Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Joshua’s campaign after securing Hebron and Libnah, describing his turn toward Debir to execute judgment on its ruler and inhabitants.
The words — לְ/פִי\־ (le/fi-) = to the mouth of, the idiom the text uses to describe complete execution by the sword. וַֽ/יִּלְכְּדָ֞/הּ (va/yil.kad/h) = and he captured it, marking the seizure of the city and its king.
The thread — The text’s pattern of total conquest repeats in Deuteronomy 3:3 against Og, Joshua 10:33 against Horam, and Joshua 10:37 against the preceding cities.
Why it lands — The passage demands acknowledgment that the recorded commands require absolute obedience and leave no provision for partial compliance or preservation of devoted enemies.
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 he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 3:3 So the LORD our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.
- Joshua 10:33 At that time Horam king of Gezer went to help Lachish, but Joshua struck him down along with his people, leaving no survivors.
- 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 11:8 and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.
- 2 Kings 10:11 So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.
- Obadiah 1:18 Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken.
- Joshua 10:40 So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.