Judges 1:1–3:31
Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites
1 After the deatha of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who of us is to go up firstb to fight against the Canaanites?c”
2 The Lord answered, “Judahd shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.e”
3 The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonitesf went with them.
4 When Judah attacked, the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizzitesg into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.h 5 It was there that they found Adoni-Bezeki and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
7 Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me backj for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem,k and he died there.
8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusaleml also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.
9 After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country,m the Negevn and the western foothills. 10 They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebrono (formerly called Kiriath Arbap) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.q 11 From there they advanced against the people living in Debirr (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).
12 And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” 13 Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.
14 One day when she came to Othniel, she urged hima to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”
15 She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.s
16 The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law,t the Kenite,u went up from the City of Palmsb v with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.w
17 Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonitesx their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyedc the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.d y 18 Judah also tooke Gaza,z Ashkelona and Ekron—each city with its territory.
19 The Lord was withb the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country,c but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.d 20 As Moses had promised, Hebrone was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.f 21 The Benjamites, however, did not drive outg the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem;h to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.
22 Now the tribes of Josephi attacked Bethel,j and the Lord was with them. 23 When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),k 24 the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.l” 25 So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but sparedm the man and his whole family. 26 He then went to the land of the Hittites,n where he built a city and called it Luz,o which is its name to this day.
27 But Manasseh did notp drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dorq or Ibleamr or Megiddos and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanitest were determined to live in that land. 28 When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.u 29 Nor did Ephraimv drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer,w but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.x 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. 31 Nor did Ashery drive out those living in Akko or Sidonz or Ahlab or Akziba or Helbah or Aphekb or Rehob.c 32 The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out. 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemeshd or Beth Anathe; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. 34 The Amoritesf confined the Danitesg to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.h 35 And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres,i Aijalonj and Shaalbim,k but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor. 36 The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Passl to Selam and beyond.n
The Angel of the Lord at Bokim
2 The angel of the Lordo went up from Gilgalp to Bokimq and said, “I brought you up out of Egyptr and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors.s I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,t 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land,u but you shall break down their altars.v’ Yet you have disobeyedw me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you;x they will become trapsy for you, and their gods will become snaresz to you.’ ”
4 When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,a 5 and they called that place Bokim.a b There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.c
8 Joshua son of Nun,d the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heresb e in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.f 11 Then the Israelites did evilg in the eyes of the Lordh and served the Baals.i 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various godsj of the peoples around them.k They arousedl the Lord’s angerm 13 because they forsookn him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.o 14 In his angerp against Israel the Lord gave them into the handsq of raiders who plunderedr them. He sold thems into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.t 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against themu to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.v
16 Then the Lord raised up judges,c w who savedx them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostitutedy themselves to other godsz and worshiped them.a They quickly turnedb from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.c 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and savedd them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relentede because of their groaningf under those who oppressed and afflictedg them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupth than those of their ancestors,i following other gods and serving and worshiping them.j They refused to give up their evil practices and stubbornk ways.
20 Therefore the Lord was very angryl with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenantm I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive outn before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to testo Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” 23 The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.p
3 These are the nations the Lord left to testq all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3 the fiver rulers of the Philistines,s all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivitest living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermonu to Lebo Hamath.v 4 They were left to testw the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.
5 The Israelites livedx among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,y Hivites and Jebusites.z 6 They took their daughtersa in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.b
7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lordc their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.d 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he solde them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaimf king of Aram Naharaim,a g to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried outh to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer,i Othnielj son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him,k so that he became Israel’s judgeb and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaiml king of Aramm into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11 So the land had peacen for forty years,o until Othniel son of Kenazp died.
12 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,q and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moabr power over Israel. 13 Getting the Ammonitess and Amalekitest to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and …