Joshua 11
Contemporary English Version
Joshua Captures Towns in the North
11 King Jabin of Hazor heard about Joshua's victories, so he sent messages to many nearby kings and asked them to join him in fighting Israel. He sent these messages to King Jobab of Madon, the kings of Shimron and Achshaph, 2 the kings in the northern hill country and in the Jordan River valley south of Lake Galilee,[a] and the kings in the foothills and in Naphath-Dor to the west. 3 He sent messages to the Canaanite kings in the east and the west, to the Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, and Jebusite kings in the hill country, and to the Hivite kings in the region of Mizpah, near the foot of Mount Hermon.[b]
4-5 The kings and their armies went to Merom Pond,[c] where they set up camp, and got ready to fight Israel. It seemed as though there were more soldiers and horses and chariots than there are grains of sand on a beach.
6 The Lord told Joshua:
Don't let them frighten you! I'll help you defeat them, and by this time tomorrow they will be dead.
When you attack, the first thing you have to do is to cripple their horses. Then after the battle is over,[d] burn their chariots.
7 Joshua and his army made a surprise attack against the enemy camp at Merom Pond[e] 8-9 and crippled the enemies' horses.[f] Joshua followed the Lord's instructions, and the Lord helped Israel defeat the enemy. The Israelite army even chased enemy soldiers as far as Misrephoth-Maim to the northwest,[g] the city of Sidon to the north, and Mizpeh Valley to the northeast.[h] None of the enemy soldiers escaped alive. The Israelites came back after the battle and burned the enemy's chariots.
10 Up to this time, the king of Hazor had controlled the kingdoms that had joined together to attack Israel, so Joshua led his army back and captured Hazor. They killed its king 11 and everyone else, then they set the town on fire.
12-15 Joshua captured all the towns where the enemy kings had ruled. These towns were built on small hills,[i] and Joshua did not set fire to any of these towns, except Hazor. The Israelites kept the animals and everything of value from these towns, but they killed everyone who lived in them, including their kings. That's what the Lord had told his servant Moses to do, that's what Moses had told Joshua to do, and that's exactly what Joshua did.
16 Joshua and his army took control of the northern and southern hill country, the foothills to the west, the Southern Desert, the whole region of Goshen,[j] and the Jordan River valley. 17-18 They took control of the land from Mount Halak near the country of Edom in the south to Baal-Gad in Lebanon Valley at the foot of Mount Hermon in the north. Joshua and his army were at war with the kings in this region for a long time, but finally they captured and put to death the last king.
19-20 (A) The Lord had told Moses that he wanted the towns in this region destroyed and their people killed without mercy. That's why the Lord made the people in the towns stubborn and determined to fight Israel. The only town that signed a peace treaty with Israel was the Hivite town of Gibeon. The Israelite army captured the rest of the towns in battle.
21 During this same time, Joshua and his army killed the Anakim[k] from the northern and southern hill country. They also destroyed the towns where the Anakim had lived, including Hebron, Debir, and Anab. 22 There were not any Anakim left in the regions where the Israelites lived, although there were still some in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.[l]
23 That's how Joshua captured the land, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and Joshua divided it up among the tribes.
Finally, there was peace in the land.
Footnotes
- 11.2 Lake Galilee: The Hebrew text has “Lake Chinnereth,” an earlier name.
- 11.3 Mizpah, near the foot of Mount Hermon: Probably the same region as Mizpeh Valley in verses 8,9, but different from the two other places named Mizpeh in 15.37-41; 18.25-28, and also different from the Mizpah mentioned in Genesis 31.49 and Judges 10.17.
- 11.4,5 Pond: Or “Gorge.”
- 11.6 When … over: Or “After the battle is over, cripple their horses and burn their chariots.”
- 11.7 Pond: See the note at 11.4,5.
- 11.8,9 and crippled the enemies' horses: It is also possible that the Israelites crippled the enemies' horses after the battle at the same time they burned the enemies' chariots; see the note at 11.6.
- 11.8,9 Misrephoth-Maim … northwest: Or “the town of Misrephoth to the northwest” or “the Misrephoth River.”
- 11.8,9 northeast: These three areas were 30 to 55 kilometers north of Merom.
- 11.12-15 small hills: Towns were often built on top of the ruins of a previous town that had been destroyed. When this happened many times at one place, a hill was formed.
- 11.16 Goshen: See the note at 10.41.
- 11.21 Anakim: Perhaps a group of very large people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites (see Numbers 13.33 and Deuteronomy 2.10,11, 20,21).
- 11.22 Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod: Towns in Philistia.
Joshua 11
Lexham English Bible
Joshua’s Conquest of the North
11 And it happened, when Jabin king of Hazor heard this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Acshaph, 2 and to the kings who were in the north in the hill country, in the Arabah[a] south of Kinnereth,[b] in the Shephelah,[c] and in Naphoth Dor[d] in the west, 3 to the Canaanites[e] in the east and west, the Amorites,[f] the Hittites,[g] the Perizzites,[h] and the Jebusites[i] in the hill country, and the Hivites[j] at the foot of[k] Hermon in the land of Mizpah. 4 They came out, they and all their armies with them, as a great army like the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5 And all these kings joined forces, and they came and camped together by the waters of Merom to fight with Israel.
6 And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of their presence, for tomorrow at this time I will hand them over slain to Israel; you will hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” 7 So Joshua, and all the fighting men[l] with him, came against them suddenly at the waters of Merom, and they attacked them.[m] 8 And Yahweh gave them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them and pursued them up to Great Sidon and Misrephoth Maim, and eastward up to the valley of Mizpeh. And they struck them until they left behind no survivor. 9 And Joshua did to them as Yahweh commanded him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
10 Then Joshua turned back at that time, and he captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword, because Hazor formerly was the head of all these kingdoms. 11 He struck all the people that were in it with the edge of the sword,[n] utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed,[o] and he burned Hazor with fire. 12 And Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, and he utterly destroyed them with the edge of the sword,[p] as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded. 13 Israel did not burn the cities standing on their mounds,[q] except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned. 14 And all the spoil and livestock of these cities the Israelites took as booty; they struck the people with the edge of the sword,[r] until they had destroyed them—they left behind no one who breathed. 15 Just as Yahweh commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did; he left nothing undone that Yahweh had commanded Moses.
A Review of Joshua’s Conquests
16 So Joshua took all this land: the hill country, all the Negev,[s] all the land of Goshen,[t] the Shephelah,[u] the Arabah,[v] and the hill country of Israel and its Shephelah,[w] 17 from Mount Halak that rises to Seir and to Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon[x] at the foot of[y] Mount Hermon; he captured all their kings, struck them, and killed them. 18 For many days Joshua made war with all these kings. 19 There was not a city that made peace with the Israelites[z] besides the Hivites[aa] and the inhabitants of Gibeon—all were taken in battle.[ab] 20 For it was Yahweh that hardened their hearts,[ac] to meet Israel in war in order to utterly destroy them without mercy, that they would destroy them just as Yahweh commanded Moses.
21 At that time Joshua came and exterminated the Anakites from the hill country, from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel; Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. 22 None of the Anakites were left in the land of the Israelites;[ad] some remained only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. 23 Joshua took all the land according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel, according to their tribal divisions, and the land rested from war.
Footnotes
- Joshua 11:2 A dry region that runs south of the Sea of Galilee along the Jordan valley
- Joshua 11:2 That is, the Sea of Galilee
- Joshua 11:2 Or “lowlands”; a geographical region on the western edge of the hills of Judea
- Joshua 11:2 Or “the heights of Dor”
- Joshua 11:3 Hebrew “Canaanite”
- Joshua 11:3 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Joshua 11:3 Hebrew “Hittite”
- Joshua 11:3 Hebrew “Perizzite”
- Joshua 11:3 Hebrew “Jebusite”
- Joshua 11:3 Hebrew “Hivite”
- Joshua 11:3 Literally “under”
- Joshua 11:7 Literally “all the people of war”
- Joshua 11:7 Literally “they fell upon them”
- Joshua 11:11 Literally “the mouth of the sword”
- Joshua 11:11 Literally “No one was left over of any breath”
- Joshua 11:12 Literally “the mouth of the sword”
- Joshua 11:13 Hebrew “mound”
- Joshua 11:14 Literally “the mouth of the sword”
- Joshua 11:16 An arid region south of the Judaean hills
- Joshua 11:16 A southern region; the name means “on the mountains”
- Joshua 11:16 Or “lowlands”; a geographical region on the western edge of the hills of Judea
- Joshua 11:16 A dry region that runs south of the Sea of Galilee along the Jordan valley
- Joshua 11:16 Or “lowlands”; a geographical region on the western edge of the hills of Judea
- Joshua 11:17 Or “white mountain”
- Joshua 11:17 Literally “under”
- Joshua 11:19 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Joshua 11:19 Hebrew “Hivite”
- Joshua 11:19 Literally “the all they took in the battle”
- Joshua 11:20 Literally “made their hearts strong”
- Joshua 11:22 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
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