Judges 1

1 And it came to pass, after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, —Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites, first, to make war upon them?

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 And Yahweh said—Judah, shall go, —lo! I have delivered the land into his power.

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

3 Then said Judah, unto Simeon his brother—Come up with me into the territory allotted me, and let us make war on the Canaanites, then will, I also, go with thee, into thy territory. So Simeon went with him.

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

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 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek, and fought with him, —and smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

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

6 But Adoni-bezek fled, and they pursued him, —and took him, and cut off his thumbs, and his great 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 Then said Adoni-bezek—Seventy kings, with their thumbs and great toes cut off, have been picking up crumbs under my table, as I have done, so, hath God requited me. And they brought him into 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 And the sons of Judah made war upon Jerusalem, and captured it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, —and, the city, they set on fire.

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 And, afterwards, the sons of Judah went down to make war upon the Canaanites, —dwelling in the hill country, and in the south, and in the lowland.

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 And Judah went against the Canaanites who were dwelling in Hebron, now, the name of Hebron, formerly, was Kiriath-arba, —and they smote Sheshai and 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 And he went from thence, against the inhabitants of Debir, —now, the name of Debir, formerly, was 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 And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kiriath-sepher, and captureth it, I will give unto him Achsah my daughter, to wife.

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

13 Then Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it, —and he gave him Achsah his daughter, to wife.

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

14 And it came pass, when she came, that she moved him to ask of her father a field, and, when she alighted from off the ass, Caleb said unto her—What aileth thee?

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 And she said unto him—Give me a present; for, south land, hast thou given me, give me therefore pools of water. So Caleb gave her Upper-pools, and Lower-pools.

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 Now, the sons of the Kenite, father-in-law of Moses, had come up from the city of palm-trees, with the sons of Judah, into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad, —so they went and dwelt with the people.

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 Then went Judah, with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites dwelling in Zephath, —and devoted it to destruction, and the name of the city was called Hormah.

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 And Judah captured Gaza with the boundaries thereof, and Ashkelon, with the boundaries thereof, —and Ekron, with the boundaries thereof.

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

19 And it same to pass that Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, —but did not dispossess the inhabitants of the vale, because they had, chariots of iron.

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 So they gave unto Caleb Hebron, as spake Moses, —and he drave out from thence the three sons of Anak.

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 Jebusites dwelling in Jerusalem, the sons of Benjamin did not drive out, —but the Jebusites have dwelt with the sons of Benjamin, in Jerusalem, unto this day.

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 Then went up the house of Joseph—they also, —unto Bethel, —and, Yahweh, was with them.

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

23 And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel, —now, the name of the city, formerly, was, Luz.

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

24 So the watchers saw a man, coming forth from the city, —and they said unto him—Shew us, we pray thee, the way to get into the city, and we will deal with thee, in lovingkindness.

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 And he shewed them the way to get into the city, and they smote the city, with the edge of the sword, —but, the man and all his family, they let go.

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 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, —and built a city, and called the name thereof, Luz, that, is the name thereof, unto this day.

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 But Manasseh took not possession of Beth-shean and her towns, nor of Taanach and her towns, nor dispossessed the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam, and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo, and her towns, —but the Canaanites were determined to remain in this land;

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 when Israel, however, had waxed strong, they put the Canaanites under tribute, —though they, dispossessed, them not.

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

29 And, Ephraim, dispossessed not the Canaanites who were dwelling in Gezer, —so the Canaanites remained in their midst, in Gezer.

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 Zebulun, dispossessed not the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol, —but the Canaanites remained in their midst, and came under tribute.

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 Asher, dispossessed not the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, —nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob;

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 but the Asherites dwelt in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, —for they dispossessed them not.

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

33 Naphtali, dispossessed not the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but they dwelt in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, —and, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, and of Beth-anath, became theirs, under tribute.

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 And the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, —for they suffered them not to come down into the vale;

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 and, though the Amorites were determined to remain in the hill country of Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, yet was the hand of the house of Joseph heavy, so that they came under tribute.

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 And, the boundary of the Amorites, was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upwards.

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