Joshua 10
Open in the reader1Now My-Lord-Is-Righteousness king of Foundation-of-Peace heard that He-Who-Is-Saves had captured The-Ruin and devoted it to destruction —doing to The-Ruin and its king as he had done to Moon and its king—and that the people of Hill-Town had made peace with Strives-with-God and were living near them.
2So My-Lord-Is-Righteousness and his people were greatly alarmed, because Hill-Town was a great city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than The-Ruin, and all its men were mighty.
3Therefore My-Lord-Is-Righteousness king of Foundation-of-Peace sent word to Hoham king of Association, Piram king of Heights, He-Shines-Forth king of Lachish, and Oracle-Place king of Calf-Man, saying,
4“Come up and help me. We will attack Hill-Town, because they have made peace with He-Who-Is-Saves and the children of Strives-with-God.”
5So the five kings of the Mountaineers—the kings of Foundation-of-Peace, Association, Heights, Lachish, and Calf-Man—joined forces and advanced with all their armies. They camped before Hill-Town and made war against it.
6Then the men of Hill-Town sent word to He-Who-Is-Saves in the camp at The-Rolling: “Do not abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, because all the kings of the Mountaineers from the hill country have joined forces against us.”
7So He-Who-Is-Saves and his whole army, including all the mighty men of valor, came from The-Rolling.
8He-Who-Is said to He-Who-Is-Saves, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have delivered them into your hand. Not one of them shall stand against you.”
9After marching all night from The-Rolling, He-Who-Is-Saves caught them by surprise.
10And He-Who-Is threw them into confusion before Strives-with-God, who defeated them in a great slaughter at Hill-Town, pursued them along the ascent to House-of-Hollow, and struck them down as far as Tilled-Ground and Place-of-Shepherds.
11As they fled before Strives-with-God along the descent from House-of-Hollow to Tilled-Ground, He-Who-Is cast down on them large hailstones from the sky, and more of them were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the children of Strives-with-God.
12On the day that He-Who-Is gave the Mountaineers over to the children of Strives-with-God, He-Who-Is-Saves spoke to He-Who-Is in the presence of Strives-with-God: “O sun, stand still over Hill-Town, O moon, over the Valley of Place-of-Deer.”
13So the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance upon its enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? “So the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”
14There has been no day like it before or since, when He-Who-Is listened to the voice of a man, because He-Who-Is fought for Strives-with-God.
15Then He-Who-Is-Saves returned with all Strives-with-God to the camp at The-Rolling.
16Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Place-of-Shepherds.
17And He-Who-Is-Saves was informed: “The five kings have been found; they are hiding in the cave at Place-of-Shepherds.”
18So He-Who-Is-Saves said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and post men there to guard them.
19But you, do not stop there. Pursue your enemies and attack them from behind. Do not let them reach their cities, for He-Who-Is your God has delivered them into your hand.”
20So He-Who-Is-Saves and the children of Strives-with-God continued to inflict a terrible slaughter until they had finished them off, and the remaining survivors retreated to the fortified cities.
21The whole army returned safely to He-Who-Is-Saves in the camp at Place-of-Shepherds, and no one dared to utter a word against the children of Strives-with-God.
22Then He-Who-Is-Saves said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me.”
23So they brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Association, Heights, Association, and Lachish.
24When they had brought the kings to He-Who-Is-Saves, he summoned all the men of Strives-with-God and said to the army commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks.
25“Do not be afraid or discouraged,” He-Who-Is-Saves said. “Be strong and courageous, for He-Who-Is will do this to all the enemies you fight.”
26After this, He-Who-Is-Saves struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.
27At sunset He-Who-Is-Saves ordered that they be taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave in which they had hidden. Then large stones were placed against the mouth of the cave, and the stones are there to this day.
28On that day He-Who-Is-Saves captured Place-of-Shepherds 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 Place-of-Shepherds as he had done to the king of Moon.
29Then He-Who-Is-Saves and all Strives-with-God with him moved on from Place-of-Shepherds to Whiteness and fought against Whiteness.
30And He-Who-Is also delivered that city and its king into the hand of Strives-with-God, and He-Who-Is-Saves put all the people to the sword, leaving no survivors. And he did to the king of Whiteness as he had done to the king of Moon.
31And He-Who-Is-Saves and all Strives-with-God with him moved on from Whiteness to Lachish. They laid siege to it and fought against it.
32And He-Who-Is delivered Lachish into the hand of Strives-with-God, and He-Who-Is-Saves captured it on the second day. He put all the people to the sword, just as he had done to Whiteness.
33At that time Exalted king of Portion went to help Lachish, but He-Who-Is-Saves struck him down along with his people, leaving no survivors.
34So He-Who-Is-Saves moved on from Lachish to Calf-Man, and all Strives-with-God with him. They laid siege to it and fought against it.
35That day they captured Calf-Man and put it to the sword, and He-Who-Is-Saves devoted to destruction everyone in the city, just as he had done to Lachish.
36Then He-Who-Is-Saves and all Strives-with-God with him went up from Calf-Man to Association and fought against it.
37They captured it and put to the sword its king, all its villages, and all the people. He-Who-Is-Saves left no survivors, just as he had done at Calf-Man; he devoted to destruction Association and everyone in it.
38Finally He-Who-Is-Saves and all Strives-with-God with him turned toward Oracle-Place and fought against it.
39And they captured Oracle-Place, its king, and all its villages. They put them to the sword and devoted to destruction everyone in the city, leaving no survivors. He-Who-Is-Saves did to Oracle-Place and its king as he had done to Association and as he had done to Whiteness and its king.
40So He-Who-Is-Saves conquered the whole region—the hill country, South-Country, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, had commanded.
41He-Who-Is-Saves conquered the area from Devoted-Place-of-Wandering to Stronghold, and the whole region of Goshen as far as Hill-Town.
42And because He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, fought for Strives-with-God, He-Who-Is-Saves captured all these kings and their land in one campaign.
43Then He-Who-Is-Saves returned with all Strives-with-God to the camp at The-Rolling.