Finally the Israelites advance on Debir, also in the highlands, 20 kilometers southwest of Hebron. They take the city and all the nearby towns. The language is the same: he “utterly destroyed” (Revised Standard Version) everyone, and Joshua did to Debir and its king what he had done to Hebron and Libnah.The Hebrew is rather clumsy at the end of verse 39: “as he did to Hebron so he did to Debir and its king and as he did to Libnah and its king.” The final “and as he did to Libnah and its king” is omitted by one Hebrew manuscript and by the Septuagint.

Turned back to Debir must not be translated so as to imply that Joshua and his army had previously been to Debir. The verb turned back to in the present context is best taken to mean “turned and went to.” As a glance at the location of the cities on a map will indicate, Debir is actually farther south than Joshua and his army had previously gone.

He captured it may be translated, “They captured it,” with Joshua and his army as the antecedent. Moreover, it is perhaps unnecessary to mention with its king at this place, since the king is also brought into focus in the second sentence of this verse. One may then translate the verse:

• They captured the city of Debir and all the small towns around it. Then they put to death everyone they captured, just as they had put to death everyone in the city of Hebron. They did the same thing to the city of Debir and its king that they had done to Libnah and its king.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .