The Continuing Conquest of Canaan^(A)

1 Now after the ^(B)death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel ^(C)asked the Lord, saying, “Who shall be first to go up for us against the ^(D)Canaanites to fight against them?”

² And the Lord said, ^(E)“Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.”

³ So Judah said to ^(F)Simeon his brother, “Come up with me to my allotted territory, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and ^(G)I will likewise go with you to your allotted territory.” And Simeon went with him. ⁴ Then Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand; and they killed ten thousand men at ^(H)Bezek. ⁵ And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him; and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. ⁷ And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; ^(I)as I have done, so God has repaid me.” Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

⁸ Now ^(J)the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. ^9 (K)And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in the ^[a]South, and in the lowland. ¹⁰ Then Judah ^[b]went against the Canaanites who dwelt in ^(L)Hebron. (Now the name of Hebron was formerly ^(M)Kirjath Arba.) And they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

^11 (N)From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir was formerly Kirjath Sepher.)

^12 (O)Then Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife.” ¹³ And Othniel the son of Kenaz, ^(P)Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife. ^14 (Q)Now it happened, when she came to him, that ^[c]she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?” ¹⁵ So she said to him, ^(R)“Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water.”

And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

^16 (S)Now the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up ^(T)from the City of Palms with the children of Judah into the Wilderness of Judah, which lies in the South near ^(U)Arad; ^(V)and they went and dwelt among the people. ^17 (W)And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called ^(X)Hormah. ¹⁸ Also Judah took ^(Y)Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. ¹⁹ So the Lord was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had ^(Z)chariots of iron. ^20 (AA)And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he ^[d]expelled from there the ^(AB)three sons of Anak. ^21 (AC)But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

²² And the ^[e]house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, ^(AD)and the Lord was with them. ²³ So the ^[f]house of Joseph ^(AE)sent men to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city was formerly ^(AF)Luz.) ²⁴ And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and ^(AG)we will show you mercy.” ²⁵ So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go. ²⁶ And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

Incomplete Conquest of the Land

^27 (AH)However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or ^(AI)Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of ^(AJ)Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. ²⁸ And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites ^[g]under tribute, but did not completely drive them out.

^29 (AK)Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; so the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

³⁰ Nor did ^(AL)Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites dwelt among them, and ^[h]were put under tribute.

^31 (AM)Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. ³² So the Asherites ^(AN)dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

^33 (AO)Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but they dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were put under tribute to them.

³⁴ And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley; ³⁵ and the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, ^(AP)in Aijalon, and in ^[i]Shaalbim; yet when the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, they ^[j]were put under tribute.

³⁶ Now the boundary of the Amorites was ^(AQ)from the Ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela, and upward.