The Defeat of the Amorites

101 Now when it came to the ears of Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, that Joshua had taken Ai, and had given it up to the curse (for as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king); and that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living among them; 2 He was in great fear, because Gibeon was a great town, like one of the king's towns, greater than Ai, and all the men in it were men of war. 3 So Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, king of Hebron, and to Piram, king of Jarmuth, and to Japhia, king of Lachish, and to Debir, king of Eglon, saying, 4 Come up to me and give me help, and let us make an attack on Gibeon: for they have made peace with Joshua and the children of Israel. 5 So the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, were banded together, and went up with all their armies and took up their position before Gibeon and made war against it. 6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua to the tent-circle at Gilgal, saying, Be not slow to send help to your servants; come up quickly to our support and keep us safe: for all the kings of the Amorites from the hill-country have come together against us.

7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal with all his army and all his men of war. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear of them, for I have given them into your hands; they will all give way before you. 9 So Joshua, having come up from Gilgal all night, made a sudden attack on them. 10 And the Lord made them full of fear before Israel, and they put great numbers of them to death at Gibeon, and went after them by the way going up to Beth-horon, driving them back to Azekah and Makkedah 11 And in their flight before Israel, on the way down from Beth-horon, the Lord sent down great stones from heaven on them all the way to Azekah, causing their death: those whose death was caused by the stones were more than those whom the children of Israel put to death with the sword. 12 It was on the day when the Lord gave up the Amorites into the hands of the children of Israel that Joshua said to the Lord, before the eyes of Israel, Sun, be at rest over Gibeon; and you, O moon, in the valley of Aijalon. 13 And the sun was at rest and the moon kept its place till the nation had given punishment to their attackers. (Is it not recorded in the book of Jashar?) So the sun kept its place in the middle of the heavens, and was waiting, and did not go down, for the space of a day. 14 And there was no day like that, before it or after it, when the Lord gave ear to the voice of a man; for the Lord was fighting for Israel.

15 And Joshua, with all Israel, went back to the tent-circle at Gilgal. 16 But these five kings went in flight secretly to a hole in the rock at Makkedah. 17 And word was given to Joshua that the five kings had been taken in a hole in the rock at Makkedah. 18 And Joshua said, Let great stones be rolled against the mouth of the hole, and let men keep watch by it: 19 But do you, without waiting, go after their army, attacking them from the back; do not let them get into their towns, for the Lord your God has given them into your hands. 20 Now when Joshua and the children of Israel had come to the end of their war of complete destruction, and had put to death all but a small band who had got safely into the walled towns, 21 All the people went back to Joshua to the tent-circle at Makkedah in peace: and no one said a word against the children of Israel. 22 Then Joshua said, Take away the stones from the mouth of the hole in the rock, and make those five kings come out to me. 23 And they did so, and made those five kings come out of the hole to him, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. 24 And when they had made those kings come out to Joshua, Joshua sent for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, Come near and put your feet on the necks of these kings. So they came near and put their feet on their necks. 25 And Joshua said to them, Have no fear and do not be troubled; be strong and take heart: for so will the Lord do to all against whom you make war. 26 Then Joshua had them put to death, hanging them on five trees, where they were till evening. 27 And when the sun went down, they were taken down from the trees, by Joshua's orders, and put into the hole where they had gone to be safe; and great stones were placed at the mouth of the hole, where they are to this day.

28 That day Joshua took Makkedah, and put it and its king to the sword; every soul in it he gave up to the curse without mercy: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho. 29 Then Joshua and all Israel with him went on from Makkedah and came to Libnah, and made an attack on it; 30 And again the Lord gave it and its king into the hands of Israel; and he put it and every person in it to the sword, till their destruction was complete; and he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. 31 Then Joshua and all Israel with him went on from Libnah to Lachish, and took up their position against it and made an attack on it, 32 And the Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel, and on the second day he took it, putting it and every person in it to the sword without mercy, as he had done to Libnah. 33 Then Horam, king of Gezer, came up to the help of Lachish; and Joshua overcame him and his people, putting all of them to death. 34 And Joshua and all Israel with him went on from Lachish to Eglon: and they took up their position against it and made an attack on it; 35 And that day they took it, putting it and every person in it to the sword, as he had done to Lachish. 36 And Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and made an attack on it; 37 And took it, overcoming it and putting it and its king and its towns and every person in it to the sword: as he had done to Eglon, he put them all to death, and gave it up to the curse with every person in it. 38 And Joshua and all Israel with him went on to make an attack on Debir; 39 And he took it, with its king and all its towns: and he put them to the sword, giving every person in it to the curse; all were put to death: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king. 40 So Joshua overcame all the land, the hill-country and the South and the lowland and the mountain slopes, and all their kings; all were put to death: and every living thing he gave up to the curse, as the Lord, the God of Israel, had given him orders. 41 Joshua overcame them from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen as far as Gibeon. 42 And all these kings and their land Joshua took at the same time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, was fighting for Israel. 43 Then Joshua and all Israel with him went back to their tents at Gilgal.

The Defeat of Jabin's Alliance

111 Now Jabin, king of Hazor, hearing of these things, sent to Jobab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, 2 And to the kings on the north in the hill-country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in the highlands of Dor on the west, 3 And to the Canaanites on the east and on the west, and to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill-country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. 4 And they went out, they and all their armies with them, a great people, in number like the sand on the seaside, with horses and war-carriages in great number. 5 And all these kings came together, and put their forces in position at the waters of Merom, to make war on Israel. 6 And the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear of them: for tomorrow at this time I will give them all up dead before Israel; you are to have the leg-muscles of their horses cut and their war-carriages burned with fire. 7 So Joshua and all the men of war with him came against them suddenly at the waters of Merom, and made an attack on them. 8 And the Lord gave them up into the hands of Israel, and they overcame them driving them back to great Zidon and to Misrephoth-maim and into the valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they put them all to death, no man got away safely. 9 And Joshua did to them as the Lord had said to him; he had the leg-muscles of their horses cut and their war-carriages burned with fire.

10 At that time, Joshua went on to take Hazor and put its king to the sword: for in earlier times Hazor was the chief of all those kingdoms. 11 And they put every person in it to death without mercy, giving every living thing up to the curse, and burning Hazor. 12 And all the towns of these kings, and all the kings, Joshua took, and put them to the sword: he gave them up to the curse, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had said. 13 As for the towns made on hills of earth, not one was burned by Israel but Hazor, which was burned by Joshua. 14 And all the goods taken from these towns, and their cattle, the children of Israel kept for themselves; but every man they put to death without mercy, till their destruction was complete, and there was no one living.

15 As the Lord had given orders to Moses his servant, so Moses gave orders to Joshua, and so Joshua did; every order which the Lord had given to Moses was done.

Joshua Takes the Whole Land

16 So Joshua took all that land, the hill-country and all the South, and all the land of Goshen, and the lowland and the Arabah, the hill-country of Israel and its lowland; 17 From Mount Halak, which goes up to Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon: and all their kings he overcame and put to death. 18 For a long time Joshua made war on all those kings. 19 Not one town made peace with the children of Israel, but only the Hivites of Gibeon: they took them all in war. 20 For the Lord made them strong in heart to go to war against Israel, so that he might give them up to the curse without mercy, and that destruction might come on them, as the Lord had given orders to Moses. 21 And Joshua came at that time and put an end to the Anakim in the hill-country, in Hebron, in Debir, in Anab, and in all the hill-country of Judah and Israel: Joshua gave them and their towns to the curse. 22 Not one of the Anakim was to be seen in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, some were still living. 23 So Joshua took all the land, as the Lord had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it to the children of Israel as their heritage, making division of it among them by their tribes. And the land had rest from war.

The Kings Defeated by Moses

121 Now these are the kings of the land whom the children of Israel overcame, taking as their heritage their land on the east side of Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east: 2 Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was living in Heshbon, ruling from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the town in the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, as far as the river Jabbok, the limits of the children of Ammon; 3 And the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, to the east, and to the sea of the Arabah, that is the Salt Sea, to the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah: 4 And the land of Og, king of Bashan, of the rest of the Rephaim, who was living at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5 Ruling in the mountain of Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, as far as the limits of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, to the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon. 6 Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel overcame them; and Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave their land for a heritage to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

The Kings Defeated by Joshua

7 And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel overcame on the west side of Jordan, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which goes up to Seir; and Joshua gave the land to the tribes of Israel for a heritage, in keeping with their divisions; 8 In the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and on the mountain slopes, and in the waste land, and in the South; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is near Beth-el, one; 10 The king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; 11 The king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; 12 The king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; 13 The king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; 14 The king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; 15 The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; 16 The king of Makkedah, one; the king of Beth-el, one; 17 The king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; 18 The king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one; 19 The king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; 20 The king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; 21 The king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; 22 The king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; 23 The king of Dor on the hill of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one; 24 The king of Tirzah, one; all the kings together were thirty-one.

Mary Visits Elisabeth

39 Then Mary got up and went quickly into the high lands, to a town of Judah; 40 And went into the house of Zacharias and took Elisabeth in her arms. 41 And when the voice of Mary came to the ears of Elisabeth, the baby made a sudden move inside her; then Elisabeth was full of the Holy Spirit, 42 And she said with a loud voice: May blessing be on you among women, and a blessing on the child of your body. 43 How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For, truly, when the sound of your voice came to my ears, the baby in my body made a sudden move for joy. 45 Happy will she be who had faith that the things which the Lord has said to her will be done. 46 And Mary said: My soul gives glory to God; 47 My spirit is glad in God my Saviour. 48 For he has had pity on his servant, though she is poor and lowly placed: and from this hour will all generations give witness to the blessing which has come to me. 49 For he who is strong has done great things for me; and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for all generations in whom is the fear of him. 51 With his arm he has done acts of power; he has put to flight those who have pride in their hearts. 52 He has put down kings from their seats, lifting up on high the men of low degree. 53 Those who had no food he made full of good things; the men of wealth he sent away with nothing in their hands; 54 His help he has given to Israel, his servant, so that he might keep in mind his mercy to Abraham and his seed for ever, 55 As he gave his word to our fathers. 56 And Mary was with her for about three months and then went back to her house.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 1:39-56

Commentary on Luke 1:39-56

(Read Luke 1:39-56)

It is very good for those who have the work of grace begun in their souls, to communicate one to another. On Mary's arrival, Elisabeth was conscious of the approach of her who was to be the mother of the great Redeemer. At the same time she was filled with the Holy Ghost, and under his influence declared that Mary and her expected child were most blessed and happy, as peculiarly honoured of and dear to the Most High God. Mary, animated by Elisabeth's address, and being also under the influence of the Holy Ghost, broke out into joy, admiration, and gratitude. She knew herself to be a sinner who needed a Saviour, and that she could no otherwise rejoice in God than as interested in his salvation through the promised Messiah. Those who see their need of Christ, and are desirous of righteousness and life in him, he fills with good things, with the best things; and they are abundantly satisfied with the blessings he gives. He will satisfy the desires of the poor in spirit who long for spiritual blessings, while the self-sufficient shall be sent empty away.