Joshua 11

Translated from the Hebrew of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Tap a verse to see why it reads as it does. Tap a small letter to read its footnote.

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The kings of the north

¹When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, ²and to the kings of the north, those in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the foothills, and in the heights of Dor to the west, ³to the Canaanites in the east and the west, to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country, and to the Hivites below Mount Hermon in the region of Mizpah. ⁴They came out with all their forces, an army as countless as the sand along the seashore, with a great many horses and chariots. ⁵All these kings joined forces; they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

Victory over the northern kings

⁶The LORD said to Joshua, “Have no fear of them. At this hour tomorrow I will lay every one of them dead before Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and set fire to their chariots.” ⁷So Joshua and all his fighting men came upon them suddenly at the waters of Merom and attacked them. ⁸The LORD handed them over to Israel, who defeated them and chased them to Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and toward the east to the valley of Mizpeh. They kept striking them down until not one was left. ⁹Joshua did to them just as the LORD had told him: he hamstrung their horses and set fire to their chariots.

Hazor is burned

¹⁰At that time Joshua came back and took Hazor; he put its king to the sword, for Hazor had once been the leading power among all these kingdoms. ¹¹They put everyone in it to the sword, devoting them to destruction, and no one who breathed was left. Then Joshua burned Hazor. ¹²Joshua captured all the towns of these kings, and their kings as well, and put them to the sword. He devoted them to destruction, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. ¹³But Israel did not burn any of the towns that stood on their mounds, except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned. ¹⁴The Israelites took all the spoil of these towns and the livestock for themselves. But every human being they killed with the sword until they had wiped them out; they left no one alive. ¹⁵Just as the LORD had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses had commanded Joshua, and that is what Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses. ¹⁶So Joshua took this whole land: the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the foothills, the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel with its foothills, ¹⁷from Mount Halak, rising toward Seir, to Baal-gad in the Lebanon valley below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings, struck them down and put them to death. ¹⁸Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. ¹⁹Not one town made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. All the others they took in battle. ²⁰For it was the LORD who made their hearts stubborn, so that they came out to meet Israel in battle, in order that they would be devoted to destruction and receive no mercy, but be wiped out, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

The Anakim wiped out

²¹At that time Joshua went and wiped out the Anakim from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, and from the whole hill country of Judah and of Israel. He devoted them to destruction together with their towns. ²²In the land of the Israelites no Anakim were left; some remained only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. ²³So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had told Moses, and he gave it to Israel as an inheritance, divided among their tribes. And the land had peace from war.