So they put foremen ¹  over the Israelites ²  to oppress ³  them with hard labor. As a result ⁴  they built Pithom and Rameses ⁵  as store cities for Pharaoh.

I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword ¹  after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

But ¹  the inhabitants ²  are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.

So Israel made a vow ¹  to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver ²  this people into our ³  hand, then we will utterly destroy ⁴  their cities.”

Then they came very close to him and said, “We will build sheep folds here for our flocks and cities for our families, ¹ 

At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them ¹  under divine judgment, ²  including even the women and children; we left no survivors.

All of these cities were fortified by high walls, gates, and locking bars; ¹  in addition there were a great many open villages. ² 

But your wives, children, and livestock (of which I know you have many) may remain in the cities I have given you.

Anyone who accidentally killed someone ¹  without hating him at the time of the accident ²  could flee to one of those cities and be safe.

These cities are Bezer, in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassehites.

Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that

When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he ¹  is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses,

you must set apart for yourselves three cities ¹  in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.

However, suppose a person hates someone else ¹  and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, ²  and then flees to one of these cities.

This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.

your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ¹ 

All Jerusalem was terrified ¹  because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai and all its men were warriors.

Joshua captured all these royal cities and all their kings and annihilated them with the sword, ¹  as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded.

But Israel did not burn any of the cities located on mounds, ¹  except for Hazor; ²  it was the only one Joshua burned.

The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people ¹  and allowed no one who breathed to live.