So the Israelis set out for their cities and three days later they reached their cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

The leaders said to them, “Let them live [as our slaves].” So they became the cutters and gatherers of firewood and water carriers for the entire congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.

They replied to Joshua and said, “Because your servants were told in no uncertain terms that the Lord your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the land’s inhabitants before you, we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and so we did this [deceptive] thing.

So that is what he did to them; he rescued them from the hands of the Israelites and they did not kill them.

On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers—as they are today—for the community and for the Lord’s altar at the place He would choose.

And it will be lord Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard that Joshua took Ai and exterminated it; as he did to Jericho and to her king, so he did to Ai and her king; and that the inhabitants of Gibeon made peace with Israel, and they will be in the midst of them.

That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.

“Come up and help me. We will attack Gibeon, because they have made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”

Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.

And the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear of them, for I have given them into your hands; they will all give way before you.

And the Lord made them full of fear before Israel, and they put great numbers of them to death at Gibeon, and went after them by the way going up to Beth-horon, driving them back to Azekah and Makkedah

As they fled before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones [of hail] from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. More [Amorites] died because of the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

It was reported to Joshua: “The five kings have been found; they are hiding in the cave at Makkedah.”

Now when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking the Amorites dead in a very great defeat, until they were wiped out, and the surviving remnant among them had entered the fortified cities,

They did so, and brought these five [Amorite] kings out of the cave to him—the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and told the commanders of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come up close, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came forward and put their feet on the necks [of the five kings].

Then afterward Joshua struck them [with his sword] and put them to death, and he hung them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening.

At sunset Joshua gave a command, and they took the bodies down from the trees and threw them into the cave where the kings had hidden themselves, and placed large stones over the mouth of the cave, [where they remain] to this very day.

Afterward, Joshua and all of Israel passed on from Makkedah to Libnah, where they fought against Libnah.

The Lord handed it and its king over to Israel, and Israel put the sword to all who lived there; they left no survivors. They did to its king what they had done to the king of Jericho.

From Libnah, Joshua and all Israel with him crossed to Lachish. They laid siege to it and attacked it.

And Jehovah gave Lachish into the hand of Israel; and they took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah.

Then Joshua crossed from Lachish to Eglon and all Israel with him. They laid siege to it and attacked it.

They captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; and on that day he utterly destroyed every person who was in it, just as he had done to Lachish.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it

They captured it and struck down its king, all its villages, and everyone in it with the sword. He left no survivors, just as he had done at Eglon. He completely destroyed Hebron and everyone in it.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to Debir, and they fought against it.

He captured it with its king and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed every person who was in it. He left no survivor. Just as he had done to Hebron, so Joshua did to Debir and its king, as he had done also to Libnah and its king.

They went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.

All these kings joined forces; they came together and camped at the waters of Merom to attack Israel.

So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them.

The Lord handed them over to Israel, who struck them and pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh; they struck them down until no survivor was left.

They struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed. And he set fire to Hazor.

The sons of Israel took as their plunder all the spoil of these cities and the cattle; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one alive.

There was no city that made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took all the others in battle.

For it was [the purpose] of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle so that Israel would utterly destroy them, that they would receive no mercy, but that Israel would destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

An Anakim was not left in the land of the sons of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, they were left

Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan toward the east, from the valley of the [river] Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah [plain] to the east:

And they struck the coast of Og king of Bashan, of the rest of the giants, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,

It encompassed all the cities of the plain and the whole realm of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon. Moses defeated him and the Midianite leaders Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba (they were subjects of Sihon and lived in his territory).

Along with those the Israelites put to death, they also killed the diviner, Balaam son of Beor, with the sword.

And in the valley they had Betharam, Bethnimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, and Jordan and the coasts that lie thereon, even unto the edge of the sea of Chinnereth, on the other side Jordan eastward.

These are they whom Moses caused to inherit in the plains of Moab, on the other side Jordan by Jericho, eastward.

And these are they of the sons of Israel who inherited in the land of Canaan, whom Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel, gave out for inheritance to them.

For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.

So the Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses, and they divided the land.

And in the low country they had Eshtaol, Zorah, and Ashnah;

And in the mountains, they had Shamir, Jattir, and Socoh;

And in the wilderness they had Betharabah, Middin and Secacah;

But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live among Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.

The tribe of Manasseh, Joseph's firstborn son, was also allotted land. The descendants of Makir, Manasseh's firstborn and the father of Gilead, received land, for they were warriors. They were assigned Gilead and Bashan.

They went before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, "The Lord told Moses to assign us land among our relatives." So Joshua assigned them land among their uncles, as the Lord had commanded.

Ephraim’s territory was to the south and Manasseh’s to the north, with the Sea as its border. They reached Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.

Whenever the Israelites were strong militarily, they forced the Canaanites to do hard labor, but they never totally conquered them.

And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel.

The whole hill country will be yours; though it is a forest, you can clear it and it will be entirely yours. You can conquer the Canaanites, though they have chariots with iron-rimmed wheels and are strong."

The entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh and there they set up the tent of meeting. Though they had subdued the land,

And there will remain among the sons of Israel to whom they distributed not their inheritance, seven tribes.

Provide for yourselves three men from each tribe so that I may send them, and that they may go through the land and write a description of it with regard to their [tribal] inheritance; then they shall return to me.

They shall divide it into seven parts; [the tribe of] Judah shall remain in its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain in its territory on the north.

The men journeyed through the land and mapped it and its cities out into seven regions on a scroll. Then they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.

And their north coasts were from Jordan and went up to the side of Jericho on the north side, and went up through the mountains westward, and they ended at the wilderness of Bethaven;

So they had as their inheritance Beersheba or Sheba and Moladah,

The heritage of Simeon was taken out of Judah's stretch of land, for Judah's part was more than they had need of, so the heritage of the children of Simeon was inside their heritage.

Their territory included Kattah, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem; in all they had twelve cities and their towns.

Their border touched Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth Shemesh, and ended at the Jordan. They had sixteen cities and their towns.

Umah, Aphek, and Rehob. In all they had twenty-two cities and their towns.

Yiron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth Anath, and Beth Shemesh. In all they had nineteen cities and their towns.

(The Danites failed to conquer their territory, so they went up and fought with Leshem and captured it. They put the sword to it, took possession of it, and lived in it. They renamed it Dan after their ancestor.)

When they finished dividing the land into its regions, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun some land.

As the Lord had instructed, they gave him the city he requested -- Timnath Serah in the Ephraimite hill country. He built up the city and lived in it.

These are the land assignments which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the Israelite tribal leaders made by drawing lots in Shiloh before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing up the land.

so that the person (manslayer) who kills any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall be your refuge from the blood avenger.

The one who committed manslaughter should escape to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and present his case to the leaders of that city. They should then bring him into the city, give him a place to stay, and let him live there.

When the avenger of blood comes after him, they must not hand over to him the one who committed manslaughter, for he accidentally killed his fellow man without premeditation.

So they selected Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho they selected Bezer in the desert on the plain belonging to the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan belonging to the tribe of Manasseh.

They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle.”

They assigned from the tribes of Judah and Simeon the cities listed below.

They were assigned to the Kohathite clans of the Levites who were descendants of Aaron, for the first lot belonged to them.

They assigned them Kiriath Arba (Arba was the father of Anak), that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with its surrounding grazing areas.

(Now the city's fields and surrounding towns they had assigned to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his property.)

So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they assigned Hebron (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Libnah,

From the tribe of Benjamin they assigned Gibeon, Geba,

And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites which remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

They assigned them Shechem (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter) in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer,

From the tribe of Dan they assigned Eltekeh, Gibbethon,

From the half-tribe of Manasseh they assigned Taanach and Gath Rimmon, along with the grazing areas of each -- a total of two cities.

They assigned to the Gershonite clans of the Levites the following cities: from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter) and Beeshtarah, along with the grazing areas of each -- a total of two cities;

From the tribe of Issachar they gave:

Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands,

From the tribe of Asher they gave:

Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands,

From the tribe of Naphtali they gave:

Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities.

They assigned to the Merarite clans (the remaining Levites) the following cities: from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam, Kartah,

From the tribe of Reuben they gave:

Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands,

From the tribe of Gad they gave:

Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands,

Each of these cities had grazing areas around it; they were alike in this regard.

So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had solemnly promised to their ancestors, and they conquered it and lived in it.

Joshua rewarded them and sent them on their way; they returned to their homes.

So the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and headed home to their own land in Gilead, which they acquired by the Lord's command through Moses.

When they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, an altar that was great to behold.