Judges 1-2 (Young's Literal Translation)

Judges 1

 ¹And it cometh to pass, after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel ask at Jehovah, saying, `Who doth go up for us unto the Canaanite, at the commencement, to fight against it?'

 ²And Jehovah saith, `Judah doth go up; lo, I have given the land into his hand.'

 ³And Judah saith to Simeon his brother, `Go up with me into my lot, and we fight against the Canaanite -- and I have gone, even I, with thee into thy lot;' and Simeon goeth with him.

 ⁴And Judah goeth up, and Jehovah giveth the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hand, and they smite them in Bezek -- ten thousand men;

 ⁵and they find Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fight against him, and smite the Canaanite and the Perizzite.

 ⁶And Adoni-Bezek fleeth, and they pursue after him, and seize him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes,

 ⁷and Adoni-Bezek saith, `Seventy kings -- their thumbs and their great toes cut off -- have been gathering under my table; as I have done so hath God repaid to me;' and they bring him in to Jerusalem, and he dieth there.

 ⁸And the sons of Judah fight against Jerusalem, and capture it, and smite it by the mouth of the sword, and the city they have sent into fire;

 ⁹and afterwards have the sons of Judah gone down to fight against the Canaanite, inhabiting the hill-country, and the south, and the low country;

 ¹⁰and Judah goeth unto the Canaanite who is dwelling in Hebron (and the name of Hebron formerly [is] Kirjath-Arba), and they smite Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

 ¹¹And he goeth thence unto the inhabitants of Debir (and the name of Debir formerly [is] Kirjath-Sepher),

 ¹²and Caleb saith, `He who smiteth Kirjath-Sepher -- and hath captured it -- then I have given to him Achsah my daughter for a wife.'

 ¹³And Othniel son of Kenaz, younger brother of Caleb, doth capture it, and he giveth to him Achsah his daughter for a wife.

 ¹⁴And it cometh to pass in her coming in, that she persuadeth him to ask from her father the field, and she lighteth from off the ass, and Caleb saith to her, `What -- to thee?'

 ¹⁵And she saith to him, `Give to me a blessing; when the south land thou hast given me -- then thou hast given to me springs of water; and Caleb giveth to her the upper springs and the lower springs.

 ¹⁶And the sons of the Kenite, father-in-law of Moses, have gone up out of the city of palms with the sons of Judah [to] the wilderness of Judah, which [is] in the south of Arad, and they go and dwell with the people.

 ¹⁷And Judah goeth with Simeon his brother, and they smite the Canaanite inhabiting Zephath, and devote it; and [one] calleth the name of the city Hormah.

 ¹⁸And Judah captureth Gaza and its border, and Askelon and its border, and Ekron and its border;

 ¹⁹and Jehovah is with Judah, and he occupieth the hill-country, but not to dispossess the inhabitants of the valley, for they have chariots of iron.

 ²⁰And they give to Caleb Hebron, as Moses hath spoken, and he dispossesseth thence the three sons of Anak.

 ²¹And the Jebusite, inhabiting Jerusalem, the sons of Benjamin have not dispossessed; and the Jebusite dwelleth with the sons of Benjamin, in Jerusalem, till this day.

 ²²And the house of Joseph go up -- even they -- to Beth-El, and Jehovah [is] with them;

 ²³and the house of Joseph cause [men] to spy about Beth-El (and the name of the city formerly is Luz),

 ²⁴and the watchers see a man coming out from the city, and say to him, `Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance of the city, and we have done with thee kindness.'

 ²⁵And he sheweth them the entrance of the city, and they smite the city by the mouth of the sword, and the man and all his family they have sent away;

 ²⁶and the man goeth to the land of the Hittites, and buildeth a city, and calleth its name Luz -- it [is] its name unto this day.

 ²⁷And Manasseh hath not occupied Beth-Shean and its towns, and Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Iblaim and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, and the Canaanite is desirous to dwell in that land;

 ²⁸and it cometh to pass, when Israel hath been strong, that he setteth the Canaanite to tribute, and hath not utterly dispossessed it.

 ²⁹And Ephraim hath not dispossessed the Canaanite who is dwelling in Gezer, and the Canaanite dwelleth in its midst, in Gezer.

 ³⁰Zebulun hath not dispossessed the inhabitants of Kitron, and the inhabitants of Nahalol, and the Canaanite dwelleth in its midst, and they become tributary.

 ³¹Asher hath not dispossessed the inhabitants of Accho, and the inhabitants of Zidon, and Ahlab, and Achzib, and Helbah, and Aphik, and Rehob;

 ³²and the Asherite dwelleth in the midst of the Canaanite, the inhabitants of the land, for it hath not dispossessed them.

 ³³Naphtali hath not dispossessed the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh, and the inhabitants of Beth-Anath, and he dwelleth in the midst of the Canaanite, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh and of Beth-Anath have become tributary to them.

 ³⁴And the Amorites press the sons of Dan to the mountain, for they have not suffered them to go down to the valley;

 ³⁵and the Amorite is desirous to dwell in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, and the hand of the house of Joseph is heavy, and they become tributary;

 ³⁶and the border of the Amorite [is] from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock and upward.

Judges 2

 ¹And a messenger of Jehovah goeth up from Gilgal unto Bochim,

 ²and saith, `I cause you to come up out of Egypt, and bring you in unto the land which I have sworn to your fathers, and say, I do not break My covenant with you to the age; and ye -- ye make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land -- their altars ye break down; and ye have not hearkened to My voice -- what [is] this ye have done?

 ³And I also have said, I do not cast them out from your presence, and they have been to you for adversaries, and their gods are to you for a snare.'

 ⁴And it cometh to pass, when the messenger of Jehovah speaketh these words unto all the sons of Israel, that the people lift up their voice and weep,

 ⁵and they call the name of that place Bochim, and sacrifice there to Jehovah.

 ⁶And Joshua sendeth the people away, and the sons of Israel go, each to his inheritance, to possess the land;

 ⁷and the people serve Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who prolonged days after Joshua, who saw all the great work of Jehovah which He did to Israel.

 ⁸And Joshua son of Nun, servant of Jehovah, dieth, a son of a hundred and ten years,

 ⁹and they bury him in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-Heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of mount Gaash;

 ¹⁰and also all that generation have been gathered unto their fathers, and another generation riseth after them who have not known Jehovah, and even the work which He hath done to Israel.

 ¹¹And the sons of Israel do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and serve the Baalim,

 ¹²and forsake Jehovah, God of their fathers, who bringeth them out from the land of Egypt, and go after other gods (of the gods of the peoples who [are] round about them), and bow themselves to them, and provoke Jehovah,

 ¹³yea, they forsake Jehovah, and do service to Baal and to Ashtaroth.

 ¹⁴And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He giveth them into the hand of spoilers, and they spoil them, and He selleth them into the hand of their enemies round about, and they have not been able any more to stand before their enemies;

 ¹⁵in every [place] where they have gone out, the hand of Jehovah hath been against them for evil, as Jehovah hath spoken, and as Jehovah hath sworn to them, and they are distressed -- greatly.

 ¹⁶And Jehovah raiseth up judges, and they save them from the hand of their spoilers;

 ¹⁷and also unto their judges they have not hearkened, but have gone a-whoring after other gods, and bow themselves to them; they have turned aside [with] haste out of the way [in] which their fathers walked to obey the commands of Jehovah -- they have not done so.

 ¹⁸And when Jehovah raised up to them judges -- then was Jehovah with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it repenteth Jehovah, because of their groaning from the presence of their oppressors, and of those thrusting them away.

 ¹⁹And it hath come to pass, at the death of the judge -- they turn back and have done corruptly above their fathers, to go after other gods, to serve them, and to bow themselves to them; they have not fallen from their doings, and from their stiff way.

 ²⁰And the anger of Jehovah doth burn against Israel, and He saith, `Because that this nation have transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened to My voice --

 ²¹I also continue not to dispossess any from before them of the nations which Joshua hath left when he dieth,

 ²²in order to try Israel by them, whether they are keeping the way of Jehovah, to go in it, as their fathers kept [it] or not.'

 ²³And Jehovah leaveth these nations, so as not to dispossess them hastily, and did not give them into the hand of Joshua.