Joshua Takes the Whole Land

1Now it happened, when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon and to the king of Shimron and to the king of Achshaph, 2and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country and in the Arabah—south of [†]Chinneroth and in the [†]Shephelah and on the [†]heights of Dor on the west— 3to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite [†]at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. 4Then they came out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5So all of these kings agreed to meet, and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

6Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give all of them over, slain, before Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” 7So Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and they fell upon them. 8And Yahweh gave them into the hand of Israel, so that they struck them down, and they pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and the valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they struck them until [†]there was no survivor remaining for them. 9And Joshua did to them as Yahweh had said to him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

10Then Joshua turned back at that time and captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor formerly was the head of all these kingdoms. 11And they struck every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, [†]devoting them to destruction; there was no one left who breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. 12And Joshua captured all the cities of these kings and all their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and he devoted them to destruction, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded. 13However, Israel did not burn any cities that stood on their mounds, except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned. 14Now all the spoil of these cities and the cattle, the sons of Israel took as their plunder; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them. They left no one remaining who breathed. 15Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses His servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that Yahweh had commanded Moses.

16Thus Joshua took all that land: the hill country and all the [†]Negev, all that land of Goshen, the [†]Shephelah, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its [†]Shephelah 17from Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir, even as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon [†]at the foot of Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings and struck them down and put them to death. 18Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings. 19There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle. 20For it was of Yahweh to strengthen their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might devote them to destruction, that they might [†]receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

21Then Joshua 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 devoted them to destruction with their cities. 22There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod some remained. 23So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land was quiet from war.