Joshua 11:5

Bible in Basic English

And all these kings came together, and put their forces in position at the waters of Merom, to make war on Israel.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
All these kings joined forces; they came and camped together at the Waters of Merom to attack Israel.

Hebrew Names Version
All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Yisra'el.

King James Version
And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Lexham English Bible
And all these kings joined forces, and they came and camped together by the waters of Merom to fight with Israel.

English Standard Version
And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

New Century Version
All of these kings met together at the waters of Merom, joined their armies together into one camp, and made plans to fight against the Israelites.

New English Translation
All these kings gathered and joined forces at the Waters of Merom to fight Israel.

Amplified Bible
So all these kings met and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

New American Standard Bible
So all of these kings gathered together, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Geneva Bible (1587)
So all these Kings met together, and came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, for to fight against Israel.

Legacy Standard Bible
So all of these kings agreed to meet, and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Complete Jewish Bible
All these kings met together, then came and pitched camp together at the Merom Spring, to fight Isra'el.

Darby Translation
And all these kings met together, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Easy-to-Read Version
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.

George Lamsa Translation
And when all these kings were met together, they came and encamped together at the waters of Meron, and prepared to fight against Israel.

Good News Translation
All of these kings joined forces and came together and set up camp at Merom Brook to fight against Israel.

Literal Translation
And all these kings met together. And they came and camped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
All these kinges gathered the selues, and came, and pitched together by ye water of Meram, to fighte with Israel.

American Standard Version
And all these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And all these kinges met together, and came & pitched together at the waters of Merom, for to fight against Israel.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And all these kings met together, and they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

King James Version (1611)
And when all these Kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And all the kings assembled in person, and came to the same place, and encamped at the waters of Maron to war with Israel.

English Revised Version
And all these kings met together; and they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

Berean Standard Bible
All these kings joined forces and encamped at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And alle these kyngis camen togidere at the watris of Meron, to fiyte ayens Israel.

Young's Literal Translation
and all these kings are met together, and they come and encamp together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

Update Bible Version
And all these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

Webster's Bible Translation
And when all these kings were met together, they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

World English Bible
All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

New King James Version
And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

New Living Translation
The kings joined forces and established their camp around the water near Merom to fight against Israel.

New Life Bible
All of these kings met and came and stayed together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

New Revised Standard
All these kings joined their forces, and came and camped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, when all these kings were gathered together, they came in, and encamped as one man, at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And all these kings assembled together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Revised Standard Version
And all these kings joined their forces, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So all of these kings having agreed to meet, came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Contextual Overview

¹ Now Jabin, king of Hazor, hearing of these things, sent to Jobab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, ² And to the kings on the north in the hill-country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in the highlands of Dor on the west, ³ And to the Canaanites on the east and on the west, and to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill-country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. ⁴ And they went out, they and all their armies with them, a great people, in number like the sand on the seaside, with horses and war-carriages in great number. ⁵ And all these kings came together, and put their forces in position at the waters of Merom, to make war on Israel. ⁶ And the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear of them: for tomorrow at this time I will give them all up dead before Israel; you are to have the leg-muscles of their horses cut and their war-carriages burned with fire. ⁷ So Joshua and all the men of war with him came against them suddenly at the waters of Merom, and made an attack on them. ⁸ And the Lord gave them up into the hands of Israel, and they overcame them driving them back to great Zidon and to Misrephoth-maim and into the valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they put them all to death, no man got away safely. ⁹ And Joshua did to them as the Lord had said to him; he had the leg-muscles of their horses cut and their war-carriages burned with fire.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

all these: Psalms 3:1, Psalms 118:10-12, Isaiah 8:9, Revelation 16:14

met together: Heb. assembled by appointment

waters: This is what Josephus calls the lake Semechon, now called Bahr-el-Houle - Lake Julius between the head of the Jordan and the lake of Tiberias. According to Josephus it was seven miles long; and according to modern authorities, it is not above two miles broad, except at the north end, where it may be four.

Cross-References

Genesis 11:13
And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:

Genesis 11:14
And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber:

Genesis 11:23
And after the birth of Nahor, Serug went on living for two hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

Genesis 11:24
And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah:

Genesis 18:21
I will go down now, and see if their acts are as bad as they seem from the outcry which has come to me; and if they are not, I will see.

Exodus 3:8
And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Exodus 19:11
And by the third day let them be ready: for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai, before the eyes of all the people.

Exodus 19:18
And all the mountain of Sinai was smoking, for the Lord had come down on it in fire: and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a great burning; and all the mountain was shaking.

Exodus 19:20
Then the Lord came down on to Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, and the Lord sent for Moses to come up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Psalms 11:4
The Lord is in his holy Temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven; his eyes are watching and testing the children of men.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when all those kings were met together,.... At some certain place, which Jabin had appointed:

they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom: Josephus a says it was at Berotha; perhaps it should be Merotha, a city of upper Galilee, not far from Cedesa, the same he elsewhere calls b Meroth, These waters are the same with the lake Samachonitis, on which Hazor was situated; so that it was near Jabin where the rendezvous was. This lake is thought c to have its name from the Arabic word "Samacha", which signifies high, as Merom does in Hebrew. It was, as Josephus says d thirty furlongs broad, and sixty long, and its waters clayish. Jerom says e, in his time there was here a village called Merrus, twelve miles from the city Sebaste by Dothaim: here the kings and their armies met

to fight against Israel; so that they were the aggressors, which made the war still more lawful.

a Ibid. (Antiq. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 8.) b De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 20. sect. 6. c Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 1. p. 262. d De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 1. sect. 1. & l. 3. c. 9. sect. 7. e De loc. Heb. fol. 93. D.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Waters of Merom - i. e. “the upper waters,” the modern Bahr el Huleh, the lake Semechonitis, or Samochonitis of Josephus. This lake occupies the southern half of the Ard el Huleh, a depressed basin some 15 miles long and 3 or 4 miles wide lying between the hills of Galilee on the west and the lower spurs of Hermon on the east. The size of the lake varies with the season, and the northern side of it ends in a large swamp. The shape of the lake is triangular, the point being at the south, where the Jordan, which enters it on the north, again quits it. There is a considerable space of tableland along the southwestern shore, and here probably the troops of Jabin and his confederates were encamped, preparing to move southward when Joshua and his army fell suddenly upon them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 11:5. The waters of Merom — Where these waters were, interpreters are not agreed. Whether they were the waters of the Lake Semechon, or the waters of Megiddo, mentioned Judges 5:19, cannot be easily determined. The latter is the more probable opinion.