War against Midian

31 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”^{(A) 3} So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of your number for the war, so that they may go against Midian, to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴ You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵ So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were conscripted, twelve thousand armed for battle. ⁶ Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest,^[a] with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.^{(B) 7} They did battle against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, in addition to others who were slain by them, and they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.^{(C) 9} The Israelites took the women of Midian and their little ones captive, and they plundered all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ All their towns where they had settled, and all their encampments, they burned, ¹¹ but they took all the spoil and all the plunder, both people and animals.^{(D) 12} Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the Israelites, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Jericho Taken and Destroyed

6 Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the Israelites; no one came out, and no one went in. ² The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers.^{(A) 3} You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days, ⁴ with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets.^{(B) 5} When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead.” ⁶ So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ To the people he said, “Go forward and march around the city; have the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”^(C)

⁸ As Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. ⁹ And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets; the rear guard came after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually.^{(D) 10} To the people Joshua gave this command: “You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall you utter a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” ¹¹ So the ark of the Lord went around the city, circling it once, and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

¹² Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord passed on, blowing the trumpets continually. The armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually.^{(E) 14} On the second day they marched around the city once and then returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day they rose early, at dawn, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live because she hid the messengers we sent.^{(F) 18} As for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction, so as not to covet^[a] and take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it.^{(G) 19} But all silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so the people charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.^{(H) 21} Then they devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.^(I)

²² But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman out of it and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”^{(J) 23} So the young men who had been spies went in and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all who belonged to her—they brought all her kindred out—and set them outside the camp of Israel.^{(K) 24} They burned down the city and everything in it; only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.^{(L) 25} But Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, Joshua spared. Her family^[b] has lived in Israel ever since. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.^(M)

²⁶ Joshua then pronounced this oath, saying,

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.^(O)

The United Kings of Northern Canaan Defeated

11 When King Jabin of Hazor heard of this, he sent to King Jobab of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,^{(A) 2} and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west,^{(B) 3} to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. ⁴ They came out, with all their troops, a great army, in number like the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.^{(C) 5} All these kings joined their forces and came and camped 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 hand over all of them, slain, to Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”^{(D) 7} So Joshua came suddenly upon them with all his fighting force, by the waters of Merom, and fell upon them. ⁸ And the Lord handed them over to Israel, who attacked them and chased them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and eastward as far as the valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down until they had left no one remaining.^{(E) 9} And Joshua did to them as the Lord had commanded him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.^(F)

¹⁰ Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor and struck its king down with the sword. Before that time Hazor was the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹ And they put to the sword all who were in it, utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed, and he burned Hazor with fire.^{(G) 12} And all the towns of those kings and all their kings, Joshua took and struck them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. ¹³ But Israel burned none of the towns that stood on mounds except Hazor, which Joshua did burn. ¹⁴ All the spoil of these towns and the livestock the Israelites plundered for themselves, but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed.^{(H) 15} As the Lord had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.^(I)

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,^{(J) 17} from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He took all their kings, struck them down, and put them to death.^{(K) 18} Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. ¹⁹ There was not a town that made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon; all were taken in battle.^{(L) 20} For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed and might receive no mercy but be exterminated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.^(M)

²¹ At that time Joshua came 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 towns.^{(N) 22} None of the Anakim was left in the land of the Israelites; some remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. 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.^(O)

The Other Tribes Attack Benjamin

20 Then all the Israelites came out, from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled in one body before the Lord at Mizpah.^{(A) 2} The chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers bearing arms. ³ (Now the Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) And the Israelites said, “Tell us, how did this criminal act come about?” ⁴ The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.^{(B) 5} The lords of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she died.^{(C) 6} Then I took my concubine and cut her into pieces and sent her throughout the whole extent of Israel’s territory, for they have committed a vile outrage in Israel.^{(D) 7} So now, you Israelites, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”^(E)

⁸ All the people got up as one, saying, “We will not any of us go to our tents, nor will any of us return to our houses. ⁹ But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up^[a] against it by lot. ¹⁰ We will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the troops who will go to repay^[b] Gibeah of Benjamin for all the disgrace that they have done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one.

¹² The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What crime is this that has been committed among you?^{(F) 13} Now then, hand over those scoundrels in Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to their kinsfolk, the Israelites.^{(G) 14} The Benjaminites came together out of the towns to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the Israelites. ¹⁵ On that day the Benjaminites mustered twenty-six thousand armed men from their towns, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered seven hundred picked men. ¹⁶ Of all this force, there were seven hundred picked men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. ¹⁷ And the Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand armed men, all of them warriors.

¹⁸ The Israelites proceeded to go up to Bethel, where they inquired of God, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the Benjaminites?” And the Lord answered, “Judah shall go up first.”^(H)

¹⁹ Then the Israelites got up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. ²⁰ The Israelites went out to battle against Benjamin, and the Israelites drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah. ²¹ The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and struck down on that day twenty-two thousand of the Israelites.^{(I) 23 [c]}The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until the evening, and they inquired of the Lord, “Shall we again draw near to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.”^{(J) 22} The Israelites strengthened themselves and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day.

²⁴ So the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites the second day. ²⁵ Benjamin moved out against them from Gibeah the second day and struck down eighteen thousand of the Israelites, all of them armed men.^{(K) 26} Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went back to Bethel and wept, sitting there before the Lord; they fasted that day until evening. Then they offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being before the Lord.^{(L) 27} And the Israelites inquired of the Lord (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,^{(M) 28} and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days), saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites, or shall we desist?” The Lord answered, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”^(N)

²⁹ So Israel stationed men in ambush around Gibeah.^{(O) 30} Then the Israelites went up against the Benjaminites on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah as before. ³¹ When the Benjaminites went out against the army, they were drawn away from the city. As before, they began to inflict casualties on the troops along the main roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, as well as in the open country, killing about thirty men of Israel.^{(P) 32} The Benjaminites thought, “They are being routed before us, as previously.” But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city toward the roads.” ³³ The main body of the Israelites drew back its battle line to Baal-tamar, while those Israelites who were in ambush rushed out of their place west^[d] of Geba.^{(Q) 34} There came against Gibeah ten thousand picked men out of all Israel, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was close upon them.^(R)

³⁵ The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the Israelites struck down twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day, all of them armed.

³⁶ Then the Benjaminites saw that they were defeated.

The Israelites gave ground to Benjamin because they relied on the troops in ambush that they had stationed against Gibeah.^{(S) 37} The troops in ambush rushed quickly upon Gibeah. Then they put the whole city to the sword.^{(T) 38} Now the agreement between the main body of Israel and the men in ambush was that when they sent up a cloud of smoke out of the city^{(U) 39} the main body of Israel should turn in battle. But Benjamin had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites, killing about thirty of them, so they thought, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”^{(V) 40} But when the cloud, a column of smoke, began to rise out of the city, the Benjaminites looked behind them—and there was the whole city going up in smoke toward the sky!^{(W) 41} Then the main body of Israel turned, and the Benjaminites were dismayed, for they saw that disaster was close upon them. ⁴² Therefore they turned away from the Israelites in the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the city^[e] were striking them down in between.^{[f] 43} Surrounding the Benjaminites, they pursued them from Nohah^[g] and trod them down as far as a place east of Gibeah. ⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand Benjaminites fell, all of them courageous fighters. ⁴⁵ When they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, five thousand of them were cut down on the main roads, and they were pursued as far as Gidom, and two thousand of them were slain.^{(X) 46} So all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand arms-bearing men, all of them courageous fighters. ⁴⁷ But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months.^{(Y) 48} Meanwhile, the Israelites turned back against the Benjaminites and put them to the sword—the city, the people, the animals, and all that remained. Also the remaining towns they set on fire.

⁴¹ The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.^{(A) 43} The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.^{(B) 44} The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.”^{(C) 45} But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.^{(D) 46} This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel^{(E) 47} and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”^(F)

⁴⁸ When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David’s hand. ⁵¹ Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it.

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.^{(G) 52} The troops of Israel and Judah rose up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath^[a] and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.^{(H) 53} The Israelites came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. ⁵⁴ David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

⁵⁵ When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.”^{(I) 56} The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is.” ⁵⁷ On David’s return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand.^{(J) 58} Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”^(K)