Joshua 11:16-23

A Summary of Israel’s Victories

11:16 Joshua conquered the whole land, ¹  including the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the lowlands, ²  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. ³  11:18 Joshua campaigned against ⁴  these kings for quite some time. ⁵  11:19 No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon); ⁶  they had to conquer all of them, ⁷  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. ⁸ 

11:21 At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country ⁹  – from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel. ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses, ¹²  and he assigned Israel their tribal portions. ¹³  Then the land was free of war.

[11:16]  ¹ tn Heb “Joshua took all this land.”

[11:16]  ² tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”

[11:17]  ³ tn Heb “and struck them down and killed them.”

[11:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “made war with.”

[11:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “for many days.”

[11:19]  ⁶ tn The LXX omits this parenthetical note, which may represent a later scribal addition.

[11:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “the whole they took in battle.”

[11:20]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “went and cut off the Anakites from the hill country.”

[11:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and from all the hill country of Israel.”

[11:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “took.”

[11:23]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their allotted portions by their tribes.”