Israel Continues Its Conquest

¹ After the death of Joshua, the ⌞Israelites⌟¹ inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Who will go up first for us against the Canaanites² to fight against them?”

1. Literally “sons/children of Israel”
2. Hebrew “Canaanite”

² And Yahweh said, “Judah will go up. I hereby give the land into his hand.”

³ And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Go up with me into my allotment, and let us fight against the Canaanites; then I too will go with you into your allotment.” And Simeon went with him.

⁴ And Judah went up, and Yahweh gave the Canaanites¹ and the Perizzites² into their hand, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.

1. Hebrew “Canaanite”
2. Hebrew “Perizzite”

⁵ At Bezek they came upon Adoni-bezek, and they fought against him and defeated the Canaanites¹ and the Perizzites.²

1. Hebrew “Canaanite”
2. Hebrew “Perizzite”

⁶ And Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued after him; they caught him and cut off ⌞his thumbs and big toes⌟.¹

1. Literally “the thumbs of his hands and feet”

⁷ Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with ⌞their thumbs and big toes⌟¹ cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; just as I have done, so God has repaid to me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

1. Literally “the thumbs of their hands and feet”

⁸ The descendants¹ of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and they captured it, ⌞put it to the sword⌟,² and ⌞set the city on fire⌟.³

1. Or “sons/children”
2. Literally “they struck it with the mouth of the sword”
3. Literally “the city they sent away with fire”

⁹ Afterward the descendants¹ of Judah pursued to fight against the Canaanites² who were living in the hill country, the Negev,³ and the Shephelah.⁴

1. Or “sons/children”
2. Hebrew “Canaanite”
3. An arid region south of the Judean hills
4. A geographical region associated with an area of low country on the western edge of the Judaean hills.

¹⁰ And Judah went against the Canaanites¹ living in Hebron (the former name of Hebron was Kiriath Arba). And they defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

1. Hebrew “Canaanite”

¹¹ And from there they went to the inhabitants of Debir (the former name of Debir was Kiriath Sepher).

¹² And Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath Sepher and captures it, I will give to him Acsah my daughter as a wife.”

¹³ Othniel son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, captured it, and he gave to him Acsah his daughter as a wife.

¹⁴ When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from the donkey, Caleb said to her, “⌞What do you want⌟?”¹

1. Literally “What is for you?”

¹⁵ And she said to him, “Give me ⌞a gift⌟;¹ you have given me the land of the Negev,² and give me also a spring of water.” And Caleb gave to her the upper and lower spring.³

1. Literally “blessing”
2. An arid region south of the Judaean hills
3. Judges 1:11–15 is almost identical to Joshua 15:13–19

¹⁶ The descendants¹ of Hobab the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the descendants² of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the Negev³ near Arad. And they went⁴ and settled with the people.

1. Or “sons/children”
2. Or “sons/children”
3. An arid region south of the Judaean hills
4. Hebrew “he went”

¹⁷ And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites¹ inhabiting Zephath; they utterly destroyed it, so he called the name of the city Hormah.

1. Hebrew “Canaanite”

¹⁸ Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory.

¹⁹ And Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.

²⁰ They gave Hebron to Caleb just as Moses said, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there.

²¹ But the descendants¹ of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites² who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived among the descendants³ of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

1. Or “sons/children”
2. Hebrew “Jebusite”
3. Or “sons/children”

²² Likewise, the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and Yahweh was with them.

²³ And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (the former name of the city was Luz).

²⁴ And when the spies saw a man leaving the city,¹ they said to him, “Please show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal kindly² with you.”

1. Or “going out from the city”
2. Or “do a loyal love”

²⁵ So he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with ⌞the edge of the sword⌟,¹ but they let go the man and all his family.

1. Literally “the mouth of the sword”

²⁶ And the man went to the land of the Hittites, and he built a city and named it Luz; this is its name to this day.

²⁷ Manasseh did not drive out Beth-Sean and its towns, or Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants¹ of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the Canaanites² were determined to live in this land.

1. Hebrew “inhabitant”
2. Hebrew “Canaanite”

²⁸ And it happened, when Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites¹ to forced labor, but they never totally drove them out.

1. Hebrew “Canaanite”

²⁹ Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites¹ living in Gezer, so the Canaanites² lived in their midst in Gezer.

1. Hebrew “Canaanite”
2. Hebrew “Canaanite”

³⁰ Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or Nahalol, so the Canaanites¹ lived in their midst and became subjected to forced labor.

1. Hebrew “Canaanite”

³¹ Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob,

³² so the Asherites¹ lived in the midst of the Canaanites,² the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

1. Hebrew “Asherite”
2. Hebrew “Canaanite”

³³ Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or Beth-anath, but lived in the midst of the Canaanites,¹ the inhabitants of the land; the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.

1. Hebrew “Canaanite”

³⁴ The Amorites pressed¹ the descendants² of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain;

1. Or “forced”
2. Or “sons/children”

³⁵ the Amorites were determined to live in Har-heres,¹ in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy on them, and they became subjected to forced labor.

1. Or “Mount Heres”

³⁶ The border of the Amorites¹ ran from the ascent of Akrabbim from Sela and upward.

1. Hebrew “Amorite”