Joshua 11 - 15 — Legacy Standard Bible

Joshua Takes the Whole Land

11Now it happened, when Jabin king of ^aHazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon and to the king of Shimron and to the king of Achshaph, ²and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country and in the ^aArabah—south of ¹Chinneroth and in the ²Shephelah and on the ³heights of Dor on the west— ³to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the hill country, and ^athe Hivite ¹at the foot of ^bHermon in the land of ^cMizpeh. ⁴Then they came out, they and all their armies with them, ^aas many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. ⁵So all of these kings agreed to meet, and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

⁶Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “^aDo not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give all of them over, slain, before Israel; you shall ^bhamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” ⁷So Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and they fell upon them. ⁸And Yahweh gave them into the hand of Israel, so that they struck them down, and they pursued them as far as Great Sidon and ^aMisrephoth-maim and the valley of ^bMizpeh to the east; and they struck them until ¹there was no survivor remaining for them. ⁹And Joshua did to them as Yahweh had said to him; he ^ahamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

¹⁰Then Joshua turned back at that time and captured ^aHazor and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor formerly was the head of all these kingdoms. ¹¹^aAnd they struck every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, ¹devoting them to destruction; there was no one left who breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. ¹²And Joshua captured all the cities of these kings and all their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and he devoted them to destruction, just ^aas Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded. ¹³However, Israel did not burn any cities that stood on their mounds, except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned. ¹⁴^aNow all the spoil of these cities and the cattle, the sons of Israel took as their plunder; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them. They left no one remaining who breathed. ¹⁵Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses His servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that Yahweh had commanded Moses.

¹⁶Thus Joshua took all that land: ^athe hill country and all the ¹Negev, all that land of Goshen, the ²Shephelah, ^bthe Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its ³Shephelah ¹⁷from ^aMount Halak, that rises toward Seir, even as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon ¹at the foot of Mount Hermon. And he captured ^ball their kings and struck them down and put them to death. ¹⁸Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings. ¹⁹There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except ^athe Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle. ²⁰^aFor it was of Yahweh to strengthen their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might ^bdevote them to destruction, that they might ¹receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

²¹Then Joshua came at that time and cut off ^athe Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from all the hill country of Judah and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. ²²There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in ^aGath, and in ^bAshdod some remained. ²³So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and ^aJoshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. ^bThus the land was quiet from war.

The Kings of the East Struck Down

12Now these are the ^akings of the land whom the sons of Israel struck down, and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan to the east toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east: ²Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and ruled ^afrom Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, both the middle of the valley and half of Gilead, even as far as the brook Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; ³and the ^aArabah as far as the Sea of ¹Chinneroth toward the east, and as far as the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward ²toward ^bBeth-jeshimoth, and on the south, ³at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah; ⁴and the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of ^athe remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at ^bAshtaroth and at Edrei ⁵and ruled over Mount Hermon and ^aSalecah and all Bashan, as far as ^bthe border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half of Gilead, as far as the border of Sihon king of Heshbon. ⁶Moses the servant of Yahweh and the sons of Israel struck them down; and ^aMoses the servant of Yahweh gave it to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh as a possession.

The Kings of the West Struck Down

⁷Now these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel struck down beyond the Jordan toward the west, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even as far as ^aMount Halak, which rises toward Seir; and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions, ⁸in ^athe hill country and in the ¹Shephelah and in the Arabah and on the slopes and in the wilderness and in the ²Negev; the Hittite, the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite:

⁹the ^aking of Jericho, one; the ^bking of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; ¹⁰the ^aking of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; ¹¹the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; ¹²the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; ¹³the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; ¹⁴the king of Hormah, one; the king of ^aArad, one; ¹⁵the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; ¹⁶the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one; ¹⁷the king of Tappuah, one; the ^aking of Hepher, one; ¹⁸the king of ^aAphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one; ¹⁹the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; ²⁰the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; ²¹the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; ²²the king of ^aKedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; ²³the king of Dor in the ¹heights of Dor, one; the king of ^aGoiim in Gilgal, one; ²⁴the king of Tirzah, one: ^ain all, thirty-one kings.

Land That Remains to Be Possessed

13Now ^aJoshua was old, advanced in years, and Yahweh said to him, “You are old, advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed. ²“This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the ^aGeshurites; ³from the Shihor which is ¹east of Egypt, even as far as the border of Ekron to the north (it is counted as Canaanite); the ^afive lords of the Philistines: the Gazite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, the Ekronite; and the Avvite ⁴¹to the south, all the land of the Canaanite, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, as far as ^aAphek, to the border of the ^bAmorite; ⁵and the land of the ^aGebalite, and all of Lebanon, to the east toward the sunrise, ^bfrom Baal-gad below Mount Hermon as far as ¹Lebo-hamath. ⁶“All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon as far as ^aMisrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians, I will dispossess them from before the sons of Israel; ^bonly allot it to Israel for an inheritance as I have commanded you. ⁷“So now, apportion this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”

The Inheritance East of the Jordan

⁸With ¹the other half-tribe, the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance which Moses gave them ^abeyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh gave to them; ⁹from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba, as far as Dibon; ¹⁰and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the sons of Ammon; ¹¹and ^aGilead, and the ¹territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah; ¹²all the kingdom of ^aOg in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone remained of the remnant of the Rephaim); for Moses ^bstruck them and dispossessed them. ¹³But the sons of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurites or the Maacathites; so Geshur and Maacath live among Israel until this day. ¹⁴^aOnly to the tribe of Levi he did not give an inheritance; the offerings by fire to Yahweh, the God of Israel, are ¹their inheritance, as He spoke to him.

¹⁵So Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their families. ¹⁶And their ¹territory was ^afrom Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley and all the plain by Medeba; ¹⁷Heshbon, and all its cities which are on the plain: Dibon and Bamoth-baal and Beth-baal-meon, ¹⁸and ^aJahaz and Kedemoth and Mephaath, ¹⁹and ^aKiriathaim and Sibmah and Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley, ²⁰and Beth-peor and the slopes of Pisgah and Beth-jeshimoth, ²¹even all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck with the leaders of Midian, ^aEvi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land. ²²The sons of Israel also killed ^aBalaam the son of Beor, the diviner, with the sword among the rest of their slain. ²³And the border of the sons of Reuben was the ¹Jordan. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families, the cities and their villages.

²⁴Moses also gave an inheritance to the tribe of Gad, to the sons of Gad, according to their families. ²⁵And their territory was ^aJazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the sons of Ammon, as far as Aroer which is before Rabbah; ²⁶and from Heshbon as far as Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim as far as the border of ¹Debir; ²⁷and in the valley, Beth-haram and Beth-nimrah and Succoth and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, with the Jordan ¹as a border, as far as the lower end of the Sea of ²^,^aChinnereth beyond the Jordan to the east. ²⁸This is the inheritance of the sons of Gad according to their families, the cities and their villages.

²⁹Moses also gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh; and it was for the half-tribe of the sons of Manasseh according to their families. ³⁰And their territory was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all of ¹^,^aHavvoth-jair, which are in Bashan, sixty cities; ³¹also half of Gilead, with ^aAshtaroth and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh, for half of the sons of Machir according to their families.

³²These are the territories which Moses apportioned for an inheritance in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho to the east. ³³But ^ato the tribe of Levi, Moses did not give an inheritance; Yahweh, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as He had ¹promised to them.

The Inheritance Beyond the Jordan

14Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which ^aEleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the ¹households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance, ²by the ^alot of their inheritance, as Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. ³For ^aMoses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but ^bhe did not give an inheritance to the Levites among them. ⁴For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, ^aManasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property. ⁵Thus the sons of Israel did just ^aas Yahweh had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.

Caleb’s Inheritance

⁶Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and ^aCaleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which Yahweh spoke to Moses the man of God concerning ¹you and me in Kadesh-barnea. ⁷“I was forty years old when ^aMoses the servant of Yahweh sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. ⁸“Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people ¹melt with fear; but ^aI followed Yahweh my God fully. ⁹“So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely ^athe land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever because you have followed Yahweh my God fully.’ ¹⁰“So now behold, Yahweh has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; so now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. ¹¹“^aI am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for ^bgoing out and coming in. ¹²“So now, give me this hill country about which Yahweh spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that ^aAnakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps Yahweh will be with me, and I will dispossess them as Yahweh has spoken.”

¹³So Joshua ^ablessed him and ^bgave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. ¹⁴Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day because he fully followed Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹⁵Now the name of Hebron was formerly ¹Kiriath-arba; for Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. ^aThen the land was quiet from war.

Judah’s Inheritance

15Now ^athe lot for the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families ¹reached the ^bborder of Edom, southward to the ^cwilderness of Zin at the far end toward the south. ²And their south border was from the lower end of the Salt Sea, from the bay that turns to the south. ³Then it went out southward to the ascent of Akrabbim and passed on to Zin and went up by the south of Kadesh-barnea and continued to Hezron and went up to Addar and turned about to Karka. ⁴And it ^apassed on to Azmon and went out to the ¹^,^bbrook of Egypt, and the ²border ended at the sea. This shall be your south border. ⁵And the ^aeast border was the Salt Sea, as far as the ¹mouth of the Jordan. And the ^bborder of the north side was from the bay of the sea at the ²mouth of the Jordan. ⁶Then the border went up to Beth-hoglah and passed by on the north of Beth-arabah; and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ⁷Then the border went up to Debir from ^athe valley of Achor and turned northward toward Gilgal which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south of the valley; and the border continued to the waters of En-shemesh and ¹it ended at En-rogel. ⁸Then the border went up the valley of Ben-hinnom to the slope of the ^aJebusite on the south (that is, Jerusalem); and the border went up to the top of the mountain which is before the valley of Hinnom to the west, which is at the end of the valley of Rephaim toward the north. ⁹From the top of the mountain the border curved to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron; then the border curved to ^aBaalah (that is, ^bKiriath-jearim). ¹⁰Then the border turned about from Baalah westward to Mount Seir and continued to the slope of Mount Jearim on the north (that is, Chesalon) and went down to Beth-shemesh and continued through ^aTimnah. ¹¹Then the border went out to the side of Ekron northward. Then the border curved to Shikkeron and passed on to Mount Baalah and went out to Jabneel, and the ¹border ended at the sea. ¹²And the west border was ^aat the Great Sea, even its ¹coastline. This is the border around the sons of Judah according to their families.

¹³Now ^ahe gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion ^bamong the sons of Judah, according to the ¹command of Yahweh to Joshua, namely, ²Kiriath-arba, Arba being the father of Anak (that is, Hebron). ¹⁴^aAnd Caleb dispossessed from there the three ^bsons of Anak: Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the children of Anak. ¹⁵Then ^ahe went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir; now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. ¹⁶And Caleb said, “The one who strikes down Kiriath-sepher and captures it, ¹I will give him Achsah my daughter as a wife.” ¹⁷^aAnd Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it; so he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife. ¹⁸^aNow it happened that when she came to him, she enticed him to ask her father for a field. So she alighted from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” ¹⁹Then she said, “Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land of the ¹Negev, give me also springs of water.” So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

²⁰This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families.

²¹Now the cities at the far end of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the south were Kabzeel and ^aEder and Jagur, ²²and Kinah and Dimonah and Adadah, ²³and Kedesh and Hazor and Ithnan, ²⁴Ziph and Telem and Bealoth, ²⁵and Hazor-hadattah and Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶Amam and Shema and Moladah, ²⁷and Hazar-gaddah and Heshmon and Beth-pelet, ²⁸and Hazar-shual and ^aBeersheba and Biziothiah, ²⁹Baalah and Iim and Ezem, ³⁰and Eltolad and Chesil and Hormah, ³¹and ^aZiklag and Madmannah and Sansannah, ³²and Lebaoth and Shilhim and Ain and Rimmon; in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.

³³In the ¹Shephelah: ^aEshtaol and Zorah and Ashnah, ³⁴and Zanoah and En-gannim, Tappuah and Enam, ³⁵Jarmuth and ^aAdullam, Socoh and Azekah, ³⁶and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages.

³⁷Zenan and Hadashah and Migdal-gad, ³⁸and Dilean and Mizpeh and Joktheel, ³⁹^aLachish and Bozkath and Eglon, ⁴⁰and Cabbon and Lahmas and Chitlish, ⁴¹and Gederoth, Beth-dagon and Naamah and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages.

⁴²Libnah and Ether and Ashan, ⁴³and Iphtah and Ashnah and Nezib, ⁴⁴and Keilah and Achzib and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages.

⁴⁵Ekron, with its towns and its villages; ⁴⁶from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the ¹side of Ashdod, with their villages.

⁴⁷Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; as far as ^athe ¹brook of Egypt and the Great Sea, even its ²coastline.

⁴⁸And in the hill country: Shamir and Jattir and Socoh, ⁴⁹and Dannah and Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir), ⁵⁰and Anab and Eshtemoh and Anim, ⁵¹and Goshen and Holon and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages.

⁵²Arab and Dumah and Eshan, ⁵³and Janum and Beth-tappuah and Aphekah, ⁵⁴and Humtah and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) and Zior; nine cities with their villages.

⁵⁵Maon, Carmel and Ziph and Juttah, ⁵⁶and Jezreel and Jokdeam and Zanoah, ⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah and Timnah; ten cities with their villages.

⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-zur and Gedor, ⁵⁹and Maarath and Beth-anoth and Eltekon; six cities with their villages.

⁶⁰Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim) and Rabbah; two cities with their villages.

⁶¹In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin and Secacah, ⁶²and Nibshan and the City of Salt and Engedi; six cities with their villages.

⁶³Now as for the ^aJebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not dispossess them; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.