After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.
Parallel translations
- WEB Afterward Joshua struck them, put them to death, and hanged them on five trees. They were hanging on the trees until the evening.
- KJV And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening.
- NKJV And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and hanged them on five trees; and they were hanging on the trees until evening.
- NASB So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they were hung on the trees until evening.
- NLT Then Joshua killed each of the five kings and impaled them on five sharpened poles, where they hung until evening.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joshua executes the five kings and hangs their bodies on trees until evening. Their public death seals the judgment.
Overview
After striking the kings down, Joshua exposes their bodies on trees as a sign of God's curse on His enemies (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). The display until evening shows both the seriousness of the judgment and obedience to the law's limits. The image of cursed ones hung on a tree finds its deepest echo in Christ, who became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Josh 8:29He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
- Judg 8:21Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels.
- Deut 21:22–23If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
- 1 Sam 15:33But Samuel declared: “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.
- 2 Sam 21:9And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
- 2 Sam 21:6let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.
- Esth 2:23After the report had been investigated and verified, both officials were hanged on the gallows. And all this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.
- Esth 7:9–10Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.
- Gal 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
- Num 25:4Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
- Matt 27:25All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 10:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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