Bible Strands
Joshua 11:14
The Israelites took for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but they put all the people to the sword until they had completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone who breathed.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Israelite army's actions following Joshua's northern campaign, detailing the seizure of spoils and the execution of inhabitants. The passage functions as a historical report of the military outcome rather than a dialogue or divine address.
The words — The Hebrew verb בָּזְזוּ (ba.ze.Zu) literally means they plundered or stripped goods. This term anchors the verse's description of the Israelites taking the cities' livestock and wealth as their own.
The thread — The systematic taking of plunder and livestock parallels the Israelite operations in Numbers 31:9 and Numbers 31:11. The pattern of total destruction aligns with the conquest mandate referenced in the surrounding context of Joshua 11:13 and Joshua 11:15.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge the complete execution of the conquest order and the total removal of the population. It asks for an unvarnished recognition of the campaign's historical reality without theological softening.
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 spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe.
Cross-references
- Numbers 31:9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods.
- Numbers 31:11 and carried away all the plunder and spoils, both people and animals.
- Deuteronomy 6:10 And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build,
- Deuteronomy 20:14 But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.
- Joshua 8:27 Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.
- 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.
- Joshua 11:11 The Israelites put everyone in Hazor to the sword, devoting them to destruction. Nothing that breathed remained, and Joshua burned down Hazor itself.