Wikipedia's first sentence called it “battle between the israelites and a coalition of canaanite city-states”. Today it says “battle between the israelites and a coalition of canaanite city-states near the waters of merom”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
The Waters of Merom According to Joshua 11 in the Hebrew Bible , the Battle of the Waters of Merom was a battle between the Israelites and a coalition of Canaanite city-states near the Waters of Merom . Archaeologist Nadav Na'aman has suggested that this battle definitely took place, and that its narrative "preserved some remote echoes of wars conducted in these places in early Iron Age I." In the biblical narrative, around 40 years before the battle, the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt , setting out for the Exodus under the leadership of Moses . They entered Canaan near Jericho and captured several cities. An alliance of northern Canaanite city-states sent a united force to halt the Israelite invasion. The Israelites engaged in a preemptive strike , catching the Canaanite forces unaware and routing them with a fearsome head-on assault. The battle is described in Joshua chapter 11. Canaan in the 2nd millennium B.C.E . Battles of the Bible, page 30.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1290052619.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Bible Portal According to the Bible, the Battle of the Waters of Merom was a battle between the Israelites and a coalition of Canaanite city-states . It has been suggested that this battle may never have taken place, and that its narrative might have "preserved some remote echoes of wars conducted in these places in early Iron Age I." Around 40 years before the battle, the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt , the Exodus , led by Moses . They entered Canaan where an alliance of city-states in northern Canaan sent a force to halt the Israelite invasion. The Israelites counterattacked, catching their forces unaware and routing them with a fearsome head-on assault. The battle is described in Joshua chapter 11. Canaan in the 2nd millennium B.C.E . Battles of the Bible, page 30.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 643090647.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Bible Portal According to the Bible, the Battle of the Waters of Merom was a battle between the Israelites and a coalition of Canaanite city-states near the Waters of Merom . Archaeologist Nadav Na'aman has suggested that this battle may never have taken place, and that its narrative might have "preserved some remote echoes of wars conducted in these places in early Iron Age I." In the biblical narrative, around 40 years before the battle, the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt , setting out for the Exodus under the leadership of Moses .They entered Canaan near Jericho and captured several cities.An alliance of northern Canaanite city-states sent a united force to halt the Israelite invasion.The Israelites counterattacked, catching the Canaanite forces unaware and routing them with a fearsome head-on assault. The battle is described in Joshua chapter 11. Canaan in the 2nd millennium B.C.E . Battles of the Bible, page 30.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 922468694.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Battle of the Waters of Merom According to Joshua 11 in the Hebrew Bible , the Battle of the Waters of Merom was a battle between the Israelites and a coalition of Canaanite city-states near the Waters of Merom . Archaeologist Nadav Na'aman has suggested that this battle definitely took place, and that its narrative "preserved some remote echoes of wars conducted in these places in early Iron Age I." In the biblical narrative, around 40 years before the battle, the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt , setting out for the Exodus under the leadership of Moses . They entered Canaan near Jericho and captured several cities. An alliance of northern Canaanite city-states sent a united force to halt the Israelite invasion. The Israelites counterattacked, catching the Canaanite forces unaware and routing them with a fearsome head-on assault. The battle is described in Joshua chapter 11. Canaan in the 2nd millennium B.C.E . Battles of the Bible, page 30.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1171099665.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “battle between the israelites and a coalition of canaanite city-states”. Today it says “battle between the israelites and a coalition of canaanite city-states near the waters of merom”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
battle between the israelites and a coalition of canaanite city-states
Now
battle between the israelites and a coalition of canaanite city-states near the waters of merom
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
