Joshua 10-12

Easy-to-Read Version

The Day the Sun Stood Still

10 At this time Adoni Zedek was the king of Jerusalem. He heard that Joshua had defeated Ai and completely destroyed it. The king learned that Joshua had done the same thing to Jericho and its king. He also learned that the Gibeonites had made a peace agreement with Israel and that they lived very near Jerusalem. ² So Adoni Zedek and his people were very frightened. Gibeon was not a small town like Ai. It was a very big city—as big as any royal city.^[a] And all the men in that city were good fighters, so the king was afraid. ³ King Adoni Zedek of Jerusalem talked with King Hoham of Hebron. He also talked with King Piram of Jarmuth, King Japhia of Lachish, and King Debir of Eglon. The king of Jerusalem begged these men, ⁴ “Come with me and help me attack Gibeon. Gibeon has made a peace agreement with Joshua and the Israelites.”

⁵ So these five Amorite kings joined their armies together. (The five kings were the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.) Their armies went to Gibeon, surrounded the city, and began fighting against it.

⁶ The people in the city of Gibeon sent a message to Joshua at his camp at Gilgal: “We are your servants! Don’t leave us alone. Come and help us! Hurry! Save us! All the Amorite kings from the hill country have brought their armies together to fight against us.”

⁷ So Joshua marched out of Gilgal with his whole army. His best fighting men were with him. ⁸ The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of those armies. I will allow you to defeat them. None of them will be able to defeat you.”

⁹ Joshua and his army marched all night to Gibeon, so it was a complete surprise when he attacked them.

¹⁰ The Lord caused those armies to be very confused when Israel attacked. So Israel defeated them and won a great victory. Israel chased the enemy from Gibeon along the road going up to Beth Horon. The army of Israel killed men all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹ Then they chased the enemy down the road from Beth Horon to Azekah. While they were chasing the enemy, the Lord caused large hailstones to fall from the sky. Many of the enemy were killed by these large hailstones. More men were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the soldiers of Israel.

¹² On that day the Lord gave Israel the victory against the Amorites. Joshua stood before all the Israelites and said to the Lord:

¹³ So the sun did not move, and the moon stopped until the people defeated their enemies. This story is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky. It did not move for a full day. ¹⁴ That had never happened before, and it has never happened again. That was the day the Lord obeyed a man. The Lord really was fighting for Israel!

¹⁵ After this, Joshua and his army went back to the camp at Gilgal. ¹⁶ But during the fight, the five kings ran away. They hid in a cave near Makkedah, ¹⁷ but someone found them hiding in that cave. Joshua learned about this. ¹⁸ He said, “Cover the entrance to the cave with large rocks. Put some men there to guard the cave. ¹⁹ But don’t stay there yourselves. Continue chasing the enemy and attacking them from behind. Don’t let the enemy get back to their cities. The Lord your God has given you the victory over them.”

²⁰ So Joshua and the Israelites killed the enemy. But some of them were able to go to their cities that had tall walls around them and hide. These men were not killed. ²¹ After the fighting, Joshua’s men came back to him at Makkedah. Not one of the people in that country was brave enough to say anything against the Israelites.

²² Joshua said, “Move the rocks that are covering the entrance to the cave. Bring the five kings to me.” ²³ So Joshua’s men brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. ²⁴ When they brought the five kings to Joshua, he called all his men to come to that place. He said to the officers of his army, “Come here! Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the officers of Joshua’s army came close and put their feet on the necks of the kings.

²⁵ Then Joshua said to his men, “Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid. I will show you what the Lord will do to all the enemies you will fight in the future.”

²⁶ Then Joshua killed the five kings and hanged their bodies on five trees. He left them hanging in the trees until evening. ²⁷ At sunset Joshua told his men to take the bodies down from the trees. So they threw the bodies into the cave where the kings had been hiding and covered the entrance of the cave with large rocks. Their bodies are still in that cave today.

²⁸ That day Joshua defeated Makkedah. He killed the king and the people in that city. No one was left alive. Joshua did the same thing to the king of Makkedah that he had done to the king of Jericho.

Taking the Southern Cities

²⁹ Then Joshua and all the Israelites traveled from Makkedah to Libnah and attacked that city. ³⁰ The Lord allowed the Israelites to defeat that city and its king. They killed everyone in the city. No one was left alive. And they did the same thing to that king as they had done to the king of Jericho.

³¹ Then Joshua and all the Israelites left Libnah and went to Lachish. Joshua and his army camped around that city and attacked it. ³² The Lord allowed them to defeat the city of Lachish. They defeated it on the second day. The Israelites killed everyone in the city, just as they had done in Libnah. ³³ King Horam of Gezer came to help Lachish, but Joshua also defeated him and his army. No one was left alive.

³⁴ Then Joshua and all the Israelites traveled from Lachish to Eglon. They camped around Eglon and attacked it. ³⁵ That day they captured the city and killed everyone in the city. This was the same thing they had done to Lachish.

³⁶ Then Joshua and all the Israelites traveled from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it. ³⁷ They captured the city and all the small towns near Hebron. The Israelites killed everyone in the city, just as they did to Eglon. No one was left alive there. They destroyed the city and killed all the people in it as an offering to the Lord.

³⁸ Then Joshua and all the Israelites went back to Debir and attacked it. ³⁹ They captured the city, its king, and all the towns near Debir. They killed everyone in the city, just as they had done to Libnah and its king. No one was left alive there. They destroyed the city and killed all the people in it as an offering to the Lord.

⁴⁰ So Joshua defeated all the kings of the cities of the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills, and the eastern foothills. The Lord, the God of Israel, had told Joshua to kill all the people, so Joshua did not leave anyone alive in those places.

⁴¹ Joshua captured all the cities from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza. He captured all the cities from Goshen^[b] to Gibeon. ⁴² Joshua captured all these cities and their kings in one series of battles. He did this because the Lord, the God of Israel, was fighting for Israel. ⁴³ Then Joshua and all the Israelites returned to their camp at Gilgal.

Defeating the Northern Cities

11 King Jabin of Hazor heard about everything that had happened. So he decided to call together the armies of several kings. He sent a message to King Jobab of Madon to the king of Shimron, to the king of Acshaph, ² and to the kings of the north in the hill country and in the desert. Jabin sent the message to the kings of the Kinnereth,^[c] the Negev, and the western foothills. He also sent the message to the king of Naphoth Dor in the west. ³ Jabin sent the message to the kings of the Canaanites in the east and in the west. He sent the message to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites living in the hill country. He also sent the message to the Hivites living below Mount Hermon near Mizpah. ⁴ So the armies of all these kings came together. There were many fighting men and many horses and chariots. It was a very large army—it looked as if there were as many men as grains of sand on the seashore.

⁵ All these kings met together at the small river of Merom. They joined their armies together into one camp and made plans for the battle against Israel.

⁶ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of that army, because I will allow you to defeat them. By this time tomorrow, you will have killed them all. You will cut the legs of the horses and burn all their chariots.”

⁷ So Joshua and his whole army surprised the enemy and attacked them at the river of Merom. ⁸ The Lord allowed Israel to defeat them. The army of Israel defeated them and chased them to Greater Sidon, Misrephoth Maim, and the Valley of Mizpah in the east. The army of Israel fought until none of the enemy was left alive. ⁹ Joshua did what the Lord said to do; he cut the legs of their horses and burned their chariots.

¹⁰ Then Joshua went back and captured the city of Hazor and killed its king. (Hazor was the leader of all the kingdoms that fought against Israel.) ¹¹ The army of Israel killed everyone in that city and completely destroyed all the people. There was nothing left alive. Then they burned the city.

¹² Joshua captured all these cities and killed all their kings. He completely destroyed everything in these cities—just as Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. ¹³ But the army of Israel did not burn any cities that were built on hills. The only city built on a hill that they burned was Hazor. This is the city Joshua burned. ¹⁴ The Israelites kept for themselves all the things and all the animals they found in the cities. But they killed all the people there. They left no one alive. ¹⁵ Long ago the Lord commanded his servant Moses to do this. Then Moses commanded Joshua to do this. So Joshua obeyed God. He did everything that the Lord had commanded Moses.

¹⁶ So Joshua defeated all the people in that whole area. He had control over the hill country, the Negev, all the area of Goshen, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley, and the mountains of Israel and all the hills near them. ¹⁷ Joshua had control of all the land from Mount Halak near Seir to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all the kings in that land and killed them. ¹⁸ Joshua fought against them for many years. ¹⁹ Only one city in all the land made a peace agreement with Israel. That was the Hivite city of Gibeon. All the other cities were defeated in war. ²⁰ The Lord made those people feel brave enough to fight against Israel. This was so that Israel could destroy them completely without mercy just as the Lord had commanded Moses to do.

²¹ The Anakites lived in the hill country in the area of Hebron, Debir, Anab, and Judah. Joshua fought them and completely destroyed all the people and their towns. ²² There were no Anakites left living in the land of Israel. The only Anakites who were left alive were in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. ²³ Joshua took control of the whole land of Israel as the Lord had told Moses long ago. The Lord gave that land to Israel as he promised. And Joshua divided the land among the tribes of Israel. Finally, the fighting ended and there was peace in the land.

Kings Defeated by Israel

12 The Israelites had taken control of the land east of the Jordan River. They had all the land from Arnon Ravine to Mount Hermon and all the land along the eastern side of the Jordan Valley. These are all the kings the Israelites defeated to take this land:

² They defeated King Sihon of the Amorites living in the city of Heshbon. He ruled the land from Aroer at the Arnon Ravine to the Jabbok River. His land started in the center of that ravine. This was their border with the Ammonites. Sihon ruled over half of the land of Gilead. ³ He also ruled over the eastern side of the Jordan Valley from Lake Galilee to the Dead Sea (Salt Sea). And he ruled from Beth Jeshimoth to the south to the hills of Pisgah.

⁴ They also defeated King Og of Bashan. Og was from the Rephaites. He ruled the land in Ashtaroth and Edrei. ⁵ Og ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, and all the area of Bashan. His land ended where the people of Geshur and Maacah lived. Og also ruled half of the land of Gilead. This land ended at the land of King Sihon of Heshbon.

⁶ The Lord’s servant Moses and the Israelites defeated all these kings. And Moses gave that land to the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Moses gave them this land to be their own.

⁷ Joshua and the Israelites defeated the kings of the land west of the Jordan River. This land was in the area west of Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley as far as Mount Halak that rises toward Seir. Joshua divided it among the tribes. ⁸ This included the hill country, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley, the eastern mountains, the desert, and the Negev. This was where the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites had lived. These are the kings the Israelites defeated:

The total number of kings was 31.