Joshua 11

When King Jabin of the city of Hazor learned what had happened, he sent messages to several other kings. He sent them to King Jobab of the city of Madon, to the king of the city of Shimron, and to the king of the city of Achshaph.

He also sent messages to the kings who ruled in the northern hill country and to the kings in the Jordan River Valley, south of the lake of Chinnereth; the kings in the low country, and the kings in the western foothills near the city of Dor.

He sent messages to the Canaanite peoples who lived on both the eastern and western sides of the Jordan River. He also sent them to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites who lived in the hill country, and to the Hivites who lived near Mount Hermon in the region of Mizpah. \*

All these kings gathered their armies together to fight. Their soldiers were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. They also brought a great number of horses and chariots with them.

All these kings joined their forces and set up their camp together near the lake of Merom, preparing to fight against the Israelites. \*

Then God said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of these armies, because at about this time tomorrow, I will help you defeat all of them. When you attack them, you must cripple their horses and burn their chariots.”

So Joshua and his whole army traveled to the lake of Merom and made a surprise attack against their enemies. \*

God helped the Israelites defeat them. The Israelite army pursued them all the way to the great city of Sidon in the north, to Misrephoth Maim, and to the Valley of Mizpah in the east. The Israelites kept fighting until they had killed all their enemies.

Then Joshua did exactly what God had told him to do. He crippled their horses and burned their chariots. \*

After that, Joshua went back and captured the city of Hazor. He killed its king. Hazor was the main city that ruled all the kingdoms that had fought against Israel.

The Israelite army killed everyone in the city. They made sure that no person survived. Then they burned the city. \*

Joshua’s army captured all these cities and killed all their kings. They destroyed everything that was in the cities. They did exactly what Moses, God’s servant, had commanded them to do.

The Israelites did not burn any of the cities that people had built on hills{, because they wanted to live in them}. But Joshua did burn the city of Hazor, even though it was on a hill. \*

The Israelites took for themselves all the valuable things and all the livestock from these cities. But they killed all the people. They did not let any of the people live.

Moses had passed on to Joshua everything that God had told him to do. And Joshua carried out all of these commands completely. He did exactly what God had ordered Moses to do. \*

Joshua and his army took control of all these regions: the hill country, the southern desert, the whole region around Goshen, the western foothills, the Jordan River Valley, and the mountains of Israel with their foothills.

They conquered all the land from Mount Halak which rises toward Seir and even as far as the town of Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. Joshua captured and killed all the kings of these areas. \*

Joshua and his army spent many years fighting against all these kings.

Only the people of the city of Gibeon, who were Hivites, agreed to become subjects of the Israelites. The Israelite army had to capture all the other cities by fighting.

God led the people in all these cities to want to fight against Israel so that the Israelites would destroy them completely without showing any mercy. This is what God had commanded Moses to do. \*

During that time, Joshua’s army went through all the hill country and killed all the descendants of Anak who lived there. They killed them in the cities of Hebron, Debir, and Anab and in every other place in the hills where the tribes of Judah and Israel lived. Joshua’s army destroyed all these people and their cities.

No descendants of Anak remained alive in the land of Israel. The only ones who survived lived in the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. \*

Joshua took control of all the land, just as God had told Moses to do. Then Joshua gave the land to the Israelites. He assigned each tribe a part of the land that would belong to them. After this, none of the people groups who had been living in the land fought against the Israelites again. \*