Judges 1:1–2:23

Israel Continues Its Conquest

1 After the death of Joshua, the ⌊Israelites⌋a inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Who will go up first for us against the Canaanitesb to fight against them?” 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 Canaanitesc and the Perizzitesd into their hand, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 At Bezek they came upon Adoni-bezek, and they fought against him and defeated the Canaanitese and the Perizzites.f 6 And Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued after him; they caught him and cut off ⌊his thumbs and big toes⌋.g 7 Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with ⌊their thumbs and big toes⌋h 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.

8 The descendantsi of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and they captured it, ⌊put it to the sword⌋,j and ⌊set the city on fire⌋.k 9 Afterward the descendantsl of Judah pursued to fight against the Canaanitesm who were living in the hill country, the Negev,n and the Shephelah.o 10 And Judah went against the Canaanitesp living in Hebron (the former name of Hebron was Kiriath Arba). And they defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

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⌋?”q 15 And she said to him, “Give me ⌊a gift⌋;r you have given me the land of the Negev,s and give me also a spring of water.” And Caleb gave to her the upper and lower spring.t

16 The descendantsu of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the descendantsv of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the Negevw near Arad. And they wentx and settled with the people. 17 And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanitesy inhabiting Zephath; they utterly destroyed it, so he called the name of the city Hormah. 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 descendantsz of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusitesa who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived among the descendantsb of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

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,c they said to him, “Please show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal kindlyd with you.” 25 So he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with ⌊the edge of the sword⌋,e but they let go the man and all his family. 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 inhabitantsf of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the Canaanitesg were determined to live in this land. 28 And it happened, when Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanitesh to forced labor, but they never totally drove them out. 29 Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanitesi living in Gezer, so the Canaanitesj lived in their midst in Gezer. 30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or Nahalol, so the Canaanitesk lived in their midst and became subjected to forced labor. 31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob, 32 so the Asheritesl lived in the midst of the Canaanites,m the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

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

34 The Amorites pressedo the descendantsp of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain; 35 the Amorites were determined to live in Har-heres,q in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy on them, and they became subjected to forced labor. 36 The border of the Amoritesr ran from the ascent of Akrabbim from Sela and upward.

Israel Disobeys Yahweh

2 And the angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you to the land that I had promised to your ancestors.a I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you. 2 And as for you, do not ⌊make a covenant⌋b with the inhabitants of this land; break down their altars.’ But you did not listen to my voice. ⌊Why would you do such a thing⌋?c 3 Now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; they will ⌊become as thorns⌋d for you, and their gods will be a trap for you.” 4 And as the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the ⌊Israelites⌋,e the people ⌊wept bitterly⌋.f 5 And they called the name of this place Bokim,g and there they sacrificed to Yahweh.

Joshua Dies

6 And Joshua sent the people away, and the ⌊Israelites⌋h went each to theiri own inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 And the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who saw all the great work Yahweh had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua son of Nun, servant of Yahweh, died ⌊at the age of one hundred and ten years⌋.j 9 They buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnah-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash. 10 Moreover, that entire generation was gathered to theirk ancestors,l and another generation grew up after them who did not know Yahweh or the work he had done for Israel.m

Israel Worships the Baals

11 The ⌊Israelites⌋n did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and ⌊they served⌋o the Baals. 12 They abandoned Yahweh the God of their ancestors,p who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They ⌊followed⌋q other gods from the gods of the people who were around them; and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the anger of Yahweh. 13 They abandoned Yahweh, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14 So ⌊the anger of Yahweh was kindled⌋r against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of plunderers; and they plundered them, and he sold them into the hand of their enemies from all sides. They were unable to withstand their enemies any longer. 15 ⌊Whenever⌋s they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them to harm them, just as Yahweh warned, and just as Yahweh had sworn to them. And ⌊they were very distressed⌋.t

16 Then Yahweh raised up leaders,u and they delivered them from the hand of their plunderers. 17 But they did not listen to their leaders,v but lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned away quickly from the way that their ancestorsw went, who had obeyed the commandment of Yahweh; they did not do as their ancestors. 18 And when Yahweh raised leadersx for them, Yahweh was with the leader,y and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the leader,z for Yahweh was moved by their groaning because of their persecutors and oppressors. 19 But when the leadera died they relapsed and acted corruptly, more than their ancestors,b following other gods, serving them,c and bowing down to them. They would not give up their deeds or their stubborn ways. 20 ⌊So the anger of Yahweh burned⌋d against Israel, and he said, “Because this people transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors,e and have not obeyed my voice, 21 I will not again drive out anyone from before them from the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel whether or not they would observe the way of Yahweh, to walk in it just as their ancestorsf did.” 23 So Yahweh left those nations; he did not drive them out at once, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.