In order to show the immediate causal relations between verses 7 and 8, it may be advisable to make the first clause of verse 8 a continuation of the last sentence in verse 7: “at Merom Brook, 8 and the LORD … over them.”

Gave the Israelites victory over them may need to be less abstract: “caused the Israelite army to defeat their enemies” (see comment at 10.8).

The remainder of this verse may be restructured as two sentences: “Part of the Israelite army attacked and pursued the enemy as far north as the cities of Misrephoth Maim and Sidon. The rest of the Israelite army pursued the enemy as far east as the valley of Mizpah.”

Misrephoth Maim is near the Mediterranean coast, and Sidon (in Hebrew “Great Sidon”) is the important Phoenician city much farther north, on the Mediterranean Sea. To the east the Israelites chase the fleeing enemy as far as the valley of Mizpah (see verse 3); Revised Standard Version follows the spelling “Mizpeh,” which represents the Masoretic text.

The fight continued … left alive may be translated in the active: “Joshua’s men fought the enemy until they had killed them all” or “… until they had killed everyone of them.”

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 .