UST JDG Chapter 1

◄ JDG 1 ► ║ ═ ©

1 After Joshua died, the Israelite people asked Yahweh, “Which of our tribes should send their soldiers into the hill country to attack the Canaanites first?”

2 Yahweh replied, “The soldiers of the tribe of Judah must attack first. I have already made the people of Judah the owners of the land in Canaan that Joshua assigned to them.”

3 Then the men of Judah went to their fellow Israelites, the men from the tribe of Simeon. They said to them, “Come and help us fight the Canaanites. That way we will be able to conquer the territory that Yahweh has given to us. If you do that, we will go with you and help you conquer the territory that Yahweh has given to you.” So the soldiers of the tribe of Simeon went with the soldiers of the tribe of Judah.

4 So the soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Simeon went together. Yahweh enabled them to defeat the army of the Canaanites and Perizzites. At the city of Bezek, they killed about 10,000 enemy soldiers. 5 The king of Bezek, Adoni-Bezek, personally commanded his army to defend his city. But the Israelite soldiers were able to defeat his army of Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 Adoni-Bezek tried to run away, but the soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Simeon chased him and caught him. Then they cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

7 Adoni-Bezek said, “My army captured 70 kings. We cut off their thumbs and big toes. After that, we gave them little to eat, and we humiliated them. Because I did that to them, now God has done the same thing to me.” Then the soldiers took Adoni-Bezek to the city of Jerusalem. That was where he died.

8 The soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Simeon fought against the people of Jerusalem, and they captured that city. They killed all the people who lived there, and they burned down all the buildings in the city.

9 After that, the soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Simeon went to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, the southern wilderness, and the western lowland. 10 The soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Simeon also went to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the city of Hebron. (People used to call that city Kiriath Arba). Those Canaanites were from the clans of Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. The soldiers defeated them.

11 Then they left that area and went to fight against the people who lived in the city of Debir. (People used to call that city Kiriath Sepher.) 12 A man whose name was Caleb was commanding the soldiers. He told them, “I need someone to lead the attack against Kiriath Sepher and conquer that city. I will allow the man who does that to marry my daughter Aksah.” 13 Caleb had a younger brother whose name was Kenaz. Kenaz had a son whose name was Othniel. Othniel commanded the soldiers who captured the city of Kiriath Sepher. So Caleb allowed Othniel to marry his daughter Aksah.

14 Aksah came to Kiriath Sepher to marry Othniel. When she got there, she convinced Othniel to let her ask her father for some land they could farm. She went to see her father and respectfully got off the donkey she was riding. Caleb asked her, “What would you like me to do for you?”

15 She replied, “Please do a favor for me. You have given my husband and me some land in an area where it is very dry. So please also give us some land that has springs on it.” So Caleb gave her some land on higher ground that had a spring and some land on lower ground that had a spring.

16 The father-in-law of Moses belonged to the Kenite people group. Some of his descendants had been living in the area of Jericho, which people called Palm Tree City. They went with some people from the tribe of Judah to the wilderness in the southern part of the territory that belonged to that tribe. They settled with those Judeans in the dry region that is around the city of Arad.

17 The army of the tribe Judah then went with their fellow Israelites, the army of the tribe of Simeon, to help them conquer the territory that Joshua had assigned to them. They defeated the Canaanites who lived in the town of Zephath. They completely destroyed that city. Then they gave it a new name, Hormah, which means “complete destruction.” 18 The soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Simeon also captured the cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron and all the land around those cities. 19 So Yahweh helped the soldiers from Judah to capture the hill country. But they could not force the people who were living in the plains to leave. That was because those people had better weapons. They had chariots that had iron parts.

20 The people of the tribe of Judah gave the city of Hebron to Caleb because Moses had promised him that he could have that city. Caleb forced the three clans whose ancestor was Anak to leave that area. 21 But the tribe of Benjamin could not force the Jebusite people group to stop living in the city of Jerusalem. So those Jebusites stayed in Jerusalem and lived there with the tribe of Benjamin. They are still living with them there now.

22 Just as the soldiers from Judah and Simeon had done, soldiers from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh went to conquer the territory that Joshua had assigned to them. They first attacked the city of Bethel, and Yahweh helped them. 23 They sent some spies to find out everything they could about Bethel. (People used to call that city Luz.) 24 The spies saw a man who was coming out of the city. They said to him, “If you show us a way to get into the city, then we will be kind to you and not kill you when we capture the city.” 25 So the man showed them a way to get into the city. The soldiers from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh went in and killed all the people who lived in the city. But they allowed the man and his whole family to leave safely. 26 That man went to the area where the Hittite people group lived. He built a city there and named it Luz. That is still the name of that city now.

27 People from the Canaanite people group were living in the cities of Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo. They were also living in the villages around those cities. The soldiers from the tribe of Manasseh were not able to force them to leave their homes. That was because those Canaanites fought very hard to stay there. 28 Later, the Israelites became stronger, and they forced the Canaanites to work for them as their slaves. But they did not force all the Canaanites to leave their land. 29 The soldiers from the tribe of Ephraim were not able to force the Canaanites who were living in the city of Gezer to leave. So the Canaanites continued to live in that city with the tribe of Ephraim. 30 There were also Canaanites living in the cities of Kitron and Nahalol. The soldiers from the tribe of Zebulun were not able to force them to leave. So those Canaanites stayed in those cities and lived with the tribe of Zebulun. But the people of Zebulun forced them to work as their slaves. 31 There were Canaanites living in the cities of Akko, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek, and Rehob. The soldiers from the tribe of Asher were not able to force them to leave. 32 So those Canaanites continued to live in those cities. The people of the tribe of Asher lived with them, because they were not able to force them to leave. 33 There were Canaanites living in the cities of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath. The soldiers from the tribe of Naphtali were not able to force them to leave. So those Canaanites continued to live in that area. The people of the tribe of Naphtali lived with them. But they forced the ones who lived in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath to work as their slaves. 34 The Amorites forced the people of the tribe of Dan to live in the hills. That was because they did not allow them to come down and live on the plain. 35 The Amorites fought hard to keep living at Mount Heres and in the cities of Aijalon and Shaalbim, and so the Israelites were not able to force them to leave. But when the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh became stronger, they forced those Amorites to work as their slaves. 36 The land where the Amorites lived extended from the Ascent of Akrabbim toward the west beyond Sela, up into the hill country.

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