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¹ Jabin king of Hazor heard what had happened. He sent news to Jobab king of Madon and to the kings of Shimron and Achshaph. ² He sent news to the kings in the hill country to the north, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the valleys, and in the high land of Dor to the west. ³ He sent news to the Canaanite in the east and in the west, and the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite at the base of Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. ⁴ Then they came out, they and all their armies with them. There were as many people as the sand beside the sea. And they had very many horses and war-wagons. ⁵ All of these kings met and came and stayed together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

⁶ "Do not be afraid," the Lord said to Joshua. "For tomorrow at this time I will have killed all of them for Israel. You will cut the legs of their horses and burn their war-wagons with fire." ⁷ So Joshua with all the men of war came upon them by surprise at the waters of Merom, and fought against them. ⁸ And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel. They won the war against them and ran after them as far as the big city of Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and the valley of Mizpeh to the east. They killed them until no one was left alive. ⁹ Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him. He cut the legs of their horses and burned their war-wagons with fire.

¹⁰ Then Joshua turned back and took Hazor and killed its king with the sword. For Hazor had been the head of all these nations. ¹¹ They killed every person in it with the sword, destroying all of them. There was no one left who breathed. Then he burned Hazor with fire. ¹² Joshua took all the cities of these kings, and all their kings and killed them with the sword. He destroyed all of them, just as the Lord's servant Moses had told him. ¹³ But Israel did not burn any cities that stood on their hills, except Hazor, which Joshua burned. ¹⁴ The sons of Israel took for themselves all the riches of these cities and the cattle. But they killed every man with the sword until they had destroyed them. They left no one who breathed. ¹⁵ What the Lord had told His servant Moses to do, he told Joshua, and Joshua did it. He did everything the Lord had told Moses.

¹⁶ So Joshua took all that land. He took the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the valleys, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its valleys. ¹⁷ He took the land from Mount Halak which goes up to Seir as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon at the base of Mount Hermon. He took all their kings and killed them. ¹⁸ Joshua made war against these kings for a long time. ¹⁹ There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon. They took them all in battle. ²⁰ For the Lord made their hearts hard to meet Israel in battle, so Israel might destroy all of them. They would not be shown pity but would be destroyed, just as the Lord had told Moses.

²¹ At that time Joshua went and killed the big powerful men in the hill country. He killed them in Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel. Joshua destroyed all of them with their cities. ²² There were no big powerful men left in the land of the people of Israel. Some were left only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. ²³ So Joshua took the whole land, just as the Lord had told Moses. And Joshua gave it as a gift to Israel, a share for each family group. Then the land had rest from war.