Joshua 11:6

And the Lord said We may believe that Joshua was already some way on the march when these encouraging words were addressed to him. The distance from his encampment to the waters of Merom was too great for him to reach the latter place between one day and the next.

thou shalt hough their horses So especially formidable to the Israelites, who had none. The word "hough" also occurs in 2 Samuel 8:4, where we read that David "houghedall the chariot horses." It comes from the A. S. hoh, and means to cut the ham-strings or back sinews of cattle, so as to disable them and render them utterly unfit for use, since the sinew, once severed, can never be healed again, and as a rule the arteries are cut at the same time, so that the horses bleed to death. In the late version of Wyclif the verse is rendered, "Thou shalt hoxethe horsis of hem," while in the earlier version it runs, "The hors of hem thow shalt kut of the synewis at the knees" "Hox" is the form found in Shakespeare,

"If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward;

Which hoxeshonesty behind, restraining

From course requir'd". Winter's Tale, 1. 2. 243.

The Scotch hochis used in the same way.

and burn their chariots of which it is said (Joshua 17:18) that they were iron chariots, i.e. had wheels with iron tires. Scythe-chariots were first introduced by Cyrus: Xen. Cyrop. VI. 1. 30.