Bible Strands
Joshua 10:28
On that day Joshua captured Makkedah and put it to the sword, along with its king. He devoted to destruction everyone in the city, leaving no survivors. So he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua acts immediately after the execution of five allied kings, executing judgment on Makkedah as a sequential step in the southern campaign.
The words — לָכַד (la.Khad) means "he captured," describing the seizure of the city, while וַ/יַּכֶּ֣/הָ (va/i.ya.Ke./ha) literally reads "and he struck it," detailing the military execution of its inhabitants.
The thread — This execution pattern mirrors the devastation at Jericho (Joshua 6:21) and fulfills the earlier command to completely destroy the Canaanite peoples (Deuteronomy 7:2; Deuteronomy 7:16).
Why it lands — The record demands acknowledgment of Joshua’s precise obedience to a historical mandate and the unambiguous reality of the divine judgment carried out against the city and its ruler.
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 that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho.
Cross-references
- Joshua 6:21 With the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
- Deuteronomy 7:2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
- Deuteronomy 7:16 You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
- Deuteronomy 20:16 However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.
- Joshua 8:2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”
- Joshua 10:30 And the LORD also delivered that city and its king into the hand of Israel, and Joshua put all the people to the sword, leaving no survivors. And he did to the king of Libnah as he had done to the king of Jericho.
- Joshua 10:32 And the LORD delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, and Joshua captured it on the second day. He put all the people to the sword, just as he had done to Libnah.
- Joshua 10:35 That day they captured Eglon and put it to the sword, and Joshua devoted to destruction everyone in the city, just as he had done to Lachish.
- Joshua 10:37 They captured it and put to the sword its king, all its villages, and all the people. Joshua left no survivors, just as he had done at Eglon; he devoted to destruction Hebron and everyone in it.
- Joshua 10:39 And they captured Debir, its king, and all its villages. They put them to the sword and devoted to destruction everyone in the city, leaving no survivors. Joshua did to Debir and its king as he had done to Hebron and as he had done to Libnah and its king.