¹⁶So Joshua took the whole land. He took the central hill country and the whole Negev Desert. He took the whole area of Goshen. He took the western hills. He took the Arabah Valley. He took the mountains of Israel and the hills around them. ¹⁷He took the area that begins at Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir. The area ends at Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.

Joshua captured the kings who ruled over that whole land. He struck them down and killed them. ¹⁸He fought battles against all of those kings for a long time.

¹⁹Only the Hivites who lived in Gibeon made a peace treaty with the people of Israel. No other city made a treaty with them. So Israel captured all of those cities in battle. ²⁰The Lord himself made the hearts of their people stubborn. He made them go to war against Israel so he could totally destroy them. He wanted to wipe them out. He didn’t show them any mercy. The Lord had commanded Moses to destroy the people of Canaan.

²¹At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites. They lived all through the hill country of Judah and Israel. They lived in Hebron, Debir and Anab. Joshua totally destroyed the Anakites and their towns. ²²There weren’t any Anakites left alive in Israel’s territory. But a few were left alive in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod.

²³So Joshua took the whole land, just as the Lord had directed Moses. Joshua gave the land to Israel as their very own. He divided it up and gave each tribe its share.

Then the land had peace and rest.

Read in Logos