Passage

Joshua 11.11-12

Book: Joshua · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"9. And Joshua did unto them as Jehovah bade him: he hocked their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire. 10. And Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms."

"11. And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them; there was none left that breathed: and he burnt Hazor with fire. 12. And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and he smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them; as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded."

"13. But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn. 14. 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 that breathed." (Joshua 11:9-14, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"9. Joshua did to them as Yahweh told him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. 10. Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword: for Hazor used to be the head of all those kingdoms."

"11. They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned Hazor with fire. 12. Joshua captured all the cities of those kings, with their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them; as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded."

"13. But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only. Joshua burned that. 14. The children of Israel took all the plunder of these cities, with the livestock, as plunder for themselves; but every man they struck with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They didn’t leave any who breathed." (Joshua 11:9-14, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"9. And Joshua did unto them as the LORD bade him: he houghed their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire. 10. And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms."

"11. And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire. ^{any: Heb. any breath} 12. 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."

"13. But as for the cities that stood still in their strength, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn. ^{in their: Heb. on their heap} 14. 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." (Joshua 11:9-14, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"9. and Joshua doth to them as Jehovah said to him; their horses he hath houghed, and their chariots burnt with fire. 10. And Joshua turneth back at that time, and captureth Hazor, and its king he hath smitten by the sword; for Hazor formerly [is] head of all these kingdoms;"

"11. and they smite every person who [is] in it by the mouth of the sword; he hath devoted, he hath not left any one breathing, and Hazor he hath burnt with fire; 12. and all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, hath Joshua captured, and he smiteth them by the mouth of the sword; he devoted them, as Moses, servant of Jehovah, commanded."

"13. Only, all the cities which are standing by their hill, Israel hath not burned them, save Hazor only, [it] hath Joshua burnt; 14. and all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, have the sons of Israel spoiled for themselves; only, every human being they have smitten by the mouth of the sword, till their destroying them; they have not left any one breathing." (Joshua 11:9-14, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: narrator
Audience: Israel; downstream, the covenant-community
Location: Hazor and the northern-coalition cities (Hazor sat at the head of the Galilean north, c. 9 miles north of the Sea of Galilee)
Time period: end of the main conquest campaign, c. 1399 BC (Josh 11:18, "a long time")

Theological reading

The Hazor [[H2763 - charam|charam]] closes the northern-campaign and the main-conquest narrative-arc. Three features are theologically-load-bearing. (1) The "as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded" at v. 12 explicitly locates the action in the religious-judicial-judgment frame of Deut 7:2 and Deut 20:16-18, Joshua is executing the Mosaic-commission, not initiating unilaterally. (2) The distinction at vv. 13-14 between Hazor (burned) and the other cities (not burned, occupied) supplies textual evidence that the charam did not flatten-and-erase the settlement-pattern, the cities-on-mounds are taken and occupied; only Hazor as the regional-capital is destroyed-and-burned. The asymmetry is internal to the conquest-strategy. (3) The spoil-and-cattle taken for prey (v. 14) follows the Ai-pattern (Josh 8:27) rather than the Jericho-pattern (Josh 6:19): the dedicated-property-to-sanctuary disclaimer applied at Jericho as theological-pedagogy is not the universal rule. The "left they any that breathed" totality-language is the formulaic-totality of ANE-warfare-rhetoric (compare Joshua 11:22, "there were no Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, did some remain", the immediate qualification within the same chapter). Hazor's archaeological-destruction-layer in late-bronze stratum 1A is one of the most-archaeologically-supported conquest events. See Canaanite Conquest Objection Defeater and the paired Joshua 11.20-21 for the theological-rationale verse.

Key words

H2763 - charam, haḥarem otam, the charam execution-verb at vv. 11-12; the northern-campaign closing-application.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.