Jos 11, Jos 22 | ESV | STEP | When Jabin , king of Hazor , heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon , and to the king of Shimron , and to the king of Achshaph ,

1 When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he ^asent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, 2 and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the ^bArabah south of ^cChinneroth, and in the lowland, and ^din Naphoth-dor on the ^ewest, 3 to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the ^fJebusites in the hill country, and the ^gHivites under ^hHermon in the land of ⁱMizpah. 4 And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number ^jlike the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5 And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

6 And the Lord said to Joshua, ^k“Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel. You shall ^lhamstring their horses and burn their ^mchariots with fire.” 7 So Joshua and all his warriors came ⁿsuddenly against them by the waters of Merom and fell upon them. 8 And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them as far as ^oGreat Sidon and ^pMisrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of ^qMizpeh. And they struck them until he left none remaining. 9 And Joshua did to them ^rjust as the Lord said to him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

10 And Joshua turned back at that time and captured ^sHazor and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. 11 And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction; ^{▼▼That is, setting apart ( devoting) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verses 12, 20, 21} ^uthere was none left that breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. 12 And all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua captured, and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, ^vjust as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. 13 But none of the cities that stood on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor alone; that Joshua burned. 14 And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the people of Israel took for their plunder. But every person they struck with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed. 15 ^wJust as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, ^xso Moses commanded Joshua, ^yand so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

16 So Joshua took all that land, ^zthe hill country and all the Negeb and ^aaall the land of Goshen ^aband the lowland ^acand the Arabah ^adand the hill country of Israel and its lowland 17 ^aefrom Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as ^afBaal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below ^agMount Hermon. And he captured ^ahall their kings and struck them and put them to death. 18 Joshua made war ^aia long time with all those kings. 19 There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except ^ajthe Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. 20 For it was the Lord’s doing ^akto harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, ^aljust as the Lord commanded Moses.

21 And Joshua came at that time and cut off ^amthe Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. 22 There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, ^anin Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain. 23 So Joshua took the whole land, ^aoaccording to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. ^apAnd Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel ^aqaccording to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

Joshua 22

The Eastern Tribes Return Home

1 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them, “You have kept ^arall that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you ^asand have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. 3 You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. 4 ^atAnd now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, ^auwhich Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 ^avOnly be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, ^awto love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So Joshua ^axblessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

7 Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, ^aybut to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, 8 he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. ^azDivide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” 9 So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go ^bato the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses.

The Eastern Tribes’ Altar of Witness

10 And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. 11 And the people of Israel ^bbheard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.” 12 And when the people of Israel heard of it, ^bcthe whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

13 Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, ^bdPhinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, ^beevery one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. 15 And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, 16 “Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day ^bfin rebellion against the Lord? 17 Have we not had enough of ^bgthe sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, 18 that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if ^bhyou too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow ^bihe will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord’s land ^bjwhere the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. ^bkOnly do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 ^blDid not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and ^bmwrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”

21 Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, 22 “The Mighty One, ^bnGod, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! ^boHe knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today 23 for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself ^bptake vengeance. 24 No, but we did it from fear that ^bqin time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. 26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, 27 but to be ^bra witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we ^bsdo perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ 28 And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be ^bta witness between us and you.”’ 29 Far be it from us that we should ^burebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord ^bvby building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

30 When ^bwPhinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, ^bxit was good in their eyes. 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that ^bythe Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

32 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad ^bzin the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. 33 And the report ^cawas good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel ^cbblessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. 34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, ^cc“it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”