Old/New Testament
10 When Adoni-zedek, the king of Jerusalem, heard that Joshua had totally destroyed the kings and cities of Jericho and Ai, and when he discovered that the Israelites had made a treaty with the people of Gibeon and were living alongside Israel, 2 he was greatly alarmed. The city of Gibeon was large, almost like a royal city, much larger than Ai and with many trained warriors. 3-5 So Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, dispatched messages to King Hoham of Hebron, to King Piram of Jarmuth, to King Japhia of Lachish, and to King Debir of Eglon.
Adoni-zedek (to the Amorite kings): Let us band together and destroy Gibeon, for they have become allies to these invaders, Joshua and the Israelites.
So these five kings of the Amorites gathered their forces and came down upon the city of Gibeon like a mighty wave. 6 The Gibeonites, seeing the camps of these five armies, sent a message to Joshua in the Israelite camp at Gilgal.
Gibeonites (pleading with Joshua): Please don’t abandon your servants. The five kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country have come down to attack us. Come quickly to help us.
7 So Joshua honored the oath they had sworn, and he gathered up all of his fighting forces, all the mighty warriors, and went up from Gilgal toward Gibeon.
Eternal One (to Joshua): 8 Don’t be afraid of the Amorites. Like Jericho and Ai, I am delivering these armies into your hands. None of them will be able to stand against you.
9 Joshua surprised them, having marched his men all night from Gilgal, 10 and the Eternal caused fear and confusion among the Amorite armies at the sudden sight of Israel among them. He slaughtered the Amorites at Gibeon like cattle, chasing and killing them all the way up Beth-horon, and striking them down as far away as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled for their lives down the far slope of Beth-horon, He hurled huge and deadly hailstones upon them from heaven, as far as Azekah. More Amorites were killed by God’s hailstones than by the people of Israel on that day.
12 On the day of the Eternal’s great slaughter, Joshua consulted with the Eternal One; and then, in front of all the people of Israel, he commanded the sun and the moon.
Joshua: Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and Moon, remain over the valley of Aijalon.
Gibeon is in the east and Aijalon is in the west, so this is a favorable celestial omen for Israel and an unfavorable omen for the Amorite coalition.
13 The sun stood still in the heavens; and the moon did likewise, so that the battle could continue until the Israelites had destroyed their enemies, just as it was written in the scroll of Jashar. The sun stalled in the sky for almost an entire day before it set. 14 There has never been another day like this before or since, when the Eternal so answered a person’s prayer, for the Eternal fought for the people of Israel.
God proves that He is greater than any of the local gods—that He is above all other gods—by these cosmic miracles. While today, of course, we know that the earth orbits the sun, not vice versa, the story is clear enough: only an all-powerful God can halt the sun and moon in their courses.
15 Joshua and the Israelites later returned to the camp at Gilgal, 16 but the kings slipped away at the height of the battle and hid in a cave at Makkedah. 17 Someone told Joshua they had been found hiding there.
Joshua: 18-19 Seal up the mouth of the cave with large stones, and leave men to guard them while we pursue the other forces and attack them from behind. Don’t let them reach their towns because the Eternal One, your True God, has given you victory over them.
20 When Joshua and the Israelites had killed all those who did not escape back into the fortified cities, 21 they all returned safely to camp with Joshua at Makkedah, and no one dared to speak a negative word about the Israelites.
Joshua: 22 Open up the cave and bring the five kings before me.
23 They brought forth the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon 24 and led them in front of Joshua and the Israelites.
Joshua (to those who had led the warriors): Come here. Place your feet upon the necks of these kings.
So the leaders did.
Joshua: 25 There’s nothing to be afraid of here. Be strong and courageous because the Eternal will do to all our enemies what He has done to these kings.
26 Joshua had the kings executed and hung on five trees; and they hung until sunset 27 when Joshua commanded they be taken down, as God’s law requires. Their bodies were thrown into the cave where they had hidden, and the cave was sealed as a tomb by piling stones across the mouth. Their remains lie there to this very day.
28 Also on that day Joshua defeated Makkedah and its king, destroying it completely, killing everyone in it and the king, as he had done in Jericho.
29 Next Joshua led his forces from Makkedah against Libnah, 30 and the Eternal gave the town and its king into their hands. They took no prisoners. They killed everyone in the town and destroyed it and the king, as they did to the king of Jericho.
31 From there Joshua and the Israelites passed on to Lachish and besieged it, 32 and on the second day the Eternal gave Lachish to them. They destroyed it and killed everyone in it, as they had just done to Libnah. 33 When King Horam of Gezer came up to help Lachish, Joshua turned the army against him and his people and destroyed them, leaving no survivors.
34 Passing from Lachish, Joshua and the people attacked Eglon, 35 and it fell to them on the first day. They killed everyone with the sword and destroyed it completely, as they had Lachish.
36 Then Joshua went up with all the forces of Israel from Eglon against Hebron, 37 and it fell to them—its king, all of its villages, and all of its people. Joshua killed everyone with the sword and destroyed it as he had destroyed Eglon. 38 Lastly Joshua, with all of Israel, attacked Debir 39 and took its king, its villages, and all of its people. The Israelites killed them with the sword and destroyed them all. Joshua left no one alive. He did to Debir and its king just as he had done to Hebron and to Libnah and its king.
40 So this is how Joshua and the Israelites defeated every area they had encountered: the hill country, the wilderness of the Negev, the coastlands, and the foothills with all the people and all their kings, leaving no one alive, as the Eternal God of Israel had commanded. 41 Joshua won victories from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza and through all the country of Goshen as far as Gibeon. 42 Joshua was able to capture and defeat all these people and all their kings for one simple reason: the Eternal God of Israel fought for Israel.
43 Then Joshua returned to Gilgal to camp with all the Israelites.
11 When King Jabin of Hazor heard what Israel had done to the central and southern cities of Canaan, he sent messengers to King Jobab of Madon, the king of Shimron, the king of Achshaph, 2 and the kings who were in the northern hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west; 3 to the Canaanites in the east and the west; the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country; the Hivites in the foothills of Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpeh, and to all those who could still fight the invaders. 4 They banded together and came out to fight—so many warriors that you could no more count them than you could count the grains of sand on a beach—and leading them was a vast number of horses and chariots. 5 All of these kings pooled their forces, and they camped together by the waters of Merom, ready to make war on Israel.
Eternal One (to Joshua): 6 Don’t be afraid of them. By this time tomorrow, I will have given all of them as dead bodies into your hands. You will disable their horses and burn their chariots.
7 So Joshua’s army came upon them suddenly where they camped beside the waters of Merom and attacked them, 8 and the Eternal delivered this vast army to Israel. They pursued the retreating soldiers as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and to the east as far as the valley of Mizpeh until no one was left to fight. 9 And Joshua cut the hamstrings of all their horses and burned all the chariots, as the Eternal had commanded.
10 Then Joshua turned against Hazor, which had been the leader of all these armies, and destroyed their king 11 and every living, moving, breathing creature within, and burned the city. 12 Joshua moved through each of these cities destroying their armies and putting them all to the sword, including their king, and utterly destroying them as Moses, the servant of the Eternal, had commanded. 13 But Hazor was the only city Joshua burned to the ground of the cities built up on hills. 14 The Israelites looted all of these towns, taking the goods and the livestock as their own but killing all of the inhabitants with the sword, leaving none alive. 15 The Eternal had commanded His servant, Moses, and Moses had commanded Joshua; so Joshua did everything he had been told until nothing the Eternal had commanded Moses was left undone.
16 So Joshua took all of that land: the hill country, the Negev, and the land of Goshen. He conquered the lowland regions, the Arabah, and central hill country with its foothills, 17-18 from Mount Halak, near Seir, to Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. Wherever he went in that land—and it was a long war—he captured their kings and defeated them and executed them. 19 The only people who were not destroyed in battle were the Gibeonites (Hivites) who had made peace with the Israelites. 20 The Eternal boosted the courage of Israel’s enemies so they would come out and oppose Israel as nations receiving no favor but only to be utterly destroyed, just as the Eternal had commanded Moses.
21 Finally Joshua went to war with the Anakim and wiped them from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hills of Judah in the south, and from the hills of Israel further north. Joshua’s army utterly destroyed them, their kings, their armies, and their cities, 22 until not one of the Anakim was left alive in the land of the Israelites. Only a few remained in the Philistine coastal cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
23 So this is how Joshua took the whole land, just as the Eternal had commanded Moses in the land beyond the Jordan; Joshua allotted it as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and at last the land was quiet from wars.
During the furious accounts of battle, it is hard to see how much has been accomplished. But now we pause to reflect on everything that God has made possible—how many kings, states, and cities the people of Israel have defeated with God’s help. We start with those who fell when Moses was leader, and then go on to all those who have fallen since Joshua has been given command.
12 Here begins a catalog of the conquered, a list of the kings of the land who met defeat against the Israelites, and an accounting of the land the Israelites gained, beginning with the eastern side of the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon River, north to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward: 2 King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon and ruled from Aroer (which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley), to the middle of the valley as far north as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites (including half of Gilead), 3 and the Arabah to the Sea of Galilee[a] eastward, and in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, to the Dead Sea,[b] and south to the foot of the slopes of Mount Pisgah; 4 King Og of Bashan, one of the last of the Rephaim giants who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5 and who ruled from Mount Hermon and Salecah in the north and over all Bashan to the boundary of the land of the Geshurites and the Maacathites and half of Gilead, south to the boundary of Sihon, king of Heshbon.
6 It was Moses, the servant of the Eternal, who led the Israelites to defeat these kings; and Moses gave their land to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh that would settle east beyond the Jordan.
7 This is a catalog of the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites defeated west of the Jordan, from the north at Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon to the south at Mount Halak in the wilderness of Seir. Joshua allotted their land to the tribes of Israel as God directed: 8 in the hill country, in the western foothills, in the Arabah, on the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negev (the southern desert), and in all the land of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
9 These are the fallen kings, one each: the king of Jericho; the king of Ai, which is next to Bethel; 10 the king of Jerusalem; the king of Hebron; 11 the king of Jarmuth; the king of Lachish; 12 the king of Eglon; the king of Gezer; 13 the king of Debir; the king of Geder; 14 the king of Hormah; the king of Arad; 15 the king of Libnah; the king of Adullam; 16 the king of Makkedah; the king of Bethel; 17 the king of Tappuah; the king of Hepher; 18 the king of Aphek; the king of Lasharon; 19 the king of Madon; the king of Hazor; 20 the king of Shimron-meron; the king of Achshaph; 21 the king of Taanach; the king of Megiddo; 22 the king of Kedesh; the king of Jokneam in Carmel; 23 the king of Dor in Naphath-dor; the king of Goiim in Gilgal; 24 and the king of Tirzah: 31 kings in all.
39 Mary immediately got up and hurried to the hill country, in the province of Judah, 40-41 where her cousins Zacharias and Elizabeth lived. When Mary entered their home and greeted Elizabeth, who felt her baby leap in her womb, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Elizabeth (shouting): 42 You are blessed, Mary, blessed among all women, and the child you bear is blessed! 43 And blessed I am as well, that the mother of my Lord has come to me! 44 As soon as I heard your voice greet me, my baby leaped for joy within me. 45 How fortunate you are, Mary, for you believed that what the Lord told you would be fulfilled.
Mary is deeply moved by these amazing encounters—first with the messenger and then with her cousin, Elizabeth. Mary’s response can’t be contained in normal prose; her noble soul overflows in poetry. And this poetry isn’t simply religious; it has powerful social and political overtones. It speaks of a great reversal—what might be called a social, economic, and political revolution. To people in Mary’s day, there is little question as to what she is talking about. The Jewish people are oppressed by the Roman Empire, and to speak of a King who will demote the powerful and rich and elevate the poor and humble means one thing: God is moving toward setting them free! Soon Zacharias will overflow in poetry of his own.
46 Mary: My soul lifts up the Lord!
47 My spirit celebrates God, my Liberator!
48 For though I’m God’s humble servant,
God has noticed me.
Now and forever,
I will be considered blessed by all generations.
49 For the Mighty One has done great things for me;
holy is God’s name!
50 From generation to generation,
God’s lovingkindness endures
for those who revere Him.
51 God’s arm has accomplished mighty deeds.
The proud in mind and heart,
God has sent away in disarray.
52 The rulers from their high positions of power,
God has brought down low.
And those who were humble and lowly,
God has elevated with dignity.
53 The hungry—God has filled with fine food.
The rich—God has dismissed with nothing in their hands.
54 To Israel, God’s servant,
God has given help,
55 As promised to our ancestors,
remembering Abraham and his descendants in mercy forever.
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth in Judea for the next three months and then returned to her home in Galilee.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.