Conquests in Northern Canaan

11 When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he ^(A)sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, ² and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the ^(B)Arabah south of ^(C)Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and ^(D)in Naphoth-dor on the ^(E)west, ³ to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the ^(F)Jebusites in the hill country, and the ^(G)Hivites under ^(H)Hermon in the land of ^(I)Mizpah. ⁴ And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number ^(J)like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. ⁵ And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

⁶ And the Lord said to Joshua, ^(K)“Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel. You shall ^(L)hamstring their horses and burn their ^(M)chariots with fire.” ⁷ So Joshua and all his warriors came ^(N)suddenly against them by the waters of Merom and fell upon them. ⁸ And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them as far as ^(O)Great Sidon and ^(P)Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of ^(Q)Mizpeh. And they struck them until he left none remaining. ⁹ And Joshua did to them ^(R)just as the Lord said to him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

¹⁰ And Joshua turned back at that time and captured ^(S)Hazor and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹ And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction;^{[a] (T)}there was none left that breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. ¹² And all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua captured, and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, ^(U)just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. ¹³ But none of the cities that stood on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor alone; that Joshua burned. ¹⁴ And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the people of Israel took for their plunder. But every person they struck with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed. ^15 (V)Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, ^(W)so Moses commanded Joshua, ^(X)and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

¹⁶ So Joshua took all that land, ^(Y)the hill country and all the Negeb and ^(Z)all the land of Goshen ^(AA)and the lowland ^(AB)and the Arabah ^(AC)and the hill country of Israel and its lowland ^17 (AD)from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as ^(AE)Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below ^(AF)Mount Hermon. And he captured ^(AG)all their kings and struck them and put them to death. ¹⁸ Joshua made war ^(AH)a long time with all those kings. ¹⁹ There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except ^(AI)the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. ²⁰ For it was the Lord's doing ^(AJ)to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, ^(AK)just as the Lord commanded Moses.

²¹ And Joshua came at that time and cut off ^(AL)the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. ²² There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, ^(AM)in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain. ²³ So Joshua took the whole land, ^(AN)according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. ^(AO)And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel ^(AP)according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

Kings Defeated by Moses

12 Now these are the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and took possession of their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from ^(AQ)the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, with all ^(AR)the Arabah eastward: ^2 (AS)Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and ^(AT)from the middle of the valley as far as the ^(AU)river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, that is, half of Gilead, ³ and ^(AV)the Arabah ^(AW)to the Sea of Chinneroth eastward, and in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, southward to the foot of ^(AX)the slopes of Pisgah; ⁴ and ^(AY)Og^[b] king of Bashan, one of the remnant of ^(AZ)the Rephaim, ^(BA)who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei ⁵ and ruled over ^(BB)Mount Hermon and ^(BC)Salecah and all Bashan ^(BD)to the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and over half of Gilead to the boundary of Sihon king of Heshbon. ^6 (BE)Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the people of Israel defeated them. And Moses the servant of the Lord ^(BF)gave their land for a possession to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Kings Defeated by Joshua

⁷ And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to ^(BG)Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir (and Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession ^(BH)according to their allotments, ^8 (BI)in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negeb, the land of ^(BJ)the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites): ^9 (BK)the king of Jericho, one; ^(BL)the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; ^10 (BM)the king of Jerusalem, one; ^(BN)the king of Hebron, one; ^11 (BO)the king of Jarmuth, one; ^(BP)the king of Lachish, one; ^12 (BQ)the king of Eglon, one; ^(BR)the king of Gezer, one; ^13 (BS)the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; ¹⁴ the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; ^15 (BT)the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; ^16 (BU)the king of Makkedah, one; ^(BV)the king of Bethel, one; ¹⁷ the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; ¹⁸ the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one; ^19 (BW)the king of Madon, one; ^(BX)the king of Hazor, one; ^20 (BY)the king of Shimron-meron, one; ^(BZ)the king of Achshaph, one; ^21 (CA)the king of Taanach, one; ^(CB)the king of Megiddo, one; ²² the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; ^23 (CC)the king of Dor in ^(CD)Naphath-dor, one; the king of Goiim in Galilee,^[c] one; ²⁴ the king of Tirzah, one: in all, thirty-one kings.

22 ^(A)“Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.”

² And when they heard that he was addressing them in ^(B)the Hebrew language,^[a] they became even more quiet. And he said:

^3 (C)“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ^(D)at the feet of ^(E)Gamaliel^{[b] (F)}according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, ^(G)being zealous for God ^(H)as all of you are this day. ^4 (I)I persecuted ^(J)this Way ^(K)to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, ⁵ as ^(L)the high priest and ^(M)the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to ^(N)the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

^6 (O)“As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. ⁷ And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ⁸ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am ^(P)Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ ^9 (Q)Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand^[c] the voice of the one who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ^(R)‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.

¹² “And ^(S)one Ananias, a devout man ^(T)according to the law, ^(U)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ^13 (V)came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And ^(W)at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. ¹⁴ And he said, ^(X)‘The God of our fathers ^(Y)appointed you to know his will, ^(Z)to see ^(AA)the Righteous One and ^(AB)to hear a voice from his mouth; ¹⁵ for ^(AC)you will be a witness for him to everyone of what ^(AD)you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now why do you wait? ^(AE)Rise and be baptized and ^(AF)wash away your sins, ^(AG)calling on his name.’

^17 (AH)“When I had returned to Jerusalem and ^(AI)was praying in the temple, I fell into ^(AJ)a trance ¹⁸ and saw him saying to me, ^(AK)‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ ¹⁹ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another ^(AL)I imprisoned and ^(AM)beat those who believed in you. ²⁰ And when the blood of Stephen ^(AN)your witness was being shed, ^(AO)I myself was standing by and ^(AP)approving and ^(AQ)watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ ²¹ And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you ^(AR)far away to the Gentiles.’”

Paul and the Roman Tribune

²² Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, ^(AS)“Away with such a fellow from the earth! For ^(AT)he should not be allowed to live.” ²³ And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴ the tribune ordered him to be brought into ^(AU)the barracks, saying that he should be ^(AV)examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. ²⁵ But when they had stretched him out for the whips,^[d] Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog ^(AW)a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” ²⁷ So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” ²⁹ So those who were about ^(AX)to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also ^(AY)was afraid, ^(AZ)for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that ^(BA)he had bound him.

Paul Before the Council

³⁰ But on the next day, ^(BB)desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.