Judges 1 - 2
The Fight Against the Canaanites
1Now it happened after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel aasked of 1Yahweh, saying, “Who shall go up first for us bagainst the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2And Yahweh said, “aJudah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” 3Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into 1the territory allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and 2I in turn will go with you into 3the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him. 4So Judah went up, and aYahweh gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down 10,000 men at Bezek. 5Then they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they struck down the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and seized him and cut off his 1thumbs and big toes. 7And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; aas I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8Then the sons of Judah fought against aJerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. 9And afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country and in the 1Negev and in the 2Shephelah. 10aSo Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
11Then afrom there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher). 12And Caleb said, “The one who strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter Achsah as a wife.” 13aThen Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife. 14Now ait happened that when she came to him, she enticed him to ask her father for the field. Then she alighted from 1her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What 2do you want?” 15And she said to him, “Give me a blessing, since you have given me the land of the 1Negev, so you shall give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
16Now the sons of athe Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the bcity of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of cArad; and they went and lived with the people. 17Then Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath and devoted it to destruction. So the name of the city was called aHormah. 18And Judah captured aGaza with its territory and Ashkelon with its territory and Ekron with its territory. 19Now Yahweh was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not dispossess the inhabitants of the valley because they had airon chariots. 20Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, aas Moses had 1promised; and he dispossessed from there bthe three sons of Anak. 21aBut the sons of Benjamin did not dispossess the bJebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
22Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and Yahweh was with them. 23And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (anow the name of the city was formerly Luz). 24Then the 1spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and awe will treat you with lovingkindness.” 25So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, abut they let the man and all his family go free. 26So the man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz 1which is its name to this day.
Israel Fails to Complete the Conquest
27aBut Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its towns or Taanach and its towns or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; so bthe Canaanites persisted to live in that land. 28And it happened when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not dispossess them completely.
29aAlso Ephraim did not dispossess the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
30Zebulun did not dispossess the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of 1Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.
31Asher did not dispossess the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob. 32So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not dispossess them.
33Naphtali did not dispossess 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.
34Then the Amorites pressed the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley; 35and the Amorites persisted in 1living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; but the hand of the house of Joseph became heavy, and they became forced labor. 36Now the border of the Amorites ran from the aascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
The Angel of Yahweh Speaks to Israel
2Then athe angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to bBochim. And he said, “cI brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘dI will never break My covenant with you, 2and as for you, ayou shall cut no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; byou shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not listened to My voice; what is this you have done? 3“Therefore I also said, ‘aI will not drive them out before you; but they will 1become bas thorns in your sides, and their gods will become a snare to you.’” 4So it happened that when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5So they named that place 1Bochim; and there they sacrificed to Yahweh.
Joshua’s Death and Burial
6aThen Joshua sent the people away, and the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. 7And the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who 1survived Joshua, who saw all the great work of Yahweh which He had done for Israel. 8Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died at the age of 110. 9And they buried him in the territory of ahis inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who adid not know Yahweh or even the work which He had done for Israel.
Israel Serves Baals
11Then the sons of Israel did awhat was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and 1served the bBaals, 12and athey forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked Yahweh to anger. 13So they forsook Yahweh and aserved Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14aAnd the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and bHe sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15Wherever they went, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken and aas Yahweh had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
Yahweh Raises Up Judges
16aThen Yahweh raised up judges 1who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. 17Yet they did not listen to their judges either, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way ain which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of Yahweh; they did not do as their fathers. 18Now when Yahweh raised up judges for them, aYahweh was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Yahweh was bmoved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and suppressed them. 19But it happened when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. 20aSo the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has trespassed against My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, 21aI also will no longer dispossess before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22in order to atest Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it as their fathers 1did, or not.” 23So Yahweh allowed those nations to rest, not dispossessing them quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.