Conquest of the North
1 ① When Jabin king of Hazor came to know all this, he sent ambassadors to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, 2to the kings in the northern mountains, on the steppes to the south of Chineroth in the plains, and in the heights of Dor on the west, 3to the Canaanites in the east and the west, to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the mountains, and the Hivites at the foot of Mount Hermon in the region of Mizpah. 4And they set out with their troops, a multitude as numerous as the sand of the sea, accompanied by a great number of horses and chariots ready for combat. 5All these kings joined forces and encamped together at the spring of Merom to attack Israel.
6Then Yahweh said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, for tomorrow at this hour I will give them to you that you may sacrifice them to me. Cut the hocks of their horses and burn their chariots of war.”
7So Joshua and all the armed men with him went to Merom and attacked them by surprise. 8Yahweh gave them into the hand of Israel; the Israelites destroyed and pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and as far as Mizpah to the east, without leaving anyone alive. 9Joshua also carried out what Yahweh had commanded — cutting the hocks of the horses and burning the chariots.
10At once Joshua turned back and conquered Hazor, and killed its king. At that time, Hazor was the capital of all those kingdoms. 11He put to the sword all the inhabitants of that city, consecrating it in anathema. No one was left alive, and they immediately set the city on fire.
12Joshua took all the cities of these kings and all their kings, and consecrated them in anathema according to what Moses, the servant of Yahweh, had commanded.
13Israel set on fire all the cities except those lying on the slopes and on the heights; of these only Hazor was burned by Joshua.
14The Israelites divided among themselves the plunder and the livestock of these cities, but they put to the sword the whole population without sparing anyone. 15So what Yahweh had commanded Moses, and what Moses had entrusted to Joshua was completely fulfilled: Joshua did not neglect anything that Yahweh had commanded Moses.
16So Joshua conquered all this land: the mountains, the Negeb, Goshen, the plains, the steppes, and the mountains of Israel with its plains. 17From the region of the mountain range that rises up to Seir, as far as Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon, to the foot of Mount Hermon, he destroyed all their kings — vanquishing and killing them.
18The war Joshua waged against these kings lasted a long time; 19there was no city that made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites of Gibeon; all were conquered.
20Yahweh gave all of them courage to fight against Israel, so that at the end, they could be consecrated in anathema and destroyed without pity as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
21At that time, Joshua came back and wiped out the Anakim from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from all the mountains of Judah and Israel. They and their cities were given in anathema.
22No Anakim was left in the land of Israel except in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. 23Joshua seized the whole land as Yahweh had directed Moses and gave it as an inheritance to the Israelites to be distributed among their tribes. With this, the land rested from war.
- Jos 11,1 In chapter 11, Joshua's campaign in the north of Palestine is described. There he captured Hasor which, with its 40,000 inhabitants, could be called a big city. We are given the impression that he conquered the entire country. Yet, chapters 13-19 show that each tribe had to conquer a section of land in a series of individual operations.
