1:1 Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the LORD, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
1:2 The LORD said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have handed the land over to him.”
1:3 Then Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Go up with me into ①the territory allotted me, and let’s fight the Canaanites; and ②I in turn will go with you into ③the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him.
▷ ①Lit my lot ②Lit I, even I ③Lit your lot
1:4 Judah went up, and the LORD handed over to them the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and they ①defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.
▷ ①Lit struck them
1:5 They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they ①defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
▷ ①Lit struck
1:6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him, and cut off his ①thumbs and big toes.
▷ ①Lit thumbs of his hands and his feet
1:7 And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
1:8 Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.
1:9 Afterward, the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, and in the ①Negev, and in the lowland.
▷ ①I.e., South country
1:10 So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was previously Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
1:11 Then from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was previously Kiriath-sepher).
1:12 And Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as a wife.”
1:13 Now Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife.
1:14 Then it happened that when she came to him, she incited him to ask her father for a field. Then later, she dismounted from ①her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What ②do you want?”
▷ ①Lit the ②Lit to you, an ancient idiom
1:15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing: since you have given me the land of the ①Negev, give me springs of water also.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
▷ ①I.e., South country
1:16 Now the ①descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.
▷ ①Lit sons
1:17 Then Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah.
1:18 And Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
1:19 Now the LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not ①drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had iron chariots.
▷ ①Or dispossess
1:20 Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had ①promised; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak.
▷ ①Lit spoken
1:21 But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
1:22 Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.
1:23 The house of Joseph had men spy out Bethel (the name of the city previously was Luz).
1:24 And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will treat you kindly.”
1:25 So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free.
1:26 Then the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and named it Luz, ①which is its name to this day.
▷ ①Lit it
1:27 But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in this land.
1:28 And it came about, when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they did not drive them out completely.
1:29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
1:30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of ①Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.
▷ ①Perhaps same as Nahalal
1:31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or of Rehob.
1:32 So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
1:33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.
1:34 Then the Amorites ①forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley;
▷ ①Lit pushed
1:35 yet the Amorites persisted in living on Mount Heres, in Aijalon and Shaalbim; but when the ①power of the house of Joseph ②grew strong, they became forced labor.
▷ ①Lit hand ②Lit was heavy
1:36 The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.