Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua leads Israel in a military campaign against the Canaanite city of Eglon, immediately following the siege of Lachish and preceding the march to Hebron. The narrative records the completion of the conquest at this specific moment in the southern campaign.
The words — The Hebrew phrase לְפִי־חֶרֶב (le-fi-ḥerev) literally means "to the mouth of the sword." This idiom describes the total execution of the city's inhabitants.
The thread — The pattern of total destruction recurs in Joshua 10:37, where the same language applies to Hebron and its villages. The concept of divine judgment against the land's inhabitants echoes the warnings found in Leviticus 26:44.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of Joshua's consistent execution of the conquest mandate without deviation. It presents the historical reality of the campaign's outcome before any theological application.
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 they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 26:44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.
- 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.
- Job 19:10 He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.