- 1And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph,
- 2And to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west,
- 3And to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.
- 4And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.
- 5And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
- 6 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.
- 7So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them.
- 8And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them, until they left them none remaining.
- 9And Joshua did unto them as the LORD bade him: he houghed their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire.
- 10 And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms.
- 11And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire.
- 12And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded.
- 13But as for the cities that stood still in their strength, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn.
- 14And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe.
- 15 As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.
- 16So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same;
- 17Even from the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them.
- 18Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
- 19There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle.
- 20For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses.
- 21 And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.
- 22There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.
- 23So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.
KING JAMES VERSION
JOSHUA 11
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CHAPTER VISUAL
Joshua 11 — Joshua defeats the northern coalition, burns Hazor, removes the Anakim strongholds, and the land rests from war.
About this illustration
The sudden battle and distant fall of Hazor share one wide scene. Horses are shown amid abandoned chariots without injury, and casualties remain offscreen.
Scripture basis: Joshua 11:1–23King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
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Related Watchman 33 Resources
Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Approximately 1208 BC, Merneptah’s fifth regnal year
The Merneptah Stele: Israel in Canaan
A victory hymn from Merneptah's fifth year, about 1208 BC, contains the earliest secure extra-biblical occurrence of Israel's name and marks Israel as a people within the Canaanite campaign horizon.
Judges 1:1–36 · Joshua 11:16–23 · Joshua 13:1–7
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEArchaeological site
Thirteenth century BC, end of Late Bronze Age Hazor
Hazor’s Late Bronze Age Destruction
The vast Canaanite capital of Hazor ended in an exceptionally fierce thirteenth-century BC destruction that burned its palace and monumental buildings; the catastrophe illuminates Joshua’s description of Hazor’s scale and fiery end but does not identify who destroyed it.
Joshua 11:1–13 · Judges 4:2 · 1 Kings 9:15
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Possibly Eighteenth Dynasty, with later copying also proposed
Berlin Pedestal Relief and the Proposed ‘Israel’ Reading
Berlin pedestal fragment ÄM 21687 preserves three damaged Egyptian name rings, but restoring the third as an archaic spelling of Israel is a minority proposal dependent on uncertain signs, unknown provenance, and contested dating.
Genesis 32:28 · Exodus 1:1–14 · Joshua 11:16–23
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCECult & worship
Middle Bronze Age, about eighteenth–seventeenth century BC
Hazor Liver Divination Models
Clay liver fragments excavated at Hazor carry modeled features and Akkadian omen language, directly documenting learned divination and western cuneiform culture at the great Middle Bronze city while remaining centuries earlier than the biblical conquest narratives.
Joshua 11:10–13 · Deuteronomy 18:9–14
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEBurial
Late sixth–early fifth century BC
Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II of Sidon
Eshmunazar II's Egyptian-style stone sarcophagus bears a twenty-two-line Phoenician epitaph naming his dynasty, temples, gods, early death, and Persian grant of Dor and Joppa, an unusually direct royal voice from Achaemenid Sidon.
Joshua 11:8 · Joshua 17:11 · Jonah 1:3
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Middle and Late Bronze Ages, principally 2nd millennium BC
Hazor Cuneiform Tablets and Law Fragment
Hazor's Akkadian tablets—letters, administrative texts, exercises, and a legal fragment—document the scribal culture of the largest Canaanite city in the southern Levant.
Joshua 11:10–13 · Joshua 12:19