Joshua 10-12
Contemporary English Version
Joshua Commands the Sun To Stand Still
10 King Adonizedek of Jerusalem[a] heard that Joshua had captured and destroyed the town of Ai, and then killed its king as he had done at Jericho. He also learned that the Gibeonites had signed a peace treaty with Israel. 2 This frightened Adonizedek and his people. They knew that Gibeon was a large town, as big as the towns that had kings, and even bigger than the town of Ai had been. And all of the men of Gibeon were warriors. 3 So Adonizedek sent messages to the kings of four other towns: King Hoham of Hebron, King Piram of Jarmuth, King Japhia of Lachish, and King Debir of Eglon. The messages said, 4 “The Gibeonites have signed a peace treaty with Joshua and the Israelites. Come and help me attack Gibeon!”
5 When these five Amorite kings called their armies together and attacked Gibeon, 6 the Gibeonites sent a message to the Israelite camp at Gilgal: “Joshua, please come and rescue us! The Amorite kings from the hill country have joined together and are attacking us. We are your servants, so don't let us down. Please hurry!”
7 Joshua and his army, including his best warriors, left Gilgal. 8 “Joshua,” the Lord said, “don't be afraid of the Amorites. They will run away when you attack, and I will help you defeat them.”
9 Joshua marched all night from Gilgal to Gibeon and made a surprise attack on the Amorite camp. 10 The Lord made the enemy panic, and the Israelites started killing them right and left. They[b] chased the Amorite troops up the road to Beth-Horon and kept on killing them, until they reached the towns of Azekah and Makkedah.[c] 11 And while these troops were going down through Beth-Horon Pass,[d] the Lord made huge hailstones fall on them all the way to Azekah. More of the enemy soldiers died from the hail than from the Israelite weapons.
12-13 (A) The Lord was helping the Israelites defeat the Amorites that day. So about noon, Joshua prayed to the Lord loud enough for the Israelites to hear:
“Our Lord, make the sun stop
in the sky over Gibeon,
and the moon stand still
over Aijalon Valley.”[e]
So the sun and the moon
stopped and stood still
until Israel defeated its enemies.
This poem can be found in The Book of Jashar.[f] The sun stood still and didn't go down for about a whole day. 14 Never before and never since has the Lord done anything like that for someone who prayed. The Lord was really fighting for Israel.
15 After the battle, Joshua and the Israelites went back to their camp at Gilgal.
Joshua Kills the Five Enemy Kings
16 While the enemy soldiers were running from the Israelites, the five enemy kings ran away and hid in a cave near Makkedah. 17 Joshua's soldiers told him, “The five kings have been found in a cave near Makkedah.”
18 Joshua answered, “Roll some big stones over the mouth of the cave and leave a few soldiers to guard it. 19 But you and everyone else must keep going after the enemy troops, because they will be safe if they reach their walled towns. Don't let them get away! The Lord our God is helping us get rid of them.” 20 So Joshua and the Israelites almost wiped out the enemy soldiers. Only a few safely reached their walled towns.
21 The Israelite army returned to their camp at Makkedah, where Joshua was waiting for them. No one around there dared say anything bad about the Israelites. 22 Joshua told his soldiers, “Now, move the rocks from the entrance to the cave and bring those five kings to me.”
23 The soldiers opened the entrance to the cave and brought out the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. 24 After Joshua had called the army together, he forced the five kings to lie down on the ground. Then he called his officers forward and told them, “You fought these kings along with me, so put your feet on their necks.” The officers did this, 25 and Joshua continued, “Don't ever be afraid or discouraged. Be brave and strong. This is what the Lord will do to all your enemies.”
26 Joshua killed the five kings and told his men to hang each body on a tree. Then at sunset 27 he told some of his troops, “Take the bodies down and throw them into the cave where the kings were found. Cover the entrance to the cave with big rocks.”
Joshua's troops obeyed his orders, and those rocks are still there.
Joshua Continues the Fighting
28 Later that day, Joshua captured Makkedah and killed its king and everyone else in the town, just as he had done at Jericho.
29 Joshua and his army left Makkedah and attacked the town of Libnah. 30 The Lord let them capture the town and its king, and they killed the king and everyone else, just as they had done at Jericho.
31 Joshua then led his army to Lachish, and they set up camp around the town. They attacked, 32 and the next day the Lord let them capture the town. They killed everyone, as they had done at Libnah. 33 King Horam of Gezer arrived to help Lachish, but Joshua and his troops attacked and destroyed him and his army.
34 From Lachish, Joshua took his troops to Eglon, where they set up camp surrounding the town. They attacked, 35 captured it that same day, then killed everyone, as they had done at Lachish.
36 Joshua and his army left Eglon and attacked Hebron. 37 They captured the town and the nearby villages, then killed everyone, including the king. They destroyed Hebron in the same way they had destroyed Eglon.
38 Joshua and the Israelite army turned and attacked Debir. 39 They captured the town, and its nearby villages. Then they destroyed Debir and killed its king, together with everyone else, just as they had done with Hebron and Libnah.
40 Joshua captured towns everywhere in the land: In the central hill country and the foothills to the west, in the Southern Desert and the region that slopes down toward the Dead Sea. Whenever he captured a town, he would kill the king and everyone else, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. 41 Joshua wiped out towns from Kadesh-Barnea to Gaza, everywhere in the region of Goshen,[g] and as far north as Gibeon. 42-43 The Lord fought on Israel's side, so Joshua and the Israelite army were able to capture these kings and take their land. They fought one battle after another, then they went back to their camp at Gilgal after capturing all that land.
Joshua Captures Towns in the North
11 King Jabin of Hazor heard about Joshua's victories, so he sent messages to many nearby kings and asked them to join him in fighting Israel. He sent these messages to King Jobab of Madon, the kings of Shimron and Achshaph, 2 the kings in the northern hill country and in the Jordan River valley south of Lake Galilee,[h] and the kings in the foothills and in Naphath-Dor to the west. 3 He sent messages to the Canaanite kings in the east and the west, to the Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, and Jebusite kings in the hill country, and to the Hivite kings in the region of Mizpah, near the foot of Mount Hermon.[i]
4-5 The kings and their armies went to Merom Pond,[j] where they set up camp, and got ready to fight Israel. It seemed as though there were more soldiers and horses and chariots than there are grains of sand on a beach.
6 The Lord told Joshua:
Don't let them frighten you! I'll help you defeat them, and by this time tomorrow they will be dead.
When you attack, the first thing you have to do is to cripple their horses. Then after the battle is over,[k] burn their chariots.
7 Joshua and his army made a surprise attack against the enemy camp at Merom Pond[l] 8-9 and crippled the enemies' horses.[m] Joshua followed the Lord's instructions, and the Lord helped Israel defeat the enemy. The Israelite army even chased enemy soldiers as far as Misrephoth-Maim to the northwest,[n] the city of Sidon to the north, and Mizpeh Valley to the northeast.[o] None of the enemy soldiers escaped alive. The Israelites came back after the battle and burned the enemy's chariots.
10 Up to this time, the king of Hazor had controlled the kingdoms that had joined together to attack Israel, so Joshua led his army back and captured Hazor. They killed its king 11 and everyone else, then they set the town on fire.
12-15 Joshua captured all the towns where the enemy kings had ruled. These towns were built on small hills,[p] and Joshua did not set fire to any of these towns, except Hazor. The Israelites kept the animals and everything of value from these towns, but they killed everyone who lived in them, including their kings. That's what the Lord had told his servant Moses to do, that's what Moses had told Joshua to do, and that's exactly what Joshua did.
16 Joshua and his army took control of the northern and southern hill country, the foothills to the west, the Southern Desert, the whole region of Goshen,[q] and the Jordan River valley. 17-18 They took control of the land from Mount Halak near the country of Edom in the south to Baal-Gad in Lebanon Valley at the foot of Mount Hermon in the north. Joshua and his army were at war with the kings in this region for a long time, but finally they captured and put to death the last king.
19-20 (B) The Lord had told Moses that he wanted the towns in this region destroyed and their people killed without mercy. That's why the Lord made the people in the towns stubborn and determined to fight Israel. The only town that signed a peace treaty with Israel was the Hivite town of Gibeon. The Israelite army captured the rest of the towns in battle.
21 During this same time, Joshua and his army killed the Anakim[r] from the northern and southern hill country. They also destroyed the towns where the Anakim had lived, including Hebron, Debir, and Anab. 22 There were not any Anakim left in the regions where the Israelites lived, although there were still some in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.[s]
23 That's how Joshua captured the land, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and Joshua divided it up among the tribes.
Finally, there was peace in the land.
The Kings Defeated by the Israelites
12 (C) Before Moses died, he and the people of Israel had defeated two kings east of the Jordan River. These kings had ruled the region from the Arnon River gorge in the south to Mount Hermon in the north, including the eastern side of the Jordan River valley.
2 The first king that Moses and the Israelites defeated was an Amorite, King Sihon of Heshbon.[t] The southern border of his kingdom ran down the middle of the Arnon River gorge, taking in the town of Aroer on the northern edge of the gorge. The Jabbok River separated Sihon's kingdom from the Ammonites on the east. Then the Jabbok turned west and became his northern border, so his kingdom included the southern half of the region of Gilead. 3 Sihon also controlled the eastern side of the Jordan River valley from Lake Galilee[u] south to Beth-Jeshimoth and the Dead Sea. In addition to these regions, he ruled the town called Slopes of Mount Pisgah[v] and the land south of there at the foot of the hill.
4 Next, Moses and the Israelites defeated King Og of Bashan,[w] who lived in the town of Ashtaroth part of each year and in Edrei the rest of the year. Og was one of the last of the Rephaim.[x] 5 His kingdom stretched north to Mount Hermon, east to the town of Salecah, and included the land of Bashan as far west as the borders of the kingdoms of Geshur and Maacah. He also ruled the northern half of Gilead.
6 (D) Moses, the Lord's servant, had led the people of Israel in defeating Sihon and Og. Then Moses gave their land to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh.
7-8 Later, Joshua and the Israelites defeated many kings west of the Jordan River, from Baal-Gad in Lebanon Valley in the north to Mount Halak near the country of Edom in the south. This region included the hill country and the foothills, the Jordan River valley and its western slopes, and the Southern Desert. Joshua and the Israelites took this land from the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Joshua divided up the land among the tribes of Israel.
The Israelites defeated the kings of the following towns west of the Jordan River:
9-24 Jericho, Ai near Bethel, Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, Eglon, Gezer, Debir, Geder, Hormah, Arad, Libnah, Adullam, Makkedah, Bethel, Tappuah, Hepher, Aphek, Lasharon,[y] Madon, Hazor, Shimron-Meron, Achshaph, Taanach, Megiddo, Kedesh, Jokneam on Mount Carmel, Dor in Naphath-Dor, Goiim in Galilee,[z] and Tirzah.[aa]
There were 31 of these kings in all.
Footnotes
- 10.1 Jerusalem: Jerusalem was not an Israelite city at this time.
- 10.10 They: Or “The Lord.”
- 10.10 Makkedah: A total distance of about 40 kilometers.
- 10.11 Beth-Horon Pass: A three-kilometer long, steeply-sloping valley between the towns of Upper Beth-Horon and Lower Beth-Horon.
- 10.12,13 Aijalon Valley: A valley southwest of Beth-Horon Pass.
- 10.12,13 Book of Jashar: This book may have been a collection of ancient war songs.
- 10.41 Goshen: A region between the hill country of Judah and the desert further south. Not the same Goshen as in Genesis 47.4-6.
- 11.2 Lake Galilee: The Hebrew text has “Lake Chinnereth,” an earlier name.
- 11.3 Mizpah, near the foot of Mount Hermon: Probably the same region as Mizpeh Valley in verses 8,9, but different from the two other places named Mizpeh in 15.37-41; 18.25-28, and also different from the Mizpah mentioned in Genesis 31.49 and Judges 10.17.
- 11.4,5 Pond: Or “Gorge.”
- 11.6 When … over: Or “After the battle is over, cripple their horses and burn their chariots.”
- 11.7 Pond: See the note at 11.4,5.
- 11.8,9 and crippled the enemies' horses: It is also possible that the Israelites crippled the enemies' horses after the battle at the same time they burned the enemies' chariots; see the note at 11.6.
- 11.8,9 Misrephoth-Maim … northwest: Or “the town of Misrephoth to the northwest” or “the Misrephoth River.”
- 11.8,9 northeast: These three areas were 30 to 55 kilometers north of Merom.
- 11.12-15 small hills: Towns were often built on top of the ruins of a previous town that had been destroyed. When this happened many times at one place, a hill was formed.
- 11.16 Goshen: See the note at 10.41.
- 11.21 Anakim: Perhaps a group of very large people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites (see Numbers 13.33 and Deuteronomy 2.10,11, 20,21).
- 11.22 Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod: Towns in Philistia.
- 12.2 King Sihon of Heshbon: See Numbers 21.21-31.
- 12.3 Lake Galilee: See the note at 11.2.
- 12.3 the town called Slopes of Mount Pisgah: Or “the slopes of Mount Pisgah.”
- 12.4 King Og of Bashan: See Numbers 21.33-35.
- 12.4 Rephaim: Perhaps a group of very large people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites (see Deuteronomy 2.10,11, 20,21).
- 12.9-24 Aphek, Lasharon: Or “Aphek in the Sharon Plain.”
- 12.9-24 Galilee: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Gilgal.”
- 12.9-24 Jericho … Tirzah: There are some differences in this list between the Hebrew and several ancient translations.
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