Joshua 10:40

40 So Joshua struck all the land--the hill country, the Negev, the Shephelah, and the slopes--and all their kings; he left behind no survivor, and {all that breathed} he utterly destroyed as Yahweh the God of Israel commanded.

Joshua 10:40 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 10:40

So Joshua smote all the country of the hills and of the
south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings
That part of the land of Canaan which lay southward, and consisted of hills and vales; which abounded with springs, and was a well watered country, and agrees with the description Moses gives of it, though he never saw it, ( Deuteronomy 8:7 ) ;

he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed;
that is, all human creatures; for as for the cattle, they were spared as a prey:

as the Lord God of Israel commanded;
this law is extant, ( Deuteronomy 20:16 ) ; and which is here observed to clear the Israelites from the charge of cruelty and inhumanity; since what they did was not of themselves, nor from a private spirit of revenge, nor a greedy desire after the substance of the inhabitants; but in obedience to the command of God, and who ordered this as a righteous punishment of those people for their gross abominations of idolatry, incest see ( Leviticus 18:1-30 ) .

Joshua 10:40 In-Context

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

39 and he captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with {the the edge of the sword}, and they utterly destroyed all the people that [were] in it; he left behind no survivor, just as he had done to Hebron. Thus he did to Debir and its king what he had done to Libnah and its king.

40 So Joshua struck all the land--the hill country, the Negev, the Shephelah, and the slopes--and all their kings; he left behind no survivor, and {all that breathed} he utterly destroyed as Yahweh the God of Israel commanded.

41 Joshua struck them from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen up to Gibeon;

42 all of these kings and their land Joshua captured at one time, because Yahweh the God of Israel fought for Israel.

Footnotes

• [a]. An arid region south of the Judaean hills
• [b]. Or "lowlands"; a geographical region on the western edge of the hills of Judea
• [c]. The slopes of the hills of the western Jordan to the Dead Sea region
• [d]. Literally "all of the breath"