Joshua 11:18-23

11:18 Joshua campaigned against ¹  these kings for quite some time. ²  11:19 No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon); ³  they had to conquer all of them, ⁴  11:20 for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses. ⁵ 

11:21 At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country ⁶  – from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel. ⁷  Joshua annihilated them and their cities. 11:22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory, though some remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. 11:23 Joshua conquered ⁸  the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses, ⁹  and he assigned Israel their tribal portions. ¹⁰  Then the land was free of war.

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¹ tn Heb “made war with.”

² tn Heb “for many days.”

³ tn The LXX omits this parenthetical note, which may represent a later scribal addition.

⁴ tn Heb “the whole they took in battle.”

⁵ tn Heb “for from the Lord it was to harden their heart[s] to meet for the battle with Israel, in order to annihilate them, so that they would receive no mercy, in order annihilate them, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

⁶ tn Heb “went and cut off the Anakites from the hill country.”

⁷ tn Heb “and from all the hill country of Israel.”

⁸ tn Heb “took.”

⁹ tn Heb “according to all which the Lord said to Moses.” The translation assumes this refers to the promise of the land (see 1:3). Another possibility is that it refers to the Lord’s instructions, in which case the phrase could be translated, “just as the Lord had instructed Moses” (so NLT; cf. also NIV “had directed Moses”).

¹⁰ tn Heb “and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their allotted portions by their tribes.”