Northern Canaan Taken

1Then it came about, when Jabin king of Hazor heard about it, that he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, 2and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country, and in the Arabah—south of [a]Chinneroth and in the lowland, and on the [b]heights of Dor on the west— 3to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite [c]at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. 4Then they came out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5So all of these kings gathered together, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

6Yet the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I am going to turn all of them over to Israel as good as dead; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” 7So Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them suddenly at the waters of Merom, and attacked them. 8And the LORD handed them over to Israel, so that they [d]defeated them, and pursued them as far as Great Sidon, and Misrephoth-maim, and the Valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they struck them until no survivor was left to them. 9And Joshua did to them just as the LORD had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

10Then Joshua turned back at that time and captured Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor previously was the head of all these kingdoms. 11They struck every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, [e]utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. 12Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings; and he struck them with the edge of the sword and utterly destroyed them, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. 13However, Israel did not burn any cities that stood on their mounds, except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned. 14And all the spoils of these cities and the cattle, the sons of Israel took as their plunder; but they struck every person with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one breathing. 15Just as the LORD had commanded His servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.

16So Joshua took all that land: the hill country and all the [f]Negev, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowland 17from Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir, even as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon [g]at the foot of Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings, and struck them 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 the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle. 20For it was of the LORD to [h]harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might [i]receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

21Then Joshua came at that time and eliminated the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah and all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. 22There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod some remained. 23So Joshua took the whole land, in accordance with everything that the LORD had spoken to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. So the land was at rest from war.