*The five kings from the beginning of the chapter ran away and hid in a cave at Mekkedah. Joshua ordered the mouth of the cave to be blocked and guarded while the kings' armies were being chased down. The Israelites destroyed almost every member of the Kings' armies, except for a few. Seemingly, no Israelites were harmed, and the whole army returned to the camp by the cave where the Kings were being held. Joshua ordered the Kings to be brought out of the cave. The army commanders were told to put their feet on the Kings' necks, presumably to hold them down while Joshua personally killed them. Then the bodies were hung on trees till evening, when they were taken down and thrown back into the cave. The cave was then blocked up with rocks. As a bonus, they also conquered the nearby city of Mekkedah, totally destroyed its inhabitants, and did the same thing to its King that they did to the previously mentioned Kings.
*Next, they conquered Libnah and left no survivors. Then came the cities of Lachish and Eglon, plus the King and the army of Gezer, no survivors. Then they utterly destroyed Hebron and its King, which is odd because its King was one of the five Kings that had been held in the cave, unless it had a new King in the meantime. The same was done to Debir. So, according to this account, Joshua and the Israelite army decimated the whole region from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and from Goshen to Gibeon, in one campaign, with no Israelite losses. All because Yahweh fought on their side. If Yahweh was so powerful, why couldn't he have done the dirty work himself? Funny how murdering is forbidden in the Ten Commandments, but when God authorizes it, it becomes okay.
* The Israelites returned to the camp at Gilgal.
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