^23 (A)his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (because ^(B)cursed of God is he who is hanged), so that you ^(C)do not make unclean your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance.

^29 (A)And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave a command, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.

²⁶ So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he ^(A)hanged them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening. ²⁷ Now it happened that at ^[a]sunset Joshua gave a command, and ^(B)they took them down from the trees and threw them down into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and they put large stones over the mouth of the cave, to this very day.

²⁸ Now Joshua captured Makkedah on that day and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword; ^(C)he ^[b]devoted ^[c]it to destruction and every ^[d]person who was in it. He left no survivor. Thus he did to the king of Makkedah ^(D)just as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Israel Captures Kings by Yahweh’s Sword

²⁹ Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makkedah to ^(E)Libnah and fought against Libnah. ³⁰ And Yahweh gave it also with its king into the hands of Israel, and he struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor remaining in it. Thus he did to its king just as he had done to the king of Jericho.

³¹ And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish, and they camped by it and fought against it. ³² And Yahweh gave Lachish into the hands of Israel; and he captured it on the second day and struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libnah.

³³ Then Horam king of ^(F)Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua struck him and his people down until ^[e]there was no survivor remaining for him.

³⁴ And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon, and they camped by it and fought against it. ³⁵ And they captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; and every person who was in it, he devoted to destruction on that day according to all that he had done to Lachish.

³⁶ Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to ^(G)Hebron, and they fought against it. ³⁷ And they captured it and struck it and its king and all its cities and all the persons who were in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon. And he devoted it and every person who was in it to destruction.

³⁸ Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to ^(H)Debir, and they fought against it. ³⁹ And he captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted every person who was in it to destruction. He left no survivor remaining. Just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had also done to Libnah and its king.

⁴⁰ Thus Joshua struck all the land—^(I)the hill country and the ^[f]Negev and the ^[g]Shephelah and the slopes—as well as ^(J)all their kings. He left no survivor remaining, but ^(K)he devoted to destruction all who breathed, just as Yahweh, the God of Israel, had commanded. ⁴¹ And Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea even as far as Gaza, and all the country of ^(L)Goshen even as far as Gibeon. ⁴² And Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time because ^(M)Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. ⁴³ So Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.