Judges 1–2

The Tribes of Judah and Simeon Capture Adonibezek

1After Joshua’s death the people of Israel asked the Lord, “Which of our tribes should be the first to go and attack the Canaanites?”

²The Lord answered, “The tribe of Judah will go first. I am giving them control of the land.”

³The people of Judah said to the people of Simeon, “Go with us into the territory assigned to us, and we will fight the Canaanites together. Then we will go with you into the territory assigned to you.” So the tribes of Simeon ⁴and Judah went into battle together. The Lord gave them victory over the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and they defeated 10,000 men at Bezek. ⁵They found Adonibezek there and fought against him. ⁶He ran away, but they chased him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. ⁷Adonibezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. God has now done to me what I did to them.” He was taken to Jerusalem, where he died.

The Tribe of Judah Conquers Jerusalem and Hebron

⁸The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They killed its people and set fire to the city. ⁹After this they went on to fight the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the foothills, and in the dry country to the south. ¹⁰They marched against the Canaanites living in the city of Hebron, which used to be called Kiriath Arba. There they defeated the clans of Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

Othniel Conquers the City of Debir

¹¹From there the men of Judah marched against the city of Debir, at that time called Kiriath Sepher. ¹²One of them, called Caleb, said, “I will give my daughter Achsah in marriage to the man who succeeds in capturing Kiriath Sepher.” ¹³Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz, captured the city, so Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah in marriage. ¹⁴On the wedding day Othniel urged her^a to ask her father for a field. She got down from her donkey, and Caleb asked her what she wanted. ¹⁵She answered, “I want some pools of water. The land you have given me is in the dry country.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

The Victories of the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin

¹⁶The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went on with the people of Judah from Jericho, the city of palm trees, into the barren country south of Arad in Judah. There they settled among the Amalekites.^{b 17}The people of Judah went with the people of Simeon, and together they defeated the Canaanites who lived in the city of Zephath. They put a curse on the city, destroyed it, and named it Hormah.^{c 18–19}The Lord helped the people of Judah, and they took possession of the hill country. But they did not capture^d Gaza, Ashkelon, or Ekron, with their surrounding territories. These people living along the coast had iron chariots, and so the people of Judah were not able to drive them out. ^20*As Moses had commanded, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove out of the city the three clans descended from Anak. ^21*But the people of the tribe of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem, and the Jebusites have continued to live there with the people of Benjamin ever since.

The Tribes of Ephraim and Mannasseh Conquer Bethel

^22–23The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh went to attack the city of Bethel, at that time called Luz. The Lord helped them. They sent spies to the city, ²⁴who saw a man leaving and said to him, “Show us how to get into the city, and we won’t hurt you.” ²⁵So he showed them, and the people of Ephraim and Manasseh killed everyone in the city, except this man and his family. ²⁶He later went to the land of the Hittites, built a city there, and named it Luz, which is still its name.

People Who Were not Driven Out by the Israelites

^27*The tribe of Manasseh did not drive out the people living in the cities of Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and the nearby towns; the Canaanites continued to live there. ^28*When the Israelites became stronger, they forced the Canaanites to work for them, but still they did not drive them all out.

^29*The tribe of Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites living in the city of Gezer, and so the Canaanites continued to live there with them.

³⁰The tribe of Zebulun did not drive out the people living in the cities of Kitron and Nahalal, and so the Canaanites continued to live there with them and were forced to work for them.

³¹The tribe of Asher did not drive out the people living in the cities of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphek, and Rehob. ³²The people of Asher lived with the local Canaanites, since they did not drive them out.

³³The tribe of Naphtali did not drive out the people living in the cities of Beth Shemesh and Bethanath. The people of Naphtali lived with the local Canaanites, but forced them to work for them.

³⁴The Amorites forced the people of the tribe of Dan into the hill country and did not let them come down to the plain. ³⁵The Amorites continued to live at Aijalon, Shaalbim, and Mount Heres, but the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh kept them under their rule and forced them to work for them.

³⁶North of Sela, the Edomite^e border ran through Akrabbim Pass.

The Angel of the at Bochim

2The angel of the Lord went from Gilgal to Bochim and said to the Israelites, “I took you out of Egypt and brought you to the land that I promised to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you. ^2*You must not make any covenant with the people who live in this land. You must tear down their altars.’ But you have not done what I told you. You have done just the opposite! ³So I tell you now that I will not drive these people out as you advance. They will be your enemies,^f and you will be trapped by the worship of their gods.” ⁴When the angel had said this, all the people of Israel began to cry, ⁵and that is why the place is called Bochim.^g There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.

The Death of Joshua

⁶Joshua sent the people of Israel on their way, and each man went to take possession of his own share of the land. ⁷As long as Joshua lived, the people of Israel served the Lord, and after his death they continued to do so as long as the leaders were alive who had seen for themselves all the great things that the Lord had done for Israel. ⁸The Lord’s servant Joshua son of Nun died at the age of 110. ^9*He was buried in his own part of the land at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰That whole generation also died, and the next generation forgot the Lord and what he had done for Israel.

Israel Stops Worshipping the

¹¹Then the people of Israel sinned against the Lord and began to serve the Baals. ¹²They stopped worshipping the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God who had brought them out of Egypt, and they began to worship other gods, the gods of the peoples round them. They bowed down to them and made the Lord angry. ¹³They stopped worshipping the Lord and served the Baals and the Astartes. ¹⁴And so the Lord became furious with Israel and let raiders attack and rob them. He let enemies all around overpower them, and the Israelites could no longer protect themselves. ¹⁵Every time they went into battle, the Lord was against them, just as he had said he would be. They were in great distress.

¹⁶Then the Lord gave the Israelites leaders who saved them from the raiders. ¹⁷But the Israelites paid no attention to their leaders. Israel was unfaithful to the Lord and worshipped other gods. Their fathers had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but this new generation soon stopped doing so. ¹⁸Whenever the Lord gave Israel a leader, the Lord would help that leader and would save the people from their enemies as long as that leader lived. The Lord would have mercy on them because they groaned under their suffering and oppression. ¹⁹But when the leader died, the people used to return to the old ways and behave worse than the previous generation. They would serve and worship other gods, and refused to give up their own evil ways. ²⁰Then the Lord would become furious with Israel and say, “This nation has broken the covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep. Because they have not obeyed me, ²¹I will no longer drive out any of the nations that were still in the land when Joshua died. ²²I will use them to find out whether or not these Israelites will follow my ways, as their ancestors did.” ²³So the Lord allowed those nations to remain in the land; he did not give Joshua victory over them, nor did he drive them out soon after Joshua’s death.