Judges 1

1 After Joshua died, the Israeli people asked Yahweh, “Which [of our tribes] should attack the Canaan people-group first?”

Now after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel made request to the Lord, saying, Who is to go up first to make war for us against the Canaanites?

2 Yahweh replied, “I will enable the tribe of Judah to defeat [IDM] the Canaan people-group.”

And the Lord said, Judah is to go up: see, I have given the land into his hands.

3 The men of Judah went to their fellow Israelis, [the men] from the tribe of Simeon, and said to them, “Come and help us to fight the Canaan people-group [in order that we can take from them] the land [that Yahweh] allotted to us. If you do that, we will go with you [and help you] conquer the people in the land [that Yahweh promised to give to] you.” So the men from the tribe of Simeon went with the men of the tribe of Judah.

Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my heritage, so that we may make war against the Canaanites; and I will then go with you into your heritage. So Simeon went with him.

4 When the men of those two tribes attacked, Yahweh enabled them to defeat 10,000 men of the Canaan people-group and the Periz people-group [DOU] at Bezek [city].

And Judah went up; and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands; and they overcame ten thousand of them in Bezek.

5 During the battle they found Adoni-Bezek, the leader of the city,

And they came across Adoni-zedek, and made war on him; and they overcame the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

6 but he [tried to] run away. The Israelis pursued him and caught him. Then they cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

But Adoni-zedek went in flight; and they went after him and overtook him, and had his thumbs and his great toes cut off.

7 Adoni-Bezek said, “[My army captured] 70 kings. We cut off their thumbs and big toes. After that, [we forced] those kings to eat scraps that fell from our table. Now God has (paid me back for/done to me like) [what we did to them].” Then the men of Judah took Adoni-Bezek to Jerusalem, and he died there.

And Adoni-zedek said, Seventy kings, whose thumbs and great toes had been cut off, got broken meat under my table: as I have done, so has God done to me in full. And they took him to Jerusalem, and he came to his end there.

8 The army of Judah fought against the men of Jerusalem, and they captured the city. With their swords they killed [the people who lived there] and they burned [the houses in] the city.

Then the children of Judah made an attack on Jerusalem, and took it, burning down the town after they had put its people to the sword without mercy.

9 Later, the men of Judah went down to fight the Canaan people-group who lived in the hilly area, in the desert to the south, and in the foothills [to the west].

After that the children of Judah went down to make war on the Canaanites living in the hill-country and in the south and in the lowlands.

10 The men of Judah also went to fight against the Canaan people-group who lived in Hebron [city], which at that time was named Kiriath-Arba. They defeated [the armies of kings] Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

And Caleb went against the Canaanites of Hebron: (now in earlier times Hebron was named Kiriath-arba: ) and he put Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai to the sword.

11 Then they left that area and went to fight against the people living in Debir [city], which was previously named Kiriath-Sepher.

And from there he went up against the people of Debir. (Now the name of Debir in earlier times was Kiriath-sepher.)

12 [Before they attacked the city], Caleb said to them, “If one of you attacks and captures Kiriath-Sepher, I will allow him to marry my daughter.”

And Caleb said, I will give Achsah, my daughter, as wife to the man who overcomes Kiriath-sepher and takes it.

13 Othniel, who was the son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz, captured the city. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him, to become his wife.

And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for his wife.

14 When Acsah married Othniel, she told him to ask her father to give him a field. [But she decided to ask him herself. She rode to Caleb’s house on her donkey], and when she got off the donkey, Caleb [could see that something was troubling her. So he] asked her, “What do you want?”

Now when she came to him, he put into her mind the idea of requesting a field from her father: and she got down from her ass; and Caleb said to her, What is it?

15 She replied, “I want you to do a favor for me. You have given me some land in the southern desert, [but it is very dry there]. So please also give me some [land that has] springs of water.” So Caleb gave her some land on higher ground that had a spring, and some land on lower ground that also had a spring.

And she said to him, Give me a blessing; because you have put me in a dry south-land, now give me springs of water. So Caleb gave her the higher spring and the lower spring.

16 The people of the Ken people-group who were descendants of Moses’ father-in-law left Jericho, which was called ‘The City of Palm Trees’. They went with some of the men of Judah to live with them in the southern desert area, near Arad [city].

Now Hobab the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, had come up out of the town of palm-trees, with the children of Judah, into the waste land of Arad; and he went and was living among the Amalekites;

17 The men of Judah and their fellow Israelis from the tribe of Simeon defeated the people of the Canaan people-group who lived in Zephath [city]. They completely destroyed the city and gave it a new name, Hormah, [which means ‘complete destruction’].

And Judah went with Simeon, his brother, and overcame the Canaanites living in Zephath, and put it under the curse; and he gave the town the name of Hormah.

18 The men of Judah also captured Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron [cities] and all the land that is near those cities.

Then Judah took Gaza and its limit, and Ashkelon and its limit, and Ekron and its limit.

19 Yahweh helped the men of Judah to capture the hilly area, but they could not force the people who were living in the plains to leave, because [those people had better weapons—] had iron chariots.

And the Lord was with Judah; and he took the hill-country for his heritage; but he was unable to make the people of the valley go out, for they had war-carriages of iron.

20 Hebron [city] was given to Caleb because Moses had promised him that he could have that city. And Caleb forced the three clans descended from Anak to leave that area.

And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said; and he took the land of the three sons of Anak, driving them out from there.

21 But the people of the tribe of Benjamin could not force the people of the Jebus people-group to leave Jerusalem. So, since that time the people of the Jebus people-group have lived in Jerusalem with the people of the tribe of Benjamin.

And the children of Judah did not make the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem go out; the Jebusites are still living with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem.

22 The men of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh went to fight against [the men of] Bethel [city], and Yahweh helped them.

And the family of Joseph went up against Beth-el, and the Lord was with them.

23 They sent some spies to [find out everything that they could find out about] Bethel, which was previously called Luz.

So they sent men to make a search round Beth-el. (Now the name of the town in earlier times was Luz.)

24 The spies saw a man who was coming out of the city. They said to him, “If you show us a way to get into the city, we will be kind to you [and we will not kill you].”

And the watchers saw a man coming out of the town, and said to him, If you will make clear to us the way into the town, we will be kind to you.

25 So the man showed them a way to enter the city. The men of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh entered the city and killed all the people with their swords, but they did not kill the man [who showed them how to get into the city], and they did not kill his family.

So he made clear to them the way into the town, and they put it to the sword; but they let the man and all his family get away safe.

26 That man went to the area where the descendants of Heth lived, and built a city. He named the city Luz, and that is still the name of that city.

And he went into the land of the Hittites, building a town there and naming it Luz: which is its name to this day.

27 There were people of the Canaan people-group who lived in Beth-Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo [cities] and in the surrounding villages. [The men of] the tribe of Manasseh did not force those people to leave those towns, because the people of the Canaan people-group were determined to stay there.

And Manasseh did not take away the land of the people of Beth-shean and its daughter-towns, or of Taanach and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Dor and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Ibleam and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Megiddo and its daughter-towns, driving them out; but the Canaanites would go on living in that land.

28 Later, the Israelis became (stronger/more numerous), and they forced the people of the Canaan people-group to work for them [as their slaves], but they did not force all the people of the Canaan people-group to leave their land.

And whenever Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced work, without driving them out completely.

29 [The men of] the tribe of Ephraim did not force the people of the Canaan people-group to leave Gezer [city]. So the people of the Canaan people-group continued to live with the people of the tribe of Ephraim.

And Ephraim did not make the Canaanites who were living in Gezer go out; but the Canaanites went on living in Gezer among them.

30 [The men of] the tribe of Zebulun did nor compel the people of the Canaan people-group who were living in Kitron and Nahalol [cities] to leave. They stayed there and lived among the people of the tribe of Zebulun, but the people of Zebulun forced them to work for them as their slaves.

Zebulun did not make the people of Kitron or the people of Nahalol go out; but the Canaanites went on living among them and were put to forced work.

31 [The men of] the tribe of Asher did not force the people of the Canaan people-group who lived in Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek and Rehob [cities] to leave.

And Asher did not take the land of the people of Acco, or Zidon, or Ahlab, or Achzib, or Helbah, or Aphik, or Rehob, driving them out;

32 So the people of the tribe of Asher lived among them.

But the Asherites went on living among the Canaanites, the people of the land, without driving them out.

33 [The men of] the tribe of Naphtali did not compel the people who lived in Beth-Shemesh and Beth-Anath [cities] to leave, so the people in those two cities continued to live there, but the people of the Canaan people-group were forced to work as the slaves of the people of the tribe of Naphtali.

Naphtali did not take the land of the people of Beth-shemesh or of Beth-anath, driving them out; but he was living among the Canaanites in the land; however, the people of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were put to forced work.

34 The people of the Amor people-group forced the people of the tribe of Dan to live in the hills. They did not allow them to come down [and live] on the plain.

And the children of Dan were forced into the hill-country by the Amorites, who would not let them come down into the valley;

35 The people of the Amor people-group were determined to stay in Heres Mountain and in Aijalon and Shaalbim [cities]. But when the Israelis became (stronger/more numerous), they forced the people of the Amor people-group to work as their slaves.

For the Amorites would go on living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; but the children of Joseph became stronger than they, and put them to forced work.

36 The land where the Amor people-group lived extended from Scorpion Pass [toward the west] beyond Sela [town], up into the hilly area.

And the limit of the Edomites went from the slope of Akrabbim from Sela and up.