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Joshua 12

Joshua 12 brings Moses’ and Joshua’s conquests into one record of defeated kings and land assigned to Israel.

Israel’s defeated kings are listed on both sides of the Jordan. The narrator first records Sihon and Og, whose eastern territories Moses and Israel conquered and assigned to Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. The account then turns westward to the land taken under Joshua, naming its regions and peoples before listing thirty-one kings. This is a record of defeated rulers and land assigned to Israel’s tribes, with no new battle narrated.

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1Now these are the kings of the land, whom the children of Israel struck, and possessed their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward:
2Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, even to the river Jabbok, the border of the children of Ammon;
3and the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, eastward, and to the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beth Jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah:
4and the border of Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,
5and ruled in Mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.
6Moses the servant of the LORD and the children of Israel struck them. Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
7These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel struck beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon even to Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir. Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions;
8in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
9the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;
10the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;
11the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
12the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;
13the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
14the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;
15the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
16the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;
17the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;
18the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one;
19the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;
20the king of Shimron Meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
21the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
22the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
23the king of Dor in the height of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one;
24the king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty-one.
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Key verses
Joshua 12:1The opening establishes the eastern scope of the record, connecting defeated kings with Israel’s possession of their land.
Joshua 12:2Sihon’s kingdom receives precise boundaries, anchoring the conquest record in named places and neighboring territories.
Joshua 12:3The description extends Sihon’s territory through the Arabah, showing the geographic reach of the eastern conquest.
Where this chapter reaches

Numbers and Deuteronomy recount the same defeats of Sihon and Og and the assignment of eastern land to Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. Judges returns to several towns named here, including Jerusalem, Gezer, and Megiddo, while describing Israel’s continuing struggles over possession.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does placing Moses’ victories beside Joshua’s help you notice about their roles in Israel’s history?

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How do the named borders and repeated counts shape your reading of the conquest?

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Questions people ask about Joshua 12

Who were the 31 kings in Joshua 12?

They were the rulers defeated by Joshua and Israel west of the Jordan, listed by their cities or territories from Jericho to Tirzah. The total of thirty-one belongs to verses 9–24. Sihon and Og, whose eastern kingdoms were conquered under Moses, appear in a separate section and are excluded from that count.

Why does Joshua 12 include Moses’ conquests?

The chapter records Israel’s conquests on both sides of the Jordan. Moses led the defeat of Sihon and Og and assigned their land to the eastern tribes. Joshua’s western conquests follow. Placing these accounts together connects the two leaders’ work within one record of Israel’s possession of land.

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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).