Joshua 11:16-23

EasyEnglish Bible

The land that Joshua took for the Israelites

¹⁶ Joshua's army won against all the people who were living in the land. He took the hill country, the Negev in the south, and the land of Goshen. He took the low hills in the west and the Jordan Valley. He took the mountains and the hills of Israel. ¹⁷ The land went from Halak mountain near Edom country, to Baal Gad in the Lebanon valley, below Hermon mountain. He caught all the kings of those regions and he killed them all. ¹⁸ Joshua was fighting against those kings for a long time. ¹⁹ None of those kingdoms agreed not to fight against the Israelites, except the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. The Israelites fought battles against all the other kingdoms and they won. ²⁰ The Lord had caused the minds of those people to become hard. So they all decided to fight against the Israelites. The Lord wanted the Israelites to destroy those people completely, as he had commanded Moses.

²¹ During that time, Joshua went to fight against the Anakites, who lived in the hill country. They lived in Hebron, Debir and Anab, and among the hills of Judah and Israel. Joshua destroyed them all, and all their towns. ²² So no Anakites remained in Israel, except for a few who lived in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod.

²³ In that way, Joshua took the whole land. The Lord had promised Moses that he would give the land to his people. Joshua gave a part of the land to each tribe, for them to live in.

After all that, the people did not have to fight any more.