Lectionary Calendar
Monday, July 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Legacy Standard Bible

Joshua 11:5

So all of these kings agreed to meet, and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Armies;   Canaanites;   Confederacies;   Jabin;   Merom;   Thompson Chain Reference - Alliances;   Evil;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Protection;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Hazor;   Jabin;   Merom;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Amorites;   Joshua the son of nun;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Camp;   Encamp;   Hazor;   Jabin;   Laish;   Merom;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Barak;   Jabin;   Merom, Waters of;   Syria;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Amorites;   Conquest of Canaan;   Hazor;   Joshua, the Book of;   Merom;   Meroz;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Israel;   Jabin;   Jordan;   Joshua;   Merom, the Waters of;   Mizpah, Mizpeh;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Galilee;   Joram;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Hazor ;   Jabin ;   Merom, Waters of (See Also Jordan, Lake of Huleh);   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Merom;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Journeyings of israel from egypt to canaan;   Merom;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Ja'bin;   Me'rom;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Jabin;   Joshua, Book of;   Lake;   Palestine;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Camp;   Judges, Period of;   Merom;   Palestine;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
All these kings joined forces; they came and camped together at the Waters of Merom to attack Israel.
Hebrew Names Version
All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Yisra'el.
King James Version
And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Lexham English Bible
And all these kings joined forces, and they came and camped together by the waters of Merom to fight with Israel.
English Standard Version
And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.
New Century Version
All of these kings met together at the waters of Merom, joined their armies together into one camp, and made plans to fight against the Israelites.
New English Translation
All these kings gathered and joined forces at the Waters of Merom to fight Israel.
Amplified Bible
So all these kings met and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
New American Standard Bible
So all of these kings gathered together, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Geneva Bible (1587)
So all these Kings met together, and came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, for to fight against Israel.
Complete Jewish Bible
All these kings met together, then came and pitched camp together at the Merom Spring, to fight Isra'el.
Darby Translation
And all these kings met together, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Easy-to-Read Version
All these kings met together at the small river of Merom. They joined their armies together into one camp and made plans for the battle against Israel.
George Lamsa Translation
And when all these kings were met together, they came and encamped together at the waters of Meron, and prepared to fight against Israel.
Good News Translation
All of these kings joined forces and came together and set up camp at Merom Brook to fight against Israel.
Literal Translation
And all these kings met together. And they came and camped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
All these kinges gathered the selues, and came, and pitched together by ye water of Meram, to fighte with Israel.
American Standard Version
And all these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
Bible in Basic English
And all these kings came together, and put their forces in position at the waters of Merom, to make war on Israel.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And all these kinges met together, and came & pitched together at the waters of Merom, for to fight against Israel.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And all these kings met together, and they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
King James Version (1611)
And when all these Kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And all the kings assembled in person, and came to the same place, and encamped at the waters of Maron to war with Israel.
English Revised Version
And all these kings met together; and they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
All these kings joined forces and encamped at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And alle these kyngis camen togidere at the watris of Meron, to fiyte ayens Israel.
Young's Literal Translation
and all these kings are met together, and they come and encamp together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
Update Bible Version
And all these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
Webster's Bible Translation
And when all these kings were met together, they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
World English Bible
All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
New King James Version
And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.
New Living Translation
The kings joined forces and established their camp around the water near Merom to fight against Israel.
New Life Bible
All of these kings met and came and stayed together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
New Revised Standard
All these kings joined their forces, and came and camped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, when all these kings were gathered together, they came in, and encamped as one man, at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And all these kings assembled together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Revised Standard Version
And all these kings joined their forces, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So all of these kings having agreed to meet, came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Contextual Overview

1Now it happened, when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon and to the king of Shimron and to the king of Achshaph, 2and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country and in the Arabah—south of Chinneroth and in the Shephelah and on the heights of Dor on the west— 3to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. 4Then they came out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5So all of these kings agreed to meet, and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. 6Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give all of them over, slain, before Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire." 7So Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and they fell upon them. 8And Yahweh gave them into the hand of Israel, so that they struck them down, and they pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and the valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they struck them until there was no survivor remaining for them. 9And Joshua did to them as Yahweh had said to him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

all these: Psalms 3:1, Psalms 118:10-12, Isaiah 8:9, Revelation 16:14

met together: Heb. assembled by appointment

waters: This is what Josephus calls the lake Semechon, now called Bahr-el-Houle - Lake Julius between the head of the Jordan and the lake of Tiberias. According to Josephus it was seven miles long; and according to modern authorities, it is not above two miles broad, except at the north end, where it may be four.

Cross-References

Genesis 11:13
and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
Genesis 11:14
And Shelah lived 30 years and became the father of Eber;
Genesis 11:23
and Serug lived 200 years after he became the father of Nahor, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
Genesis 11:24
Nahor lived 29 years and became the father of Terah;
Genesis 18:21
I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know."
Exodus 3:8
So I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Exodus 19:11
and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day Yahweh will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
Exodus 19:18
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because Yahweh descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.
Exodus 19:20
And Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Psalms 11:4
Yahweh is in His holy temple; Yahweh's throne is in heaven;His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when all those kings were met together,.... At some certain place, which Jabin had appointed:

they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom: Josephus a says it was at Berotha; perhaps it should be Merotha, a city of upper Galilee, not far from Cedesa, the same he elsewhere calls b Meroth, These waters are the same with the lake Samachonitis, on which Hazor was situated; so that it was near Jabin where the rendezvous was. This lake is thought c to have its name from the Arabic word "Samacha", which signifies high, as Merom does in Hebrew. It was, as Josephus says d thirty furlongs broad, and sixty long, and its waters clayish. Jerom says e, in his time there was here a village called Merrus, twelve miles from the city Sebaste by Dothaim: here the kings and their armies met

to fight against Israel; so that they were the aggressors, which made the war still more lawful.

a Ibid. (Antiq. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 8.) b De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 20. sect. 6. c Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 1. p. 262. d De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 1. sect. 1. & l. 3. c. 9. sect. 7. e De loc. Heb. fol. 93. D.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Waters of Merom - i. e. “the upper waters,” the modern Bahr el Huleh, the lake Semechonitis, or Samochonitis of Josephus. This lake occupies the southern half of the Ard el Huleh, a depressed basin some 15 miles long and 3 or 4 miles wide lying between the hills of Galilee on the west and the lower spurs of Hermon on the east. The size of the lake varies with the season, and the northern side of it ends in a large swamp. The shape of the lake is triangular, the point being at the south, where the Jordan, which enters it on the north, again quits it. There is a considerable space of tableland along the southwestern shore, and here probably the troops of Jabin and his confederates were encamped, preparing to move southward when Joshua and his army fell suddenly upon them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 11:5. The waters of Merom — Where these waters were, interpreters are not agreed. Whether they were the waters of the Lake Semechon, or the waters of Megiddo, mentioned Judges 5:19, cannot be easily determined. The latter is the more probable opinion.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile