Bible Strands
Joshua 11:12
Joshua captured all these kings and their cities and put them to the sword. He devoted them to destruction, as Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua acts as Israel’s military leader following the defeat of a northern coalition, executing judgment on captured rulers and their urban centers. The narrative records his compliance with prior Mosaic instruction during the conquest phase.
The words — כָּל (kol) carries the literal sense of "all" or "every," marking the comprehensive scope of the captured territory. מַלְכֵיהֶם (malkehem) translates to "their kings," specifying the captured leadership targeted for destruction.
The thread — This action fulfills the command in Deuteronomy 20:16 to leave no survivors in the allotted cities, and echoes the initial destruction mandate in Deuteronomy 7:2.
Why it lands — The text records Joshua’s exact obedience to a prior command rather than independent military judgment. It requires readers to recognize that the conquest operates under explicit divine instruction, not human strategy.
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 all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.
Cross-references
- 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 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.
- Numbers 33:50 On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the LORD said to Moses,
- Joshua 8:8 And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”
- Joshua 8:31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.
- Joshua 9:24 The Gibeonites answered, “Your servants were told clearly that the LORD your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and wipe out all its inhabitants before you. So we greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we have done this.
- 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.
- 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.