1And these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down and whose land they took hold of, across the Jordan where the sun rises, from Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon and all the Arabah to the east: 2Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelled in Heshbon, who ruled from Aroer on the banks of Wadi Arnon and within the wadi, and half of Gilead as far as Wadi Jabbok, border of the Ammonites, 3and the Arabah as far as Lake Chinneroth to the east and as far as the Arabah Sea, the Salt Sea, to the east, by way of Beth-Jeshimoth, and to the south below the slopes of Pisgah. 4And the region of Og king of Bashan, from the remnant of the Rephaim, who dwelt in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, 5and ruled over Mount Hermon and Salkah and all of the Bashan as far as the border of the Geshurite and the Maacathite and half of Gilead, the border of Sihon king of the Amorites. 6Moses servant of the LORD and the Israelites struck them down, and Moses servant of the LORD gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh. 7And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites struck down on the other side of the Jordan to the west, from Baal-Gad in the Lebanon valley as far as Mount Halak, which goes up toward Seir. And Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as an inheritance according to their divisions. 8In the high country and in the lowland and in the Arabah and on the slopes and in the wilderness and in the Negeb of the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivvite, and the Jebusite:
9the king of Jericho—one,
the king of Ai which is alongside Bethel—one,
10the king of Jerusalem—one,
the king of Hebron—one,
11the king of Jarmuth—one,
the king of Lachish—one,
12the king of Eglon—one,
the king of Gezer—one,
13the king of Debir—one,
the king of Geder—one,
14the king of Hormah—one,
the king of Arad—one,
15the king of Libnah—one,
the king of Adullam—one,
16the king of Makkedah—one,
the king of Bethel—one,
17the king of Tapuah—one,
the king of Hepher—one,
18the king of Aphek—one,
the king of Sharon—one,
19the king of Madon—one,
the king of Hazor—one,
20the king of Shimron-Merom—one,
the king of Achshaph—one,
21the king of Taanach—one,
the king of Megiddo—one,
22the king of Kedesh—one,
the king of Jokneam in Carmel—one,
23the king of Dor in Naphoth-Dor—one,
the king of Goiim in Gilgal—one,
24the king of Tirzah—one,
all the kings were thirty-one.
CHAPTER 12 NOTES
Click here to advance to the next section of the text.
1. And these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down . . . across the Jordan where the sun rises. The second half of the Book of Joshua, which begins in the next chapter, essentially abandons narrative to offer, after this catalogue of conquests, a tabulation of the apportioning of the land according to tribal divisions. Only in the three concluding chapters do we return to narrative. The first six verses of this chapter report the victories of Moses over the sundry trans-Jordanian kings that are narrated in Numbers. The remainder of the chapter gives us a list of Joshua’s victories west of the Jordan.
3. Lake Chinneroth. As before, this is a variant form of Lake Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee.
4. the remnant of the Rephaim. Some scholars think this term originally referred to elite warriors. In biblical usage it can mean either “shades,” which is scarcely a relevant sense here, or “giants.” In Deuteronomy 3:11, Og is reported to have possessed gigantic proportions.
6. Moses servant of the LORD gave it as an inheritance. By the time this material was edited, late in the seventh century B.C.E. or in the sixth century, the Israelites no longer had possession of this trans-Jordanian region. The list thus serves as a kind of ideal map of sovereignty in times past.
9. the king of Jericho—one. This system of tallying is unusual. The evident aim is to arrive at a complete sum of all the conquests. Though, as we have seen, the historical reality of much of this account is in doubt, the numbering of thirty-one kings does accurately reflect a historical situation in which Canaan was splintered into a large number of city-kingdoms controlling quite small territories. Even if these rulers actually bore the title of king, they probably were closer to what today would be thought of as tribal warlords. This list obviously picks up names from the preceding narrative report, although it also includes several kings not mentioned earlier.