Judges 1:1-36

1 And after the death of Joshua it came about that the sons of Israel proceeded to inquire of Yehowah, saying: “Who of us will go up first to the Ca´naan·ites to fight against them?” 2 To this Yehowah said: “Judah will go up. Look! I shall certainly give the land into his hand.” 3 Then Judah said to Sim´e·on his brother: “Come up with me into my lot and let us fight against the Ca´naan·ites, and I myself in turn will go with you into your lot.” Accordingly Sim´e·on went with him.

4 With that Judah went on up and Yehowah gave the Ca´naan·ites and the Per´iz·zites into their hands, so that they defeated them in Be´zek, ten thousand men. 5 When they found A·do´ni-be´zek in Be´zek, then they fought against him and defeated the Ca´naan·ites and the Per´iz·zites. 6 When A·do´ni-be´zek took to flight, then they went chasing after him and got hold of him and cut off the thumbs of his hands and the great toes of his feet. 7 At this A·do´ni-be´zek said: “There have been seventy kings with the thumbs of their hands and the great toes of their feet cut off picking up food under my table. Just the way I have done, so God has repaid me.” After that they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.

8 Furthermore, the sons of Judah carried on war against Jerusalem and got to capture it, and they went striking it with the edge of the sword, and the city they consigned to the fire. 9 And afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Ca´naan·ites inhabiting the mountainous region and the Neg´eb and the She·phe´lah. 10 So Judah marched against the Ca´naan·ites who were dwelling in He´bron (now the name of He´bron before that was Kir´i·ath-ar´ba), and they went striking down She´shai and A·hi´man and Tal´mai.

11 And they marched on from there against the inhabitants of De´bir. (Now the name of De´bir before that was Kir´i·ath-se´pher.) 12 Then Ca´leb said: “Whoever strikes Kir´i·ath-se´pher and does capture it, why, I will give him Ach´sah my daughter as a wife.” 13 And Oth´ni·el the son of Ke´naz, Ca´leb’s younger brother, got to capture it. For that he gave him Ach´sah his daughter as a wife. 14 And it came about that while she was going home, she kept inciting him to ask a field from her father. Then she clapped her hands while upon the ass. At this Ca´leb said to her: “What do you want?” 15 So she said to him: “Do grant me a blessing, for it is a southern piece of land you have given me, and you must give me Gul´loth-ma´im.” Accordingly Ca´leb gave her Upper Gul´loth and Lower Gul´loth.

16 And the sons of the Ken´ite, whose son-in-law Moses was, came up out of the city of palm trees with the sons of Judah to the wilderness of Judah, which is to the south of A´rad. Then they went and took up dwelling with the people. 17 But Judah marched on with Sim´e·on his brother, and they proceeded to strike the Ca´naan·ites inhabiting Ze´phath and to devote it to destruction. Hence the name of the city was called Hor´mah. 18 After that Judah captured Ga´za and its territory and Ash´ke·lon and its territory and Ek´ron and its territory. 19 And Yehowah continued with Judah, so that he took possession of the mountainous region, but he could not dispossess the inhabitants of the low plain, because they had war chariots with iron scythes. 20 When they gave Ca´leb He´bron, just as Moses had promised, then he drove out from there the three sons of A´nak.

21 And the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jeb´u·sites inhabiting Jerusalem; but the Jeb´u·sites keep on dwelling with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem down to this day.

22 Meantime the house of Joseph itself also went up against Beth´el, and Yehowah was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph began to spy on Beth´el (incidentally, the name of the city before that was Luz), 24 and the watchers got to see a man going out of the city. So they said to him: “Show us, please, the way to get into the city, and we shall certainly exercise kindness toward you.” 25 Accordingly the man showed them the way to get into the city; and they went striking the city with the edge of the sword, but the man and all his family they let go. 26 Upon that the man went to the land of the Hit´tites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name down to this day.

27 And Ma·nas´seh did not take possession of Beth-she´an and its dependent towns and Ta´a·nach and its dependent towns and the inhabitants of Dor and its dependent towns and the inhabitants of Ib´le·am and its dependent towns and the inhabitants of Me·gid´do and its dependent towns, but the Ca´naan·ites persisted in dwelling in this land. 28 And it came about that Israel grew strong and proceeded to set the Ca´naan·ites to forced labor, and they did not drive them out completely.

29 Neither did E´phra·im drive out the Ca´naan·ites who were dwelling in Ge´zer, but the Ca´naan·ites continued to dwell in among them in Ge´zer.

30 Zeb´u·lun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kit´ron and the inhabitants of Na´ha·lol, but the Ca´naan·ites continued to dwell in among them and came to be subject to forced labor.

31 Ash´er did not drive out the inhabitants of Ac´co and the inhabitants of Si´don and Ah´lab and Ach´zib and Hel´bah and A´phik and Re´hob. 32 And the Ash´er·ites continued to dwell in among the Ca´naan·ites inhabiting the land, because they did not drive them out.

33 Naph´ta·li did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-she´mesh and the inhabitants of Beth-a´nath, but they continued to dwell in among the Ca´naan·ites inhabiting the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-she´mesh and of Beth-a´nath became theirs for forced labor.

34 And the Am´or·ites kept pressing the sons of Dan into the mountainous region, for they did not allow them to come down into the low plain. 35 So the Am´or·ites persisted in dwelling in Mount He´res and in Ai´ja·lon and Sha·al´bim. But the hand of the house of Joseph got to be so heavy that they were forced into task work. 36 And the territory of the Am´or·ites was from the ascent of A·krab´bim, from Se´la upward.