Judges

VIN^{(i) 1} After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked the LORD (YHWH), saying: "Who will go first to fight against the Canaanites for us?" ² And the LORD said, `Judah does go up; lo, I have given the land into his hand.. ³ And Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot so that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into your lot. So Simeon went with him. ⁴ And Judah went up, and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek. ⁵ And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek, and fought against him, and struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ Adoni-bezek fled and they chased him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. ⁷ Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes 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 men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it, putting it to the sword, and set the city on fire. ⁹ Afterwards the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the South and in the lowland. ¹⁰ They attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Hebron (formerly known as Kiriath-arba) and fought Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. ¹¹ From there they advanced against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher: ¹² And Caleb said, I will give Achsah, my daughter, as wife to the man who overcomes Kiriath-sepher and takes it. ¹³ And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for his wife. ¹⁴ When she came to him she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey Caleb said to her: "What do you wish?" ¹⁵ And she said to him, "Give me ⌊a gift⌋; you have given me the land of the Negev, and give me also a spring of water." And Caleb gave to her the upper and lower spring. ¹⁶ And the sons of the Kenite, father-in-law of Moses, went up from the city of palm-trees with the sons of Judah to the desert of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and he went up and dwelt with the people: ¹⁷ And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. ¹⁸ The army of Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory. ¹⁹ And the LORD 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 So they gave unto Caleb Hebron, as spake Moses,—and he drave out from thence the three sons of Anak. ²¹ And the children of Judah did not make the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem go out; the Jebusites are still living with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem. ²² The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel: and the LORD was with them. ²³ For when they were besieging the city, which before was called Luza, ²⁴ The spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him: "Show us the entrance into the city, and we will show you mercy." ²⁵ He showed them the entrance into the city and they put the city to the sword, but they let the man go and all his family. ²⁶ The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day. ²⁷ Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements; the Canaanites continued to dwell in that land. ²⁸ And whenever Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced work, without driving them out completely. ²⁹ Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. ³⁰ Zebulun didn't drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or Nahalol, but the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labour. ³¹ Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob, ³² And the Asherite dwelt in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they drove not out ³³ Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or Beth-anath, but lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them. ³⁴ The Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain; ³⁵ And the Amorites desired to dwell in Mount Heres in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; yet when the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, they made them tributaries. ³⁶ The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.