Single lesson
Joshua's Northern Campaign
Joshua 11:1–23
This lesson helps older students trace Joshua 11 in order, notice the choices made by the kings, Joshua and Yahweh, and speak carefully about a passage that includes warfare, judgement and rest.
Before you teach
Joshua 11 describes northern kings joining together to fight Israel. Yahweh speaks to Joshua before the battle at the waters of Merom. Joshua attacks, does what Yahweh says about the horses and chariots, captures Hazor and other cities, and the chapter ends by summarising a long period of war and the land having rest.
Students will be able to sequence Joshua 11:1–23, identify key actions and outcomes in the chapter, and explain from the text how Joshua’s obedience and Yahweh’s word shape the account.
Welcome: name the main groups in the chapter
5 minBegin by explaining that this chapter is a war account and will be studied carefully and respectfully. Ask students to listen for three groups: the northern kings who gather, Joshua and Israel, and Yahweh who speaks. Write those headings where everyone can see them, so students can sort actions under each as you read.
Joshua 11:1, Joshua 11:4, Joshua 11:6
Read and explain: from gathering armies to sudden attack
10 minRead Joshua 11:1–9 aloud. Point out how many kings are called together and how large their forces are, including horses and chariots. Then note Yahweh’s words to Joshua, especially 'Don’t be afraid' and the instruction about the horses and chariots. Show that Joshua responds quickly and does as he is told.
Joshua 11:4, Joshua 11:5, Joshua 11:6, Joshua 11:7, Joshua 11:9
Discuss: Hazor, obedience and summary statements
8 minRead Joshua 11:10–15. Ask students to find repeated summary ideas: Hazor is singled out, Joshua captures cities, and the chapter stresses obedience to commands given through Moses. Help students observe what the text repeats, without adding details that are not stated. This keeps the discussion anchored in the chapter itself.
Joshua 11:10, Joshua 11:12, Joshua 11:13, Joshua 11:15
Make and respond: sequence the chapter carefully
10 minStudents work in pairs to build a simple sequence line with six moments: kings gather, armies camp, Yahweh speaks, Joshua attacks, Hazor is taken, the land has rest. After arranging the cards, each pair writes one sentence explaining how the end of the chapter connects back to Yahweh’s earlier command and Joshua’s actions.
Joshua 11:5, Joshua 11:6, Joshua 11:7, Joshua 11:10, Joshua 11:15, Joshua 11:23
Closing: long war, hard hearts and rest
7 minRead Joshua 11:16–23. Explain that the chapter looks back over a long time of war, names the exception of Gibeon, mentions hardened hearts, and ends with inheritance and rest. Invite students to share one thing this chapter teaches about Yahweh and one thing it shows about Joshua, using only words they can support from the passage.
Joshua 11:18, Joshua 11:19, Joshua 11:20, Joshua 11:23
Questions to explore
Why does the chapter spend time describing the size of the northern armies and their horses and chariots?
Look at how the large gathering in verses 4 and 5 is followed by Yahweh telling Joshua not to be afraid in verse 6.
Joshua 11:4, Joshua 11:5, Joshua 11:6
What actions show Joshua responding to Yahweh’s command rather than acting on his own plan?
Compare what Yahweh says in verse 6 with what Joshua does in verses 7 and 9, then notice the summary in verse 15.
Joshua 11:6, Joshua 11:7, Joshua 11:9, Joshua 11:15
How does the end of the chapter summarise the whole campaign?
Notice the phrases about long war, the whole land, inheritance and rest, and use those words to build your answer.
Joshua 11:18, Joshua 11:23
Make, think or respond
Joshua 11 Sequence Line
What you’ll need
- plain paper or scrap paper
- pens or pencils
- six small cards or cut paper pieces
- Bible text
Try it together
- Write six moments from the chapter on separate cards: gathered kings, camp at Merom, Yahweh speaks, sudden attack, Hazor taken, land at rest.
- Place the cards in order using the chapter to check the sequence.
- Under each card, add one short phrase from the passage that supports that moment.
- Draw arrows between the cards and circle any repeated idea such as command, battle or rest.
- Share your finished sequence with the group and explain which step seems most important in the chapter.
This activity helps students trace the order of Joshua 11 and notice how the chapter moves from gathered opposition to inheritance and rest.
Adapt for your group
- For younger or less confident readers, provide the six event cards already written and ask them to place the cards in order, then match each one with a verse.
- For stronger readers, add a second task: mark which verses describe human action and which verses directly state Yahweh’s action or word.
An optional closing prayer
'God, help us read this serious chapter truthfully and carefully. Please help us notice what you say, what Joshua does, and how this passage ends with rest. Amen.'
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Joshua 11
1 When Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,
2 and to the kings who were on the north, in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west,
3 to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
4 They went out, they and all their armies with them, many people, even as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots.
5 All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
6 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid because of them; for tomorrow at this time, I will deliver them up all slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”
7 So Joshua came suddenly, with all the warriors, against them by the waters of Merom, and attacked them.
8 Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them, and chased them to great Sidon, and to Misrephoth Maim, and to the valley of Mizpah eastward. They struck them until they left them no one remaining.
9 Joshua did to them as Yahweh told him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
10 Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor used to be the head of all those kingdoms.
11 They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned Hazor with fire.
12 Joshua captured all the cities of those kings, with their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded.
13 But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only. Joshua burned that.
14 The children of Israel took all the plunder of these cities, with the livestock, as plunder for themselves; but every man they struck with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They didn’t leave any who breathed.
15 As Yahweh commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua. Joshua did so. He left nothing undone of all that Yahweh commanded Moses.
16 So Joshua captured all that land, the hill country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel, and the lowland of the same,
17 from Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir, even to Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon. He took all their kings, struck them, and put them to death.
18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
19 There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took all in battle.
20 For it was of Yahweh to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
21 Joshua came at that time, and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities.
22 There were none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, did some remain.
23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land had rest from war.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.