Judges 1–2

Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites

1:11–15pp—Jos 15:15–19

1After the death^a of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who of us is to go up first^b to fight against the Canaanites?^c”

²The Lord answered, “Judah^d shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.^e”

³The 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 Simeonites^f went with them.

⁴When Judah attacked, the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizzites^g 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. ⁶Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

⁷Then 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 back^j for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem,^k and he died there.

⁸The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem^l also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

⁹After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country,^m the Negevⁿ and the western foothills. ¹⁰They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron^o (formerly called Kiriath Arba^p) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.^{q 11}From there they advanced against the people living in Debir^r (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).

¹²And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” ¹³Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.

¹⁴One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him^a to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

¹⁵She 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

¹⁶The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law,^t the Kenite,^u went up from the City of Palms^bv with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.^w

¹⁷Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites^x their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed^c the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.^{dy 18}Judah also took^e Gaza,^z Ashkelon^a and Ekron—each city with its territory.

¹⁹The Lord was with^b 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, Hebron^e was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.^{f 21}The Benjamites, however, did not drive out^g the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem;^h to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

²²Now the tribes of Josephⁱ attacked Bethel,^j and the Lord was with them. ²³When 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” ²⁵So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared^m the man and his whole family. ²⁶He 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.

²⁷But Manasseh did not^p drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor^q or Ibleam^r or Megiddo^s and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites^t were determined to live in that land. ²⁸When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.^{u 29}Nor did Ephraim^v 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. ³¹Nor did Asher^y drive out those living in Akko or Sidon^z or Ahlab or Akzib^a or Helbah or Aphek^b or Rehob.^{c 32}The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out. ³³Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh^d or Beth Anath^e; 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. ³⁴The Amorites^f confined the Danites^g 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 Aijalon^j and Shaalbim,^k but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor. ³⁶The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass^l to Sela^m and beyond.ⁿ

The Angel of the Lord at Bokim

2The angel of the Lord^o went up from Gilgal^p to Bokim^q and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt^r 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 disobeyed^w me. Why have you done this? ³And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you;^x they will become traps^y for you, and their gods will become snares^z to you.’ ”

⁴When 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.^ab There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.

Disobedience and Defeat

2:6–9pp—Jos 24:29–31

⁶After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. ⁷The 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

⁸Joshua son of Nun,^d the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. ⁹And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres^be in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

¹⁰After 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 evil^g in the eyes of the Lord^h 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 gods^j of the peoples around them.^k They aroused^l the Lord’s anger^{m 13}because they forsookⁿ him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.^{o 14}In his anger^p against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands^q of raiders who plundered^r them. He sold them^s 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 them^u to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.^v

¹⁶Then the Lord raised up judges,^cw who saved^x them out of the hands of these raiders. ¹⁷Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted^y themselves to other gods^z and worshiped them.^a They quickly turned^b 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 saved^d them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented^e because of their groaning^f under those who oppressed and afflicted^g them. ¹⁹But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt^h than those of their ancestors,ⁱ following other gods and serving and worshiping them.^j They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn^k ways.

²⁰Therefore the Lord was very angry^l with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant^m I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, ²¹I will no longer drive outⁿ before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. ²²I will use them to test^o Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” ²³The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.^p