua 11:20 tn Heb “for from the Lord it was to harden their heart[s] to meet for the battle with Israel, in order to annihilate them, so that they would receive no mercy, in order annihilate them, as the Lord commanded Moses.”
  30. Joshua 11:21 tn Heb “went and cut off the Anakites from the hill country.”
  31. Joshua 11:21 tn Heb “and from all the hill country of Israel.”
  32. Joshua 11:23 tn Heb “took.”
  33. Joshua 11:23 tn Heb “according to all which the Lord said to Moses.” The translation assumes this refers to the promise of the land (see 1:3). Another possibility is that it refers to the Lord’s instructions, in which case the phrase could be translated, “just as the Lord had instructed Moses” (so NLT; cf. also NIV “had directed Moses”).
  34. Joshua 11:23 tn Heb “and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their allotted portions by their tribes.”
Close VOICE

Joshua 11
The Voice

11 When King Jabin of Hazor heard what Israel had done to the central and southern cities of Canaan, he sent messengers to King Jobab of Madon, the king of Shimron, the king of Achshaph, 2 and the kings who were in the northern hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west; 3 to the Canaanites in the east and the west; the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country; the Hivites in the foothills of Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpeh, and to all those who could still fight the invaders. 4 They banded together and came out to fight—so many warriors that you could no more count them than you could count the grains of sand on a beach—and leading them was a vast number of horses and chariots. 5 All of these kings pooled their forces, and they camped together by the waters of Merom, ready to make war on Israel.

Eternal One (to Joshua): 6 Don’t be afraid of them. By this time tomorrow, I will have given all of them as dead bodies into your hands. You will disable their horses and burn their chariots.

7 So Joshua’s army came upon them suddenly where they camped beside the waters of Merom and attacked them, 8 and the Eternal delivered this vast army to Israel. They pursued the retreating soldiers as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and to the east as far as the valley of Mizpeh until no one was left to fight. 9 And Joshua cut the hamstrings of all their horses and burned all the chariots, as the Eternal had commanded.

10 Then Joshua turned against Hazor, which had been the leader of all these armies, and destroyed their king 11 and every living, moving, breathing creature within, and burned the city. 12 Joshua moved through each of these cities destroying their armies and putting them all to the sword, including their king, and utterly destroying them as Moses, the servant of the Eternal, had commanded. 13 But Hazor was the only city Joshua burned to the ground of the cities built up on hills. 14 The Israelites looted all of these towns, taking the goods and the livestock as their own but killing all of the inhabitants with the sword, leaving none alive. 15 The Eternal had commanded His servant, Moses, and Moses had commanded Joshua; so Joshua did everything he had been told until nothing the Eternal had commanded Moses was left undone.

16 So Joshua took all of that land: the hill country, the Negev, and the land of Goshen. He conquered the lowland regions, the Arabah, and central hill country with its foothills, 17-18 from Mount Halak, near Seir, to Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. Wherever he went in that land—and it was a long war—he captured their kings and defeated them and executed them. 19 The only people who were not destroyed in battle were the Gibeonites (Hivites) who had made peace with the Israelites. 20 The Eternal boosted the courage of Israel’s enemies so they would come out and oppose Israel as nations receiving no favor but only to be utterly destroyed, just as the Eternal had commanded Moses.

21 Finally Joshua went to war with the Anakim and wiped them from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hills of Judah in the south, and from the hills of Israel further north. Joshua’s army utterly destroyed them, their kings, their armies, and their cities, 22 until not one of the Anakim was left alive in the land of the Israelites. Only a few remained in the Philistine coastal cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

23 So this is how Joshua took the whole land, just as the Eternal had commanded Moses in the land beyond the Jordan; Joshua allotted it as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and at last the land was quiet from wars.

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