Joshua 12 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~1400 BC, at the close of the main military campaigns, looking back over the conquest and the earlier victories under Moses
Location
the whole territory from the Arnon gorge east of the Dead Sea north to Mount Hermon, and west of the Jordan from the Lebanon valley south to the desert edge
Audience
Israelites in Canaan, reading a formal record of the territory their ancestors gained
Situation
The chapter is a summary list. It records the two kings Moses defeated east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, and then names thirty one kings Joshua defeated west of the river.
Key Background
Victory lists naming defeated kings and captured cities were a standard royal record form across the ancient Near East, used on Egyptian temple walls and Assyrian monuments, and this chapter follows that convention with Israel's God as the victor rather than a king. The count of thirty one kings for a region smaller than Wales reflects the city state structure of Canaan, where each walled town ruled its own farmland. The list runs roughly north to south, functioning as an administrative document that closes the war narrative before the land division begins.
These are the of the that the people of Israel defeated, taking over their territory east of the Jordan — from the all the way to including the entire eastern plain:
king of the who ruled from Heshbon. He controlled territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley — including the middle of the valley itself — up through half of as far as the Jabbok River, which was the border with the Ammonites.
He also controlled the eastern plain from the of south to the of the Plain — the — eastward toward Beth-Jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.
Then there was the territory of king of — one of the last of the — who ruled from Ashtaroth and Edrei.
He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan as far as the border of the and and half of Gilead up to the territory of King Sihon of Heshbon.
Moses, the of and the people of Israel defeated them. And Moses the of gave their land as an to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the people of Israel defeated west of the Jordan, from in the Valley of Lebanon all the way south to near Seir. Joshua gave the land as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, dividing it among them —
in the country, the western foothills, the plain, the mountain slopes, the wilderness, and the southern — the land of the and
The king of — one. The king of near Bethel — one.
The king of — one. The king of — one.
The king of Jarmuth — one. The king of — one.
The king of Eglon — one. The king of — one.
The king of — one. The king of Geder — one.
The king of — one. The king of — one.
The king of Libnah — one. The king of — one.
The king of Makkedah — one. The king of — one.
The king of — one. The king of Hepher — one.
The king of — one. The king of Lasharon — one.
The king of Madon — one. The king of — one.
The king of — one. The king of Achshaph — one.
The king of — one. The king of — one.
The king of — one. The king of Jokneam in — one.
The king of on the coast — one. The king of in Gilgal — one.
The king of — one. in all.