Joshua 10 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

This chapter describes how other Canaanite kings attacked the city of Gibeon because it was a great city and they were concerned because its people had allied themselves with the Israelites. The chapter also describes how Joshua and the Israelite army went and defended the city and defeated its attackers (Joshua 10:1–27).

The chapter then describes how Joshua and the Israelite army defeated and destroyed each of the cities whose kings had attacked Gibeon, the cities of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir (Joshua 10:28–43).

The ULT sets the lines in Joshua 10:12–13 farther to the right on the page than the rest of the text because they are a poem.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Complete destruction of cities

The war that the Israelites fought against the Canaanites was different from other wars. Yahweh gave Israel special instructions about how they were to deal with the people they defeated, including completely destroying them and their cities. These were unique circumstances, and armies today are not supposed to act in the same way.

Translation Issues in This Chapter

“devoted”

The specialized term that the ULT translates as “devoted” occurs several times in this chapter. See the discussion of that term in the Introduction to Joshua, and see the UST for an expression of its meaning in the specific contexts where it is used in this chapter.

“to the mouth of the sword”

This expression occurs several times in this chapter, often in connection with the term “devoted.” See the discussion of this expression in the Introduction to Joshua, and see how the UST represents its meaning.

“come up,” “went up”

As the Introduction to Joshua discusses, Hebrew writers marked travel descriptions for change in elevation. The author follows this usage in several places in this chapter. If your language does not mark travel notices for change in elevation, you can translate these expressions more simply For example, in Joshua 10:6 you might have the Gibeonites say simply “come to us” rather than “come up to us.”