Old/New Testament
The Amorite kings
10 The king of Jerusalem was called Adoni-Zedek. He heard how Joshua had taken Ai city, as he had also taken Jericho city. He heard that Joshua had destroyed those cities and their kings. He also heard that the Israelites had made an agreement with the Gibeonites. They promised that they would not attack the Gibeonites. He knew that the Gibeonites now lived among the Israelites.
2 The king and the people of Jerusalem were very afraid, because Gibeon was a great city. It was bigger than Ai, like a city with a king. All its men were brave soldiers. 3 So King Adoni-Zedek asked some other kings to join with him to attack Gibeon. They were Hoham, king of Hebron, Piram, king of Jarmuth, Japhia, king of Lachish and Debir, king of Eglon. 4 Adoni-Zedek said to them, ‘The Gibeonites have made an agreement with Joshua and the Israelites not to fight them. So please come and help me to attack Gibeon.’
5 So the five Amorite kings with their armies met together. They were the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. They put their soldiers near Gibeon city, and they began to attack it.
6 The Gibeonites sent a message to Joshua at Gilgal. They said, ‘Please sir, do not refuse to help us! Come quickly and save us. All the Amorite kings from the hills have joined together to attack us.’
7 So Joshua took his whole army and they marched up from Gilgal. He had all his best soldiers with him. 8 The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them. I will cause you to win against their armies. They will not be strong enough to fight against you.’
9 The Israelite soldiers marched all night from Gilgal. When they reached Gibeon, they quickly attacked the Amorite armies by surprise. 10 The Lord caused the Amorites to become confused when they saw the Israelite army. So the Israelites won a great battle there at Gibeon. They chased their enemies along the road to Beth Horon. They continued to kill the Amorite soldiers as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As the Amorites ran down the hill from Beth Horon, the Lord sent large stones of hail down from the sky. The hail killed them all the way to Azekah. More of the Amorite soldiers died because of the heavy stones of hail, than because the Israelite soldiers killed them.
12 So the Lord caused the Israelites to win the fight against the Amorites. After the battle that day, Joshua stood in front of Israel and he prayed to the Lord. He said,
‘Sun, stand still over Gibeon city.
Moon, stand still over Aijalon valley.’
13 So the sun stood still and the moon stopped moving across the sky. They stayed still while the Israelites punished their enemies. People wrote about this in the Scroll of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky. It did not go down for about a whole day. 14 A day like that had never happened before, and it has not happened since then. The Lord answered the prayer of a man in such a great way! The Lord himself was fighting the battle on behalf of the Israelites!
15 Then Joshua and all the Israelite army went back to their tents at Gilgal.
The Israelites kill the five Amorite kings
16 The five kings had run away from the Israelite soldiers. They had hidden in a cave at Makkedah. 17 Joshua heard that they were hiding there. 18 He said to his men, ‘Take some big stones and cover the front of the cave. Put some men there to watch the cave.[a] 19 But you must continue to chase after your enemies. Do not stop now! Catch them! Do not let them reach their cities where they will be safe. Remember that the Lord your God has caused you to win against them.’
20 So Joshua and the Israelites destroyed nearly all the Amorite armies. But a few of the Amorites escaped and they reached their strong cities. 21 Then the whole Israelite army returned to Joshua at Makkedah. All the people in the land were too afraid to speak against the Israelites.
22 Then Joshua said to his men, ‘Take away the stones to open the cave where the five kings are. Bring them out here to me.’ 23 So they brought the five kings to Joshua. They were the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. 24 When they had brought the kings to Joshua, he called the men of Israel to meet there. He said to the officers of his army, ‘Put your feet on the necks of these kings.’ They did as he told them.
25 Joshua said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Be very strong and brave. Look at these kings! This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies that you will fight against.’ 26 Then Joshua killed the five kings with his sword. He hung their bodies on five trees. They remained there until evening time.
27 At sunset, Joshua told his men to take the kings down from the trees. They threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. They put big stones over the front of the cave. The stones are still there today.
Joshua attacks other cities[b]
28 That day, Joshua attacked Makkedah city. He took it, together with its king. He destroyed everyone who lived in it. He did not leave anyone alive. He did the same thing to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.
29 After that, Joshua and his army marched from Makkedah to Libnah. They attacked Libnah city. 30 The Lord gave them power over that city and its king. Joshua destroyed the city and everyone who lived in it. He did not leave anyone alive. They did the same thing to Libnah's king as they had done to the king of Jericho.
31 After this, Joshua and all the Israelite army marched from Libnah to Lachish. They attacked Lachish city from all sides. 32 The Lord gave them power over the city. They fought for two days and then they took the city. They killed everyone who lived in it, as they had done at Libnah. 33 Then Horam, king of Gezer, came to help the people of Lachish. But Joshua's army fought against him and his army. He killed them all, with nobody left alive.
34 Then Joshua and his army marched from Lachish to Eglon. They attacked Eglon city from all sides. 35 They took it on the same day. They killed everyone who lived in that city, as they had done at Lachish.
36 After this, Joshua and all the Israelite army marched up from Eglon to Hebron. They attacked Hebron city. 37 They took the city and they killed its king. They killed all the people who lived there, and the people in the towns near to it. They destroyed the whole city, as they had done at Eglon. They did not leave anyone alive.
38 Then Joshua and his army turned round and they marched to Debir. They attacked Debir city. 39 They took the city, its king and all the towns near to it. They killed everyone who lived there. They did the same thing to Debir and its king as they had done to Hebron, and to Libnah and its king.
40 In that way, Joshua took the whole land and all the kings who ruled there. He took the hill country, the Negev in the south, the low hills in the west and the mountains in the east. He killed all the people who lived there. He did not leave anyone alive. The Lord God of Israel had told him to do this. 41 Joshua took the whole region, from Kadesh-Barnea in the south to Gaza near the sea. This included all of Goshen, as far as Gibeon in the north. 42 Joshua won all these battles in one long fight. He won against all these kings and their lands. He won because the Lord, Israel's God, was fighting on Israel's behalf.
43 After this, Joshua and all Israel's army went back to their tents at Gilgal.
Joshua fights against kings in the north
11 Jabin, king of Hazor, heard what had happened. So he sent a message to Jobab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron and the king of Acshaph. 2 He also sent a message to the kings of the hill country in the north, in the Jordan Valley, south of Galilee.[c] He also sent a message to people in the low hills and Naphoth Dor in the west. 3 So Canaanite people came from the east and from the west. They were Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites who lived in the hills. They were also Hivites who lived near Hermon mountain, in the region of Mizpah. 4 All these kings came with their big armies. They had many horses and chariots. The soldiers were too many to count. 5 These kings all joined together to fight against the Israelites. They put up their tents near the water at Merom.
6 The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them. This time tomorrow they will all be dead! I will give all of them to you Israelites. You must cut the legs of their horses so that they cannot run well. You must also burn their chariots.’
7 So Joshua and his whole army went to attack them at the Waters of Merom. They quickly attacked them by surprise. 8 The Lord caused the Israelites to win against them. The Israelite soldiers chased them as far as Sidon, Misrephoth Maim and the valley of Mizpah in the east. They killed their enemies as they chased them, until they were all dead. 9 Joshua did what the Lord had commanded him to do. He cut their horses' legs and he burned their chariots.
10 At that time, Hazor was the most important city among all those kingdoms that fought against the Israelites. So Joshua turned back and attacked Hazor. He killed its king. 11 The Israelites killed everyone who lived there. Nothing in the city was left alive. They burned the city and destroyed it.
12 Joshua took all these cities and he killed all their kings. He destroyed them all, as the Lord's servant Moses had told him to do. 13 But the Israelites did not burn the cities that were built on small hills. Hazor was the only city like that which Joshua did burn. 14 The Israelites took for themselves all the animals and the valuable things from those cities. But they killed all the people. They did not let any of them live. 15 Moses had told all the Lord's commands to Joshua. Joshua obeyed all the Lord's commands. He did everything that the Lord had told Moses.
The land that Joshua took for the Israelites
16 Joshua's army won against all the people who were living in the land. He took the hill country, the Negev in the south, and the land of Goshen. He took the low hills in the west and the Jordan Valley. He took the mountains and the hills of Israel. 17 The land went from Halak mountain near Edom country, to Baal Gad in the Lebanon valley, below Hermon mountain. He caught all the kings of those regions and he killed them all. 18 Joshua was fighting against those kings for a long time. 19 None of those kingdoms agreed not to fight against the Israelites, except the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. The Israelites fought battles against all the other kingdoms and they won. 20 The Lord had caused the minds of those people to become hard. So they all decided to fight against the Israelites. The Lord wanted the Israelites to destroy those people completely, as he had commanded Moses.
21 During that time, Joshua went to fight against the Anakites, who lived in the hill country. They lived in Hebron, Debir and Anab, and among the hills of Judah and Israel. Joshua destroyed them all, and all their towns. 22 So no Anakites remained in Israel, except for a few who lived in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod.
23 In that way, Joshua took the whole land. The Lord had promised Moses that he would give the land to his people. Joshua gave a part of the land to each tribe, for them to live in.
After all that, the people did not have to fight any more.
Kingdoms on the east side of the Jordan River
12 The Israelites killed these kings who ruled on the east side of the Jordan River. They destroyed them and they took their land. Their land went from the Arnon valley to Hermon mountain. It included all the land on the east side of the Jordan Valley.
2 They killed Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled half of the Gilead region. That is from Aroer that was on the edge of the Arnon valley, as far as the Jabbok river. The Ammonites had the land on the other side of the river. 3 King Sihon's land also went along the east side of the Jordan Valley from the sea of Galilee to the Salt Sea. His land went south to Beth Jeshimoth and as far as Pisgah mountain.
4 They killed Og, king of Bashan. He was one of the last Rephaites. He lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. 5 He ruled the land from Hermon mountain and Salecah in the north, and all of the Bashan region in the east. His land went as far as the borders of the kingdoms of Geshur and Maakah. He ruled half of the Gilead region, as far as the border of King Sihon of Heshbon.
6 The Lord's servant, Moses, and the Israelites won against these kings. Moses gave their land to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh to live in.[d]
Kingdoms on the west side of the Jordan River
7 Joshua and the Israelites killed these kings who ruled on the west side of the Jordan River. Joshua gave these kings' land to the Israelite tribes for them to live in. He gave a different piece of land to each tribe. Their land went from Baal Gad in the Lebanon valley to Halak mountain, which is near Seir. 8 This included the hill country, the low hills in the west, the Jordan Valley, the mountains, the wilderness and the Negev. That was the land that belonged to the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 Joshua took the land of these kings:
king of Jericho,
king of Ai (near Bethel),
10 king of Jerusalem,
king of Hebron,
11 king of Jarmuth,
king of Lachish,
12 king of Eglon,
king of Gezer,
13 king of Debir,
king of Geder,
14 king of Hormah,
king of Arad,
15 king of Libnah,
king of Adullam,
16 king of Makkedah,
king of Bethel,
17 king of Tappuah,
king of Hepher,
18 king of Aphek,
king of Lasharon,
19 king of Madon,
king of Hazor,
20 king of Shimron Meron,
king of Acshaph,
21 king of Taanach,
king of Megiddo,
22 king of Kedesh,
king of Jokneam in Carmel,
23 king of Dor in Naphoth Dor,
king of Goyim in Gilgal,
24 king of Tirzah.
Joshua and the Israelites took the land of these 31 kings.[e]
Mary visits Elizabeth
39 After that, Mary prepared herself to travel. She hurried to a town in the hills of Judea. 40 When she arrived at the home of Zechariah, she said ‘hello’ to Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary speak, she felt her baby move quickly inside her. The Holy Spirit filled her. 42 She spoke to Mary in a loud voice, ‘God has made you very happy. He has been good and kind to you more than to other women. He has also been good and kind to your baby. 43 You are the mother of my Lord and I am not an important person. So it is very good that you have visited me. 44 Listen! When I heard you say, “Hello” to me, my baby moved quickly inside me. He was very happy. 45 The Lord has told you what will happen. And you believed what he told you. Because of that, God has made you a happy person.’
Mary's song
46 Then Mary said,
‘All of me wants to praise God and say,
“Lord, how good and great you are!”
47 I thank God because he is the one who saves me.
48 I know that I am not an important person.
God knows this, and he has been kind to me.
Listen! From now on, all people will say that God has made me happy.
49 Yes, God has done great things for me.
He is very powerful and strong. He is good in every way.
50 He is kind to people who respect and obey him.
He will always be kind to people like that.
51 He has shown how strong he is to do great things.
Some people think that they are very important.
But he has sent them away in different directions.
52 Some people were ruling countries.
But he has taken their power away from them.
He has given power to people who do not feel important.
53 He has fed hungry people with good things to eat.
But he has sent rich people away with nothing.
54 He promised that he would be kind to his people, Israel.
Now he has come and helped them.
55 He made a promise to Abraham and to our other ancestors.
Now he has done what he promised.’[a]
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months. Then she returned to her home.
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