The Northern Campaign

11 When King Jabin of Hazor heard all of this,^[a] he sent word^[b] to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, ² and to the kings in the north, in the hill country, in the plain south of Chinnereth, in the Shephelah, and in the hills of Dor toward the west, ³ to the eastern and western Canaanites—the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites below Hermon in the territory of Mizpah. ⁴ So they went out, they and all of their armies with them—a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore—accompanied by many horses and chariots. ⁵ After all these kings had gathered together, they went out and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight Israel.

⁶ But the Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, because tomorrow about this time I am giving them all to you—dead—in the presence of Israel. Hamstring their horses and incinerate their chariots.”

⁷ So Joshua and his entire fighting force approached them suddenly by the waters of Merom and attacked them. ⁸ The Lord handed them over to the control of Israel, who defeated them and chased them as far as Greater Sidon and east as far as the Mizpah Valley. They attacked them until none remained. ⁹ Joshua dealt with them just as the Lord had told him: he hamstrung their horses and incinerated their chariots.

¹⁰ Joshua then turned back and captured Hazor, executing its king, because Hazor used to be the head of all of those kingdoms. ¹¹ They executed all of the people who lived in it, completely destroying it and leaving no one alive. Then he burned Hazor in fire.

¹² So Joshua captured and annihilated all of these cities, along with their kings, completely destroying them, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. ¹³ However, Israel did not burn any of the cities that had been built on mounds of ruins,^[c] except for Hazor only, which Joshua burned. ¹⁴ The Israelis took the spoils of war from these cities, along with their livestock, but they executed every human being until they had completely destroyed them, leaving no one alive. ¹⁵ Joshua did just what the Lord had commanded his servant Moses and just what Moses had commanded him, leaving nothing unfinished.

Summary of Joshua’s Victory

¹⁶ So Joshua conquered all of these territories: the hill country, all of the Negev,^[d] the entire land of Goshen with its foothills, the plains of Jordan, and the mountains of Israel with its foothills ¹⁷ from Mount Halak and the ascent toward Seir, including as far as Baal-gad in the Lebanon Valley that lies at the foot of Mount Hermon. Joshua captured all of their kings, struck them down, and put them to death. ¹⁸ Joshua fought an extended campaign against all those kings. ¹⁹ There wasn’t a single^[e] city that made a peace accord with the Israelis, except the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. The Israelis^[f] captured all the rest^[g] in battle, ²⁰ because the Lord had hardened their hearts so they would fight Israel in war, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be completely wiped out, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²¹ At that time Joshua came and annihilated the Anakim^[h] from the hill country, that is, from Hebron, Debir, and Anab, as well as from all the hill country of Judah and Israel. Joshua completely destroyed them along with their cities. ²² None of the Anakim^[i] remained in the land belonging to the Israelis—they remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. ²³ Joshua conquered the entire land, in accordance with everything that the Lord had told Moses. Joshua presented it as an inheritance to Israel, dividing it according to tribal allotments. Then the land enjoyed rest from war.