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A Summary of Israel’s Victories

16 Joshua conquered the whole land,[a] including the hill country, all the Negev,[b] all the land of Goshen, the foothills,[c] the rift valley,[d] 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.[e] 18 Joshua campaigned against[f] these kings for quite some time.[g] 19 No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon);[h] they had to conquer all of them,[i] 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.[j]

21 At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country[k]—from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel.[l] 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[m] the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses,[n] and he assigned Israel their tribal portions.[o] Then the land was free of war.

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 11:16 tn Heb “Joshua took all this land.”
  2. 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.
  3. Joshua 11:16 sn The foothills (שְׁפֵלָה, “shephelah”) refer to the transition region between the Judean hill country and the Mediterranean coastal plain.
  4. 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.
  5. Joshua 11:17 tn Heb “and struck them down and killed them.”
  6. Joshua 11:18 tn Heb “made war with.”
  7. Joshua 11:18 tn Heb “for many days.”
  8. Joshua 11:19 tn The LXX omits this parenthetical note, which may represent a later scribal addition.
  9. Joshua 11:19 tn Heb “the whole they took in battle.”
  10. 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.”
  11. Joshua 11:21 tn Heb “went and cut off the Anakites from the hill country.”
  12. Joshua 11:21 tn Heb “and from all the hill country of Israel.”
  13. Joshua 11:23 tn Heb “took.”
  14. 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”).
  15. Joshua 11:23 tn Heb “and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their allotted portions by their tribes.”

16 So Joshua conquered the entire region—the hill country, the entire Negev, the whole area around the town of Goshen, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley,[a] the mountains of Israel, and the Galilean foothills. 17 The Israelite territory now extended all the way from Mount Halak, which leads up to Seir in the south, as far north as Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon in the valley of Lebanon. Joshua killed all the kings of those territories, 18 waging war for a long time to accomplish this. 19 No one in this region made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites of Gibeon. All the others were defeated. 20 For the Lord hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites. So they were completely destroyed without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

21 During this period Joshua destroyed all the descendants of Anak, who lived in the hill country of Hebron, Debir, Anab, and the entire hill country of Judah and Israel. He killed them all and completely destroyed their towns. 22 None of the descendants of Anak were left in all the land of Israel, though some still remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

23 So Joshua took control of the entire land, just as the Lord had instructed Moses. He gave it to the people of Israel as their special possession, dividing the land among the tribes. So the land finally had rest from war.

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Footnotes

  1. 11:16 Hebrew the Shephelah, the Arabah.