The United Kings of Northern Canaan Defeated

11 When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Ach′shaph, ² and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chin′neroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west, ³ to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Per′izzites, and the Jeb′usites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. ⁴ And they came out, with all their troops, a great host, in number like the sand that is upon 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 with Israel.

⁶ And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel; you shall hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.” ⁷ So Joshua came suddenly upon them with all his people of war, by the waters of Merom, and fell upon them. ⁸ And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who smote them and chased them as far as Great Sidon and Mis′rephoth-ma′im, and eastward as far as the valley of Mizpeh; and they smote them, until they left none remaining. ⁹ And Joshua did to them as the Lord bade him; he hamstrung their horses, and burned their chariots with fire.

¹⁰ And Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and smote its king with the sword; for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹ And they put to the sword all who were in it, utterly destroying them; 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 took, and smote them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. ¹³ But none of the cities that stood on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor only; that Joshua burned. ¹⁴ And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle, the people of Israel took for their booty; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any that breathed. ¹⁵ As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

Summary of Joshua’s Conquests

¹⁶ So Joshua took all that land, the hill country and all the Negeb and all the land of Goshen and the lowland and the Arabah and the hill country of Israel and its lowland ¹⁷ from Mount Halak, that rises toward Se′ir, as far as Ba′al-gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. And he took all their kings, and smote them, and put them to death. ¹⁸ Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. ¹⁹ There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon; they took all in battle. ²⁰ For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be utterly destroyed, and should receive no mercy but be exterminated, as the Lord commanded Moses.

²¹ And Joshua came at that time, and wiped out 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 utterly destroyed them with their cities. ²² There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, did some remain. ²³ So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.