Joshua 12:1-7

1 The people of Israel had already conquered and occupied the land east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley up the Jordan Valley and as far north as Mount Hermon. They defeated two kings. 1
2 One was Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled at Heshbon. His kingdom included half of Gilead: from Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon Valley) and from the city in the middle of that valley, as far as the Jabbok River, the border of Ammon;
3 it included the Jordan Valley from Lake Galilee south to Beth Jeshimoth (east of the Dead Sea) and on toward the foot of Mount Pisgah.
4 They also defeated King Og of Bashan, who was one of the last of the Rephaim; he ruled at Ashtaroth and Edrei.
5 His kingdom included Mount Hermon, Salecah, and all of Bashan as far as the boundaries of Geshur and Maacah, as well as half of Gilead, as far as the territory of King Sihon of Heshbon.
6 These two kings were defeated by Moses and the people of Israel. Moses, the Lord's servant, gave their land to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh, to be their possession. 2
7 Joshua and the people of Israel defeated all the kings in the territory west of the Jordan, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak in the south near Edom. Joshua divided this land among the tribes and gave it to them as a permanent possession.

Joshua 12:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 12

This chapter gives a short account of the conquests made by the Israelites, both in the times of Moses and of Joshua, and first of the kingdom of Sihon and Og on the other side Jordan, in the times of Moses, and which he gave to the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and which are particularly described, Jos 12:1-6; and then of the kings and the countries on this side Jordan whom Joshua conquered, Jos 12:7,8; and the names of the thirty one kingdoms are recited, that so it might be exactly known and observed what were afterwards divided among the tribes and possessed by them, Jos 12:9-24.

Cross References 2

  • 1. 12.1-5Numbers 21.21-35;Deuteronomy 2.26--3.11.
  • 2. 12.6Numbers 32.33;Deuteronomy 3.12.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. [Probable text (see 13.16; Dt 2.36)] the city in; [Hebrew does not have these words.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.