Bible Strands
Joshua 10:26
After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua addresses his troops after a decisive battle, urging them to remain courageous because Yahweh will treat all their enemies as he treats the current five kings (Joshua 10:25). The narrative then shifts to Joshua's immediate post-battle action against those same rulers.
The words — The Hebrew text records וַ/יִּתְלֵ֕/ם (va/i.yit.Le/m), meaning "and he hanged them," and חֲמִשָּׁ֣ה (cha.mi.Shah), meaning "five," describing the physical placement of the corpses on trees. The verb וַ/יְמִיתֵ֔/ם (va/y.mi.Te/m) simply states that he caused them to die.
The thread — This display of executed rulers on trees parallels Joshua's earlier action against the king of Ai in Joshua 8:29 and aligns with the Mosaic regulation for executed criminals in Deuteronomy 21:22. It also resonates with the public execution of leaders commanded in Numbers 25:4.
Why it lands — The text records a concrete judicial and military act rather than a theological command, documenting Joshua's immediate compliance with the battle's conclusion. Readers observe a repeated pattern of public judgment against enemy leaders that establishes a historical precedent for later Israelite law.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening.
Cross-references
- Joshua 8:29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
- Numbers 25:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
- Deuteronomy 21:22 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
- Judges 8:21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels.
- 1 Samuel 15:33 But Samuel declared: “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.
- 2 Samuel 21:6 let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.
- 2 Samuel 21:9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
- Esther 2:23 After the report had been investigated and verified, both officials were hanged on the gallows. And all this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.
- Esther 7:9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.
- Matthew 27:25 All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”