< Joshua 11 >

1 When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard this, he sent a message to Jobab, king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Akshaph.
When King Jabin of Hazor [city] heard [about all those things that had happened], he sent messages to Jobab, the king of Madon [city], to the king of Shimron [city], and to the king of Acshaph [city], [requesting them to send their armies to come and help him fight against the Israelis].
2 He also sent the message to the kings who were in the northern hill country, in the Jordan River valley south of Kinnereth, in the lowlands, and in Naphoth Dor to the west.
He also sent messages to the kings in the northern hilly area and to the kings in the Jordan [River] Valley, south of Galilee [Lake] and in the western hills. He sent a message to the king of Naphoth-Dor [in the west]
3 He also sent a message to the Canaanites to the east and west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites by Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
and to the kings of the Canaan people-group in the eastern and western parts of the land. He sent messages to the Amor people-group and the Heth people-group and the Periz people-group and the Jebus people-group who lived in the hilly area. He also sent a message to the Hiv people-group who lived below Hermon [Mountain] in the Mizpah area.
4 All their armies came out with them, a great number of soldiers, in number like the sand on the seashore. They had a great number of horses and chariots.
So the armies of all those kings gathered together, bringing their horses and chariots. [There seemed to be] [HYP] as many soldiers as grains of sand on the seashore.
5 All these kings met at the appointed time, and they camped at the waters of Merom to wage war with Israel.
All of those kings [and their armies] gathered together at Merom Pond, [and they set up their tents there]. Then they made plans to fight against the Israelis.
6 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid in their presence, because tomorrow at this time I am giving them all to Israel as dead men. You will hamstring their horses, and you will burn their chariots.”
Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, because at this time tomorrow I will enable your men to defeat them. Your men must also cripple their horses and burn their chariots.”
7 Joshua and all the men of war came. They arrived suddenly at the waters of Merom, and attacked the enemy.
So Joshua and his army traveled to Merom Pond and attacked their enemies (by surprise/before they were ready to fight).
8 Yahweh gave the enemy into the hand of Israel, and they struck them and pursued them to Sidon, Misrephoth Maim, and to the Valley of Mizpah to the east. They struck them until not even one survivor of them was left.
Yahweh enabled the Israelis to defeat them. They pursued them to Sidon [city in the far north], and to Misrephoth-Maim [in the northwest], and to Mizpah Valley in the northeast. The Israelis fought them until (they were all dead/there were no survivors).
9 Joshua did to them just as Yahweh told him. He hamstrung the horses and burned the chariots.
Then Joshua and his men did what Yahweh told them to do: They crippled their enemies’ horses and burned their chariots.
10 Joshua turned back at that time and captured Hazor. He struck its king with the sword. (Hazor had been head of all these kingdoms.)
The king of Hazor had ruled the people of all the kingdoms whose armies had fought against the Israelis. So Joshua’s army went back to Hazor and captured that city and killed their king.
11 They struck with the sword every living creature that was there, and he set them apart to be destroyed, so there was not any living creature left alive. Then he burned Hazor.
They killed everyone in Hazor; (they did not spare anyone/no one was left alive) [DOU]. Then they burned the city.
12 Joshua captured all the cities of these kings. He also captured all their kings and struck them with the edge of the sword. He completely destroyed them with the edge of the sword, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded.
Joshua’s army captured all of those cities and killed all of their kings. They did that like Moses, the man who served Yahweh [well], had commanded them to do.
13 Israel did not burn any of the cities built on mounds, except Hazor. It alone Joshua burned.
Joshua’s men burned Hazor [city], but they did not burn any of the other cities that were built on small hills.
14 The army of Israel took all the plunder from these cities along with the livestock for themselves. They killed every human being with the edge of the sword until all were dead. They left alive no creature that breathed.
The Israelis took for themselves the animals that they found in those cities and everything else [that was valuable] [DOU]. But they killed all the people.
15 Just as Yahweh had commanded his servant Moses, in the same way, Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did it. He left nothing undone of all that Yahweh commanded Moses to do.
[Many years before], Yahweh had told Moses to do that, and then Moses told Joshua to do it. So Joshua did everything that Yahweh had commanded Moses to do.
16 Joshua took all that land, the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the foothills, the Jordan River valley, the hill country of Israel, and the lowlands.
Joshua’s [army] defeated all the people who were living in that land. They took control over the hilly area and the area in the southern part of Canaan, all the area of Goshen, the western foothills, and the Jordan [River] Valley. They took control over all the mountains in Israel and all the hills near the mountains.
17 From Mount Halak near Edom, and going north as far as Baal Gad in the valley near Lebanon below Mount Hermon, he captured all their kings and killed them.
They took control of all the land from Halak Mountain [in the south] up to the Seir [hilly area] as far as Baal-Gaal in Lebanon Valley [in the north], at the bottom of Hermon Mountain. They captured all the kings of those areas and killed them.
18 Joshua waged war for a long time with all the kings.
Joshua’s men fought against those groups for many years.
19 Not one city made peace with the army of Israel except the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. Israel captured all the rest of the cities in battle.
There was only one group that made a peace agreement with the Israelis; they were the people of the Hiv people-group who lived in Gibeon. The Israelis captured all the other towns in battles.
20 For it was Yahweh who hardened their hearts so they would wage war against Israel, so that he might completely destroy them without mercy, just as he had instructed Moses.
Yahweh caused the people in all those other groups to be stubborn [IDM], with the result that they fought against the Israeli army, and the Israelis killed them all. They were not merciful to any of them. That is what Yahweh had commanded Moses to do.
21 Then Joshua came at that time and he destroyed the Anakim. He did this in the hill country, at Hebron, Debir, Anab, and in all the hill country of Judah, and in all the hill country of Israel. Joshua completely destroyed them and their cities.
Joshua’s army also fought the Anak people-group who lived in the hills near Hebron, Debir, and Anah [cities]. They also fought against the people who lived in the hilly area of Judah and Israel, and they killed all of those people and destroyed their cities.
22 None of the Anakim were left in the land of Israel except at Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
As a result, there were no descendants of Anak who remained alive in Israel. Only a few remained alive in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod [cities].
23 So Joshua captured the whole land, just as Yahweh said to Moses. Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel, assigned to each of their tribes. Then the land had rest from the wars.
Joshua’s army took control of all the land, just as Yahweh [long ago] had told Moses to do. Yahweh gave the land to the Israelis, because he had promised to give it to them. Then Joshua divided the land among the Israeli tribes. After that, there was (peace/no more battles) in the land.

< Joshua 11 >