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Joshua 11

Joshua 11 presents Israel’s conquest as YHWH’s work of judgment and fulfillment, carried out through Joshua’s obedience.

Jabin king of Hazor gathers northern kings and their armies at the waters of Merom to fight Israel. YHWH tells Joshua that he will deliver them into Israel’s hands. Joshua attacks, destroys their horses and chariots as commanded, and burns Hazor. The account then surveys a long campaign across the land, including the destruction of the Anakim. It attributes the kings’ resistance to YHWH’s hardening and closes with Israel receiving its inheritance and rest from war.

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1When Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,
2and to the kings who were on the north, in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west,
3to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
4They went out, they and all their armies with them, many people, even as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots.
5All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
6The LORD said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid because of them; for tomorrow at this time, I will deliver them up all slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”
8The LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them, and chased them to great Sidon, and to Misrephoth Maim, and to the valley of Mizpah eastward. They struck them until they left them no one remaining.
9Joshua did to them as the LORD told him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
10Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor used to be the head of all those kingdoms.
11They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned Hazor with fire.
12Joshua captured all the cities of those kings, with their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded.
13But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only. Joshua burned that.
14The children of Israel took all the plunder of these cities, with the livestock, as plunder for themselves; but every man they struck with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They didn’t leave any who breathed.
15As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua. Joshua did so. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.
16So Joshua captured all that land, the hill country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel, and the lowland of the same,
17from Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir, even to Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon. He took all their kings, struck them, and put them to death.
18Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
19There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took all in battle.
20For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses.
21Joshua came at that time, and cut off the 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 utterly destroyed them with their cities.
22There were none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, did some remain.
23So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land had rest from war.
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Key verses
Joshua 11:6YHWH’s promise of victory answers the threat of the gathered armies and directs Joshua’s treatment of their weapons.
Joshua 11:20This verse attributes the kings’ resistance to YHWH’s hardening, placing their destruction within his commanded judgment.
Joshua 11:23The closing verse gathers conquest, tribal inheritance, and rest from war under the fulfillment of God’s word to Moses.
Where this chapter reaches

Deuteronomy supplies the commands concerning conquest and inheritance that Joshua carries out, while Numbers records the earlier fear surrounding the Anakim whom Joshua defeats here. Judges shares the setting of Israel’s life in the land and records further warfare after the rest described at this chapter’s close.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What questions does the chapter’s account of divine hardening and destruction raise for you?

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How does the long duration of Joshua’s warfare shape your reading of the closing rest?

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Questions people ask about Joshua 11

Why did God harden the kings’ hearts in Joshua 11:20?

Verse 20 says YHWH hardened their hearts so they would meet Israel in battle and be destroyed under the command given to Moses. The chapter presents this as divine judgment. It does not explain how the hardening worked within their wills or resolve every question about God’s action and human responsibility.

Did Joshua conquer the whole land in Joshua 11?

Verse 23 summarizes Joshua’s conquest and the land’s allocation to Israel’s tribes. Within the same account, verse 22 names places where Anakim remained, and verse 18 says the warfare lasted a long time. The language describes the campaign’s broad achievement; it does not claim that every opposing population everywhere had disappeared.

Why did Joshua hamstring the horses and burn the chariots?

YHWH commands both actions in verse 6, and verse 9 records Joshua’s obedience. Hamstringing disabled the horses, while burning destroyed the chariots. These actions removed the defeated armies’ military equipment from use. The chapter emphasizes obedience to God’s command without stating a further reason for this particular treatment.

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Joshua · 24 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).