Joshua 11
New English Translation
Israel Defeats a Northern Coalition
11 When King Jabin of Hazor heard the news about Israel’s victories,[a] he organized a coalition, including[b] King Jobab of Madon, the king of Shimron, the king of Acshaph, 2 and the northern kings who ruled in[c] the hill country, in the rift valley south of Kinnereth,[d] in the foothills, and on the heights of Dor to the west. 3 Canaanites came[e] from the east and west; Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites from the hill country; and Hivites from below Hermon in the area[f] of Mizpah. 4 These kings came out with their armies; they were as numerous as the sand on the seashore and had a large number of horses and chariots.[g] 5 All these kings gathered and joined forces[h] at the Waters of Merom to fight Israel.
6 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, for about this time tomorrow I will cause all of them to lie dead before Israel. You must hamstring their horses and burn[i] their chariots.” 7 Joshua and his whole army caught them by surprise at the Waters of Merom and attacked them.[j] 8 The Lord handed them over to Israel, and they struck them down and chased them all the way to Greater Sidon, Misrephoth Maim,[k] and the Mizpah Valley to the east. They struck them down until no survivors remained. 9 Joshua did to them as the Lord had commanded him; he hamstrung their horses and burned[l] their chariots.
10 At that time Joshua turned, captured Hazor, and struck down its king with the sword, for Hazor was at that time[m] the leader of all these kingdoms. 11 They annihilated everyone who lived there with the sword[n]—no one who breathed remained—and burned[o] Hazor.
12 Joshua captured all these royal cities and all their kings and annihilated them with the sword,[p] as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded. 13 But Israel did not burn any of the cities located on mounds[q] except for Hazor; it was the only one Joshua burned. 14 The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people[r] and allowed no one who breathed to live. 15 Moses the Lord’s servant passed on the Lord’s commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses.[s]
A Summary of Israel’s Victories
16 Joshua conquered the whole land,[t] including the hill country, all the Negev,[u] all the land of Goshen, the foothills,[v] the rift valley,[w] the hill country of Israel and its foothills, 17 from Mount Halak up to Seir, as far as Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and executed them.[x] 18 Joshua campaigned against[y] these kings for quite some time.[z] 19 No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon);[aa] they had to conquer all of them,[ab] 20 for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses.[ac]
21 At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country[ad]—from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel.[ae] Joshua annihilated them and their cities. 22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory, though some remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. 23 Joshua conquered[af] the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses,[ag] and he assigned Israel their tribal portions.[ah] Then the land was free of war.
Footnotes
- Joshua 11:1 tn The words “about Israel’s victories” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied for clarity.
- Joshua 11:1 tn Heb “he sent to.”
- Joshua 11:2 tn Heb “and to the kings who [are] from the north in.”
- Joshua 11:2 tn Heb “Chinneroth,” a city and plain located in the territory of Naphtali in Galilee (BDB 490 s.v. כִּנֶּרֶת, כִּנֲרוֹת).sn Kinnereth was a city in Galilee located near the Sea of Galilee (Deut 3:17). The surrounding region also became known by this name (1 Kgs 15:20; cf. Matt 14:34), and eventually even the lake itself (Josh 12:3; cf. Luke 5:1). The “rift valley south of” Galilee probably refers to the northern part of the Jordan Valley from the lake to where the Jezreel Valley joins the rift valley. Dor is nearly due west from that point.
- Joshua 11:3 tn The verb “came” is supplied in the translation (see v. 4).
- Joshua 11:3 tn Or “land.”
- Joshua 11:4 tn Heb “They and all their camps with them came out, a people as numerous as the sand which is on the edge of the sea in multitude, and [with] horses and chariots very numerous.”
- Joshua 11:5 tn Heb “and came and camped together.”
- Joshua 11:6 tn Heb “burn with fire”; the words “with fire” are redundant in English and have not been included in the translation.
- Joshua 11:7 tn Heb “Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them at the Waters of Merom suddenly and fell upon them.”
- Joshua 11:8 tn The meaning of the Hebrew name “Misrephoth Maim” is perhaps “lime-kilns by the water” (see HALOT 641 s.v. מִשְׂרָפוֹת).
- Joshua 11:9 tn Heb “burned with fire”; the words “with fire” are redundant in English and have not been included in the translation.
- Joshua 11:10 tn Or “formerly.”
- Joshua 11:11 tn Heb “and they struck down all life which was in it with the edge of the sword, annihilating.”
- Joshua 11:11 tn Heb “burned with fire”; the words “with fire” are redundant in English and have not been included in the translation.
- Joshua 11:12 tn Heb “and he struck them down with the edge of the sword, he annihilated them.”
- Joshua 11:13 tn Heb “standing on their mounds.”
- Joshua 11:14 tn Heb “but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword until they destroyed them.”
- Joshua 11:15 tn Heb “As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua acted accordingly; he did not turn aside a thing from all which the Lord commanded Moses.”
- Joshua 11:16 tn Heb “Joshua took all this land.”
- Joshua 11:16 sn The Negev is an area south of the Judean hill country and west of the rift valley. As a geographic feature it is an arid depression extending south to the Gulf of Aqabah, but the biblical reference is probably to the northern part of this region.
- Joshua 11:16 sn The foothills (שְׁפֵלָה, “shephelah”) refer to the transition region between the Judean hill country and the Mediterranean coastal plain.
- Joshua 11:16 sn As a geographic feature, the rift valley (עֲרָבָה, ʿaravah) extends from Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba. The reference here is probably to the Jordan Valley and the wider part of the rift valley below the Dead Sea.
- Joshua 11:17 tn Heb “and struck them down and killed them.”
- Joshua 11:18 tn Heb “made war with.”
- Joshua 11:18 tn Heb “for many days.”
- Joshua 11:19 tn The LXX omits this parenthetical note, which may represent a later scribal addition.
- Joshua 11:19 tn Heb “the whole they took in battle.”
- Joshua 11:20 tn Heb “for from the Lord it was to harden their heart[s] to meet for the battle with Israel, in order to annihilate them, so that they would receive no mercy, in order annihilate them, as the Lord commanded Moses.”
- Joshua 11:21 tn Heb “went and cut off the Anakites from the hill country.”
- Joshua 11:21 tn Heb “and from all the hill country of Israel.”
- Joshua 11:23 tn Heb “took.”
- Joshua 11:23 tn Heb “according to all which the Lord said to Moses.” The translation assumes this refers to the promise of the land (see 1:3). Another possibility is that it refers to the Lord’s instructions, in which case the phrase could be translated, “just as the Lord had instructed Moses” (so NLT; cf. also NIV “had directed Moses”).
- Joshua 11:23 tn Heb “and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their allotted portions by their tribes.”
Joshua 11
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 11
Conquest of the North. 1 When Jabin, the king of Hazor, heard about this, he sent to Jobab, the king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, 2 to the kings from the north who lived in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the western slopes, and in the highlands in Naphath-dor in the west, 3 to the Canaanites who lived in the east and the west, to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites who lived in the mountains, and to the Hivites who lived below Hermon in the land of Mizpah. 4 They went out along with all of their armies. There were as many of them as there is sand on the shore of the sea, along with a very large number of horses and chariots. 5 When all of these kings gathered together, they went and camped around the waters of Merom to do battle with Israel.
6 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow, around this time, I will deliver all of them up to be slain by Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.” 7 Joshua and the whole army with him surprised them at the waters of Merom and attacked them. 8 The Lord delivered them into the hands of the Israelites who defeated them and pursued them to Greater Sidon, to Misrephoth-maim and to the valley of Mizpah in the east. They continued to slay them until there were no survivors. 9 Joshua did as the Lord had directed: the horses were hamstrung and the chariots were burned.
10 Joshua then turned back to Hazor and he captured it, putting its king to the sword. (Hazor had been at the head of all of those kingdoms.) 11 They also put everyone in it to the sword. They totally destroyed it, not leaving any survivors, and they burned Hazor to the ground. 12 Joshua captured all of these cities and their kings and he put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them, as the Lord had commanded Moses, his servant. 13 But as for the cities built upon mounds, Israel did not burn any of them except for Hazor which Joshua burned. 14 The Israelites carried off the cattle and the spoils from these cities for themselves, but they put every person to the sword, totally destroying them and not leaving any survivors. 15 Whatever the Lord had commanded Moses is what Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did these things. He left nothing undone[a] from everything that the Lord had commanded Moses.
16 Joshua’s Conquests as Ordered by Moses. Joshua conquered the entire land: the hill country, the Negeb, the whole of Goshen, the western slopes, the Arabah, and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, 17 from Mount Halak and the uplands toward Seir, up to Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon beneath Mount Hermon. He captured all of their kings and he struck them down, putting them to death.
18 Joshua waged war upon all of these kings for a long time.[b] 19 The Israelites conquered them all in battle. They did not make a covenant of peace with any city except with the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. 20 It was the Lord himself who had hardened their hearts so that they fought against Israel and thus he might totally wipe them out, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses to do.
21 It was at that time that Joshua went and crushed the Anakim[c] from the mountain country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all of the hill country of Judah, and from all of the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally wiped them out along with their cities. 22 No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites. The only ones who survived lived in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. 23 So Joshua conquered the entire land just as the Lord had directed Moses to do. Joshua gave it to Israel following their tribal divisions, and there was a respite from fighting in the land.
Footnotes
- Joshua 11:15 He left nothing undone: Joshua’s completion of God’s plan begun by his servant Moses rests on his obedience in fulfilling every command issued by Moses.
- Joshua 11:18 The actual conquest of most of Canaan was spread out over seven years.
- Joshua 11:21 Anakim: these were the people described as giants by the Israelite spies whose reported findings about the Promised Land struck fear into the Israelites. Now they were ready to put aside their fear and pursue the enemy.
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