Judg 1 | NASB2020 | STEP | 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?”

Judges 1

Jerusalem Is Captured

1 Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel ^ainquired of the Lord, saying, “Who shall go up first for us ^bagainst the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “ ^cJudah shall go up; behold, I have handed the land over to him.” 3 Then Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Go up with me into ^{▼▼Lit my lot}the territory allotted me, and let’s fight the Canaanites; and ^{▼▼Lit I, even I}I in turn will go with you into ^{▼▼Lit your lot}the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him. 4 Judah went up, and ^gthe Lord handed over to them the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and they ^{▼▼Lit struck them}defeated ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they ^{▼▼Lit struck}defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him, and cut off his ^{▼▼Lit thumbs of his hands and his feet}thumbs and big toes. 7 And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; ^kas I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 Then the sons of Judah fought against ^lJerusalem and captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 9 Afterward, the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, and in the ^{▼▼I.e., South country}Negev, and in the lowland. 10 ⁿSo Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was previously Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

Capture of Other Cities

11 Then ^ofrom there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was previously Kiriath-sepher). 12 And Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as a wife.” 13 Now ^pOthniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife. 14 Then ^qit happened that when she came to him, she incited him to ask her father for a field. Then later, she dismounted from ^{▼▼Lit the}her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What ^{▼▼Lit to you, an ancient idiom}do you want?” 15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing: since you have given me the land of the ^{▼▼I.e., South country}Negev, give me springs of water also.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

16 Now the ^{▼▼Lit sons}descendants of ^vthe Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the ^wcity of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of ^xArad; and they went and lived with the people. 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 ^yHormah. 18 And Judah took ^zGaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 19 Now the Lord was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not ^{▼▼Or dispossess}drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had ^abiron chariots. 20 Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, ^acas Moses had ^{▼▼Lit spoken}promised; and he drove out from there ^aethe three sons of Anak. 21 ^afBut the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the ^agJebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

22 Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 23 The house of Joseph had men spy out Bethel ( ^ahthe name of the city previously was Luz). 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 ^aiwe will treat you kindly.” 25 So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, ^ajbut they let the man and all his family go free. 26 Then the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and named it Luz, ^{▼▼Lit it}which is its name to this day.

Places Not Conquered

27 ^alBut 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 ^amthe Canaanites persisted in living in this land. 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.

29 And ^anEphraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of ^{▼▼Perhaps same as Nahalal}Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.

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. 32 So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

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.

34 Then the Amorites ^{▼▼Lit pushed}forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley; 35 yet the Amorites persisted in living on Mount Heres, in Aijalon and Shaalbim; but when the ^{▼▼Lit hand}power of the house of Joseph ^{▼▼Lit was heavy}grew strong, they became forced labor. 36 The border of the Amorites ran from the ^asascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.