The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Judges 01
1 After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh,† saying,
“Who should go up for us first against the
Canaanites, to fight against them?”
2 Yahweh said, “Judah shall go up. Behold,‡ I have delivered the land into his
hand.”
3 Judah said to Simeon his brother,
“Come up with me into my lot, that we may
fight against the Canaanites; and Ilikewise
will go with you into your lot.” So Simeon
went with him.
4 Judah went up, and Yahweh delivered
the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their
hand. They struck ten thousand men in
Bezek.
5 They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and
they fought against him. They struck the
Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6 But Adoni-Bezek fled. They pursued
him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs
and his big toes.
7 Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off,
scavenged under my table. As I have done,
so God§ has done to me.” They brought
him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 The children of Judah fought against
Jerusalem, took it, struck it with the edge
of the sword, and set the city on fire.
9 After that, the children of Judah went
down to fight against the Canaanites who
lived in the hill country, and in the South,
and in the lowland.
10 Judah went against the Canaanites
who livedinHebron. (Thename ofHebron
before that was Kiriath Arba.) They struck
Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
11 From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir before
that was Kiriath Sepher.)
12 Caleb said, “I will give Achsah my
daughter as wife to the man who strikes
Kiriath Sepher, and takes it.”
13 Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s
younger brother, took it, so he gave him
Achsah his daughter as his wife.
14 When she came, she got him to ask her
father for a field. She got off her donkey;
and Caleb said to her, “What would you
like?”
15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing;
because you have set me in the land of the
South, give me also springs of water.” Then
Caleb gave her the upper springs and the
lower springs.
16 The children of the Kenite, Moses’
brother-in-law, went up out of the city of
palm trees with the children of Judah into
the wilderness of Judah, which is in the
south of Arad; and they went and lived
with the people.
17 Judah went with Simeon his brother,
and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The
name of the city was called Hormah.
18 Also Judah took Gaza with its border,
and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron
with its border.
19 Yahweh was with Judah, and drove
out the inhabitants of the hill country; for
he could not drive out the inhabitants of
the valley, because they had chariots of
iron.
20 They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses
had said, and he drove the three sons of
Anak out of there.
21 The children of Benjamin didn’t drive
outthe Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem,
butthe Jebusites dwell with the children of
Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
22 The house of Joseph also went up
against Bethel, and Yahweh was with
them.
23 The house of Joseph sent to spy out
Bethel. (The name of the city before that
was Luz.)
24 The watchers saw a man come out of
the city, and they said to him, “Please show
us the entrance into the city, and we will
deal kindly with you.”
25 He showed them the entrance into the
city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all
his family go.
26 The man went into the land of the
Hittites, built a city, and called its name
Luz, which is its name to this day.
27 Manasseh didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor
Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants
of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of
Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants
of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
28 When Israel had grown strong, they
put the Canaanites to forced labor, and
didn’t utterly drive them out.
29 Ephraim didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, but the Canaanites
lived in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of
Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among
them, and became subject to forced labor.
31 Asher didn’t drive out the inhabitants
of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor
of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor
of Aphik, nor of Rehob;
32 but the Asherites lived among the
Canaanites, the inhabitants ofthe land, for
they didn’t drive them out.
33 Naphtali didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of
Beth Anath; but he lived among
the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the
land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth
Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labor.
34 The Amorites forced the children of
Dan into the hill country, for they would
not allow them to come down to the valley;
35 but the Amorites would dwell in
Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. Yet the hand of the house of Joseph
prevailed, so that they became subject to
forced labor.
36 The border of the Amorites was from
the ascent of Akrabbim,from the rock, and upward.