Joshua 11:15-23

11:15 Moses the Lord’s servant passed on the Lord’s commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses. ¹ 

A Summary of Israel’s Victories

11:16 Joshua conquered the whole land, ²  including the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the lowlands, ³  the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowlands, 11:17 from Mount Halak on up to Seir, as far as Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and executed them. ⁴  11:18 Joshua campaigned against ⁵  these kings for quite some time. ⁶  11:19 No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon); ⁷  they had to conquer all of them, ⁸  11:20 for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses. ⁹ 

11:21 At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country ¹⁰  – from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel. ¹¹  Joshua annihilated them and their cities. 11:22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory, though some remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. 11:23 Joshua conquered ¹²  the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses, ¹³  and he assigned Israel their tribal portions. ¹⁴  Then the land was free of war.

[11:15]  ¹ tn Heb “As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua acted accordingly; he did not turn aside a thing from all which the Lord commanded Moses.”

[11:16]  ² tn Heb “Joshua took all this land.”

[11:16]  ³ tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”

[11:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “and struck them down and killed them.”

[11:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “made war with.”

[11:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “for many days.”

[11:19]  ⁷ tn The LXX omits this parenthetical note, which may represent a later scribal addition.

[11:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “the whole they took in battle.”

[11:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “for from the Lord it was to harden their heart[s] to meet for the battle with Israel, in order to annihilate them, so that they would receive no mercy, in order annihilate them, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

[11:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “went and cut off the Anakites from the hill country.”

[11:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and from all the hill country of Israel.”

[11:23]  ¹² tn Heb “took.”

[11:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “according to all which the Lord said to Moses.” The translation assumes this refers to the promise of the land (see 1:3). Another possibility is that it refers to the Lord’s instructions, in which case the phrase could be translated, “just as the Lord had instructed Moses” (so NLT; cf. also NIV “had directed Moses”).

[11:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their allotted portions by their tribes.”