The Long Grind to Peace

¹When Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,

²and to the kings who were on the north, in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west,

³to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

⁴They went out, they and all their armies with them, many people, even as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots.

⁵All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

⁶The LORD said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid because of them; for tomorrow at this time, I will deliver them up all slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”

⁷So Joshua came suddenly, with all the warriors, against them by the waters of Merom, and attacked them.

⁸The LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them, and chased them to great Sidon, and to Misrephoth Maim, and to the valley of Mizpah eastward. They struck them until they left them no one remaining.

⁹Joshua did to them as the LORD told him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

¹⁰Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor used to be the head of all those kingdoms.

¹¹They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned Hazor with fire.

¹²Joshua captured all the cities of those kings, with their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded.

¹³But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only. Joshua burned that.

¹⁴The children of Israel took all the plunder of these cities, with the livestock, as plunder for themselves; but every man they struck with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They didn’t leave any who breathed.

¹⁵As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua. Joshua did so. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.

¹⁶So Joshua captured all that land, the hill country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel, and the lowland of the same,

¹⁷from Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir, even to Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon. He took all their kings, struck them, and put them to death.

¹⁸Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

¹⁹There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took all in battle.

²⁰For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses.

²¹Joshua came at that time, and cut off 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.

²²There were none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, did some remain.

²³So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land had rest from war.

¹Now these are the kings of the land, whom the children of Israel struck, and possessed their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward:

²Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, even to the river Jabbok, the border of the children of Ammon;

³and the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, eastward, and to the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beth Jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah:

⁴and the border of Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,

⁵and ruled in Mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

⁶Moses the servant of the LORD and the children of Israel struck them. Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁷These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel struck beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon even to Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir. Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions;

⁸in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

⁹the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;

¹⁰the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;

¹¹the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;

¹²the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;

¹³the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;

¹⁴the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;

¹⁵the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

¹⁶the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;

¹⁷the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;

¹⁸the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one;

¹⁹the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;

²⁰the king of Shimron Meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;

²¹the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;

²²the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;

²³the king of Dor in the height of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one;

²⁴the king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty-one.