¹⁶ Joshua and his army took control of the northern and southern hill country, the foothills to the west, the Southern Desert, the whole region of Goshen,^[a] and the Jordan River valley. ^17-18 They took control of the land from Mount Halak near the country of Edom in the south to Baal-Gad in Lebanon Valley at the foot of Mount Hermon in the north. Joshua and his army were at war with the kings in this region for a long time, but finally they captured and put to death the last king.

^19-20 (A) The Lord had told Moses that he wanted the towns in this region destroyed and their people killed without mercy. That's why the Lord made the people in the towns stubborn and determined to fight Israel. The only town that signed a peace treaty with Israel was the Hivite town of Gibeon. The Israelite army captured the rest of the towns in battle.

²¹ During this same time, Joshua and his army killed the Anakim^[b] from the northern and southern hill country. They also destroyed the towns where the Anakim had lived, including Hebron, Debir, and Anab. ²² There were not any Anakim left in the regions where the Israelites lived, although there were still some in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.^[c]

²³ That's how Joshua captured the land, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and Joshua divided it up among the tribes.

Finally, there was peace in the land.