and he took it, and the king of it, and all the cities of it; and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls who were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king of it; as he had done also to Libnah, and to the king of it.
"But beyond inflicting immediate loss, this campaign achieved little else by itself-it was a sweep, not an occupation: ’Joshua returned and all Israel with him, to the camp, to Gilgal’ (Joshua 10:15; Joshua 10:43). Occupation of the land, to live in it, keep livestock and cultivate crops in it, etc., was a far slower process, visible in part later in Joshua and in Judges." [Note: Kitchen, p. 89.] 