Utterly destroying them (see note on Joshua 6:17; so below, Joshua 6:12). There was not any left to breathe (see note on Joshua 10:40). And he burnt Hazor with fire. Comparing this verse with Joshua 11:13 and Joshua 11:21, there can be little doubt that Joshua had heard that the Anakim had succeeded in re-occupying the cities he had captured in the south.
He resolved to prevent this in the case of Hazor, which had been the capital of the neighbourhood, though he did not think the same step necessary in the case of the inferior cities. Hazor was afterwards rebuilt and reoccupied by the Canaanites ( 4:2), though not in the time of Joshua.
For the present, this destruction of the stronghold of Phoenician power in the north was a decisive measure, and would have been so permanently had the Israelites followed up the policy of Joshua.