Judges 1

1 And it came to pass after the death of Joshua that the children of Israel asked Jehovah, saying, Which of us shall go up against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?

After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Which tribe from among us should go first and attack the Canaanites?”

2 And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

“Judah is to go first,” the Lord replied. “I have handed the land over to them.”

3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, and let us fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot; and Simeon went with him.

The men of Judah said to their relatives of the tribe of Simeon, “Come with us to the land that has been allotted to us, and fight together with us against the Canaanites. Then we'll do the same for you and your allotted land.” So the tribe of Simeon joined with them.

4 And Judah went up; and Jehovah delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they smote them in Bezek, ten thousand men.

The men of Judah attacked the Canaanites and Perizzites, and the Lord handed them over in defeat. They killed ten thousand of the enemy at the town of Bezek.

5 And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him, and they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

There they confronted Adoni-bezek and fought with him, defeating the Canaanites and Perizzites.

6 And Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

Adoni-bezek ran away, but they chased after him and captured him, and then cut off his thumbs and big toes.

7 And Adoni-Bezek said, Seventy kings, with their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gleaned under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

Adoni-bezek said, “I had seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off picking up left-overs from under my table. Now God has paid me back in the same way what I did to them.” They took him to Jerusalem where he died.

8 And the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and conquered it. They killed the inhabitants with the sword and burned the town down.

9 And afterwards the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the hill-country, and in the south, and in the lowland.

After this the men of Judah went to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, in the Negev, and in the foothills of the lowlands.

10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron — the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-Arba; and they slew Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.

They attacked the Canaanites who lived Hebron (previously known as Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

11 And from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir; now the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher.

From there they went on to attack the people living in Debir (previously known as Kiriath Sepher).

12 And Caleb said, He that smites Kirjath-sepher and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.

Caleb announced, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to whoever attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”

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

Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, was the one captured it, so he gave him his daughter Acsah in marriage.

14 And it came to pass as she came, that she urged him to ask of her father the field; and she sprang down from the ass. And Caleb said to her, What wouldest thou?

When Acsah came to Othniel, she encouraged him to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?”

15 And she said to him, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a southern land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

“Please give me a blessing,” she replied. “You gave me land that's like the desert, so please give me springs of water as well.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, had gone 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 dwelt with the people.

The descendants of Moses' father-in-law, the Kenite, went with the people of Judah from the city of palms to the wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad where they settled among the people.

17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it; and they called the name of the city Hormah.

Then Judah joined Simeon and defeated the Canaanites living in Zephath. They completely destroyed the town, so they named it Hormah.

18 And Judah took Gazah and its border, and Ashkelon and its border, and Ekron and its border.

Judah also captured the towns of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, each with its surrounding territory.

19 And Jehovah was with Judah; and he took possession of the hill-country, for he did not dispossess the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

The Lord was with Judah, and they took over the hill country, but they could not drive out the people living on the plain because they had iron chariots.

20 And they gave to Caleb Hebron, as Moses had said; and he dispossessed from thence the three sons of Anak.

As Moses had stipulated, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove out from it the descendants of three sons of Anak.

21 And the children of Benjamin did not dispossess the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

However, Benjamin could not drive out the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so the Jebusites live among the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this very day.

22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel; and Jehovah was with them.

The descendants of Joseph went and attacked the town of Bethel, and the Lord was with them.

23 And the house of Joseph sent to search out Bethel; now the name of the city before was Luz.

They sent spies to investigate Bethel, which was previously known as Luz.

24 And the guards saw a man come forth out of the city, and said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, how [we] may enter into the city, and we will shew thee kindness.

The spies saw a man leaving the town and told him, “Please show us how to get into town, and we will treat you well.”

25 And he shewed them how to enter into the city. And they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.

The man showed them the way into the town, and they killed all the inhabitants except the man and his family, whom they let go.

26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

The man moved to the country of the Hittites, and built a town there and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

27 And Manasseh did not dispossess Beth-shean and its dependent villages, nor Taanach and its dependent villages, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its dependent villages, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its dependent villages, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its dependent villages; and the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

However, Manasseh didn't drive out the people living in the towns of Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo and their surrounding villages because the Canaanites insisted on living in the land.

28 And it came to pass when Israel became strong, that they made the Canaanites tributary; but they did not utterly dispossess them.

When the Israelites grew stronger, they made the Canaanites do forced labor, but they never completely drove them out.

29 And Ephraim did not dispossess the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt among them in Gezer.

Ephraim didn't drive out the Canaanites living in the town of Gezer, so the Canaanites went on living there among them.

30 Zebulun did not dispossess the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.

Zebulun didn't drive out the people living in the towns of Kitron and Nahalol, so the Canaanites went on living there among them. However, the Canaanites were made to do forced labor for the people of Zebulun.

31 Asher did not dispossess the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor Ahlab, nor Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor Rehob;

Asher didn't drive out the people living in the towns of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, and Rehob,

32 and the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not dispossess them.

so the people of Asher went on living there among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they hadn't driven them out.

33 Naphtali did not dispossess the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; and he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries to them.

Naphtali didn't drive out the people living in the towns of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath. So the people of Asher went on living there among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they hadn't driven them out. However, the people of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were made to do forced labor for the people of Naphtali.

34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill-country, for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley.

The Amorites pushed the people of Dan back into the hill country—they did not let them come down into the lowlands.

35 And the Amorites would dwell on mount Heres, in Ajalon and in Shaalbim; but the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, and they became tributaries.

The Amorites insisted on remaining in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim, but when the tribes of Joseph grew stronger, the Amorites were made to do forced labor.

36 And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upwards.

The border with the Amorites ran from Scorpion Pass through Sela and on up from there.