Victories in the north

11 King Jabin of Hazor heard about this. So he sent word to Madon’s King Jobab, to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph. ² He sent word to the kings from the north part of the highlands, in the desert plain south of Chinneroth, in the lowlands, and in Naphoth-dor on the west. ³ He sent word to the Canaanites from east and west, to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the highlands, and to the Hivites at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah. ⁴ They went out with all their battalions as a great army. They were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. There were very many horses and chariots. ⁵ All these kings came together. They came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

⁶ The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them. By this time tomorrow, I will make them all dead bodies in Israel’s presence. Cripple their horses! Burn their chariots!”

⁷ Then Joshua along with the entire army launched a surprise attack against them at the waters of Merom. ⁸ The Lord gave them into Israel’s power. They struck them down. They chased them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, then to the east as far as the Mizpeh Valley. They struck them down until no survivors were left. ⁹ Joshua dealt with them exactly as the Lord had told him. He crippled their horses and burned their chariots.

¹⁰ Joshua turned back at that time. He captured Hazor and struck down its king with the sword. Hazor had been the head of all those kingdoms in the past. ¹¹ They struck down everyone there without mercy, wiping them out as something reserved for God. Nothing that breathed was left. Hazor itself he burned. ¹² Joshua captured all these kings and their cities. He struck them down without mercy. He wiped them out as something reserved for God. This was exactly as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded. ¹³ But Israel didn’t burn any of the cities that still are standing on their mounds. Joshua burned only Hazor. ¹⁴ The Israelites took all the valuable things from those cities and the cattle as plunder for themselves. But they struck down every person without mercy until they had wiped them out. They didn’t let anything that breathed survive. ¹⁵ What the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, Moses had commanded Joshua, and Joshua did exactly that. He didn’t deviate a bit from any command that the Lord had given Moses.

Summary of Israel’s victories

¹⁶ So Joshua took this whole land: the highlands, the whole arid southern plain, the whole land of Goshen, the lowlands, the desert plain, and both the highlands and the lowlands of Israel. ¹⁷ He took land stretching from Mount Halak, which goes up toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon in the Lebanon Valley. He captured all their kings. He struck them down and killed them. ¹⁸ Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. ¹⁹ There wasn’t one city that made peace with the Israelites, except the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. They captured every single one in battle. ²⁰ Their stubborn resistance came from the Lord and led them to wage war against Israel. Israel was then able to wipe them out as something reserved for God, without showing them any mercy. This was exactly what the Lord had commanded Moses.

²¹ At that time, Joshua went and wiped out the Anakim from the highlands. He wiped them out from Hebron, from Debir, and from Anab, from the whole highlands of Judah, and the whole highlands of Israel. Joshua wiped them out along with their cities as something reserved for God. ²² The Anakim no longer remained in the land of the Israelites. They survived only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. ²³ So Joshua took the whole land, exactly as the Lord had promised Moses. Joshua gave it as a legacy to Israel according to their tribal shares. Then the land had a rest from war.