Joshua 20 - Judges 4

English Standard Version

The Cities of Refuge

20 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ²“Say to the people of Israel, ^(A)‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand ^(B)at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. ⁵And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. ⁶And he shall remain in that city ^(C)until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”

⁷So they set apart ^(D)Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and ^(E)Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and ^(F)Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) ^(G)in the hill country of Judah. ⁸And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed ^(H)Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and ^(I)Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and ^(J)Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and ^(K)for the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.

Cities and Pasturelands Allotted to Levi

21 Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came ^(L)to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. ²And they said to them ^(M)at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, ^(N)“The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.” ³So by command of the Lord the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.

⁴The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest ^(O)received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities.

⁵And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot ^(P)from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

⁶The ^(Q)Gershonites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

⁷The ^(R)Merarites according to their clans received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

⁸These cities and their pasturelands the people of Israel ^(S)gave by lot to the Levites, ^(T)as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹Out of the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name, ¹⁰which went to ^(U)the descendants of Aaron, one of the clans of the Kohathites who belonged to the people of Levi; since the lot fell to them first. ¹¹^(V)They gave them ^(W)Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, ^(X)in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it. ¹²But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, ^(Y)the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, ^(Z)Libnah with its pasturelands, ¹⁴Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ¹⁵Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ¹⁶Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes; ¹⁷then out of the tribe of Benjamin, ^(AA)Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, ¹⁸Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. ¹⁹The cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

²⁰^(AB)As to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite clans of the Levites, the cities allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹To them were given Shechem, ^(AC)the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands, ²²Kibzaim with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities; ²³and out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, ²⁴Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities; ²⁵and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities. ²⁶The cities of the clans of the rest of the Kohathites were ten in all with their pasturelands.

²⁷^(AD)And to the Gershonites, one of the clans of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, ^(AE)the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two cities; ²⁸and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, ²⁹Jarmuth with its pasturelands, En-gannim with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁰and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, ³¹Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities; ³²and out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, ^(AF)the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities. ³³The cities of the several clans of the Gershonites were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

³⁴^(AG)And to the rest of the Levites, the Merarite clans, were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands, ³⁵Dimnah with its pasturelands, Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁶and out of the tribe of Reuben, ^(AH)Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahaz with its pasturelands, ³⁷Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁸and out of the tribe of Gad, ^(AI)Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, ^(AJ)Mahanaim with its pasturelands, ³⁹^(AK)Heshbon with its pasturelands, Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. ⁴⁰As for the cities of the several Merarite clans, that is, the remainder of the clans of the Levites, those allotted to them were in all twelve cities.

⁴¹^(AL)The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands. ⁴²These cities each had its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities.

⁴³^(AM)Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. ⁴⁴^(AN)And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. ^(AO)Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for ^(AP)the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. ⁴⁵^(AQ)Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

The Eastern Tribes Return Home

22 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ²and said to them, “You have kept ^(AR)all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you ^(AS)and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. ³You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. ⁴^(AT)And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, ^(AU)which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. ⁵^(AV)Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, ^(AW)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ⁶So Joshua ^(AX)blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

⁷Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, ^(AY)but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, ⁸he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. ^(AZ)Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” ⁹So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go ^(BA)to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses.

The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness

¹⁰And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. ¹¹And the people of Israel ^(BB)heard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.” ¹²And when the people of Israel heard of it, ^(BC)the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

¹³Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, ^(BD)Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, ¹⁴and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, ^(BE)every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. ¹⁵And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, ¹⁶“Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day ^(BF)in rebellion against the Lord? ¹⁷Have we not had enough of ^(BG)the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, ¹⁸that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if ^(BH)you too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow ^(BI)he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁹But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord's land ^(BJ)where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. ^(BK)Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. ²⁰^(BL)Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and ^(BM)wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”

²¹Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, ²²“The Mighty One, ^(BN)God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! ^(BO)He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today ²³for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself ^(BP)take vengeance. ²⁴No, but we did it from fear that ^(BQ)in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? ²⁵For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. ²⁶Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, ²⁷but to be ^(BR)a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we ^(BS)do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ ²⁸And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be ^(BT)a witness between us and you.”’ ²⁹Far be it from us that we should ^(BU)rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord ^(BV)by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

³⁰When ^(BW)Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, ^(BX)it was good in their eyes. ³¹And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that ^(BY)the Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

³²Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad ^(BZ)in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. ³³And the report ^(CA)was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel ^(CB)blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. ³⁴The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, ^(CC)“it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders

23 A long time afterward, when the Lord had given ^(CD)rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua ^(CE)was old and well advanced in years, ²Joshua ^(CF)summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. ³And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, ^(CG)for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. ⁴Behold, ^(CH)I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. ⁵The Lord your God ^(CI)will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, ^(CJ)just as the Lord your God promised you. ⁶Therefore, ^(CK)be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, ^(CL)turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, ⁷^(CM)that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you ^(CN)or make mention of the names of their gods ^(CO)or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, ⁸^(CP)but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. ⁹^(CQ)For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, ^(CR)no man has been able to stand before you to this day. ¹⁰^(CS)One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God ^(CT)who fights for you, just as he promised you. ¹¹^(CU)Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. ¹²For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you ^(CV)and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, ¹³know for certain that ^(CW)the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, ^(CX)but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴“And now ^(CY)I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that ^(CZ)not one word has failed of all the good things^[a] that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. ¹⁵But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you ^(DA)all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, ¹⁶if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

24 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel ^(DB)to Shechem and ^(DC)summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And ^(DD)they presented themselves before God. ²And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, ^(DE)your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates,^[b] Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and ^(DF)they served other gods. ³^(DG)Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River^[c] and ^(DH)led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. ^(DI)I gave him Isaac. ⁴And to Isaac I gave ^(DJ)Jacob and Esau. ^(DK)And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, ^(DL)but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. ⁵^(DM)And I sent Moses and Aaron, ^(DN)and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and ^(DO)afterward I brought you out.

⁶“‘Then ^(DP)I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ^(DQ)you came to the sea. ^(DR)And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. ⁷^(DS)And when they cried to the Lord, ^(DT)he put darkness between you and the Egyptians ^(DU)and made the sea come upon them and cover them; ^(DV)and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. ^(DW)And you lived in the wilderness a long time. ⁸Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. ^(DX)They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. ⁹^(DY)Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. ^(DZ)And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, ¹⁰^(EA)but I would not listen to Balaam. ^(EB)Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹^(EC)And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, ^(ED)and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also ^(EE)the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. ¹²And I sent ^(EF)the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was ^(EG)not by your sword or by your bow. ¹³I gave you a land on which you had not labored ^(EH)and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

Choose Whom You Will Serve

¹⁴^(EI)“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. ^(EJ)Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵^(EK)And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, ^(EL)choose this day whom you will serve, whether ^(EM)the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or ^(EN)the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. ^(EO)But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, ¹⁷for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. ¹⁸And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

¹⁹But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is ^(EP)a holy God. He is ^(EQ)a jealous God; ^(ER)he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. ²⁰^(ES)If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then ^(ET)he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” ²¹And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” ²²Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ^(EU)you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³He said, “Then ^(EV)put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” ²⁵So Joshua ^(EW)made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place ^(EX)statutes and rules for them at Shechem. ²⁶And Joshua ^(EY)wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And ^(EZ)he took a large stone and set it up there ^(FA)under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, ^(FB)this stone shall be a witness against us, for ^(FC)it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” ²⁸So Joshua ^(FD)sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Joshua's Death and Burial

²⁹^(FE)After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. ³⁰And they buried him in his own inheritance at ^(FF)Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

³¹^(FG)Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua ^(FH)and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.

³²^(FI)As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land ^(FJ)that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money.^[d] It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

³³And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of ^(FK)Phinehas his son, which had been given him in ^(FL)the hill country of Ephraim.

The Continuing Conquest of Canaan

1 After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel ^(FM)inquired of the Lord, ^(FN)“Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” ²The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” ³And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. ^(FO)And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him. ⁴Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek. ⁵They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. ⁷And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off ^(FP)used to pick up scraps under my table. ^(FQ)As I have done, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸^(FR)And the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. ⁹And afterward the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in ^(FS)the hill country, in the Negeb, and in ^(FT)the lowland. ¹⁰^(FU)And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron ^(FV)(now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba), and they defeated ^(FW)Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.

¹¹From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher. ¹²And Caleb said, “He who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter for a wife.” ¹³And Othniel the son of Kenaz, ^(FX)Caleb's younger brother, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife. ¹⁴When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” ¹⁵She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

¹⁶And the descendants of the ^(FY)Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah ^(FZ)from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near ^(GA)Arad, ^(GB)and they went and settled with the people. ¹⁷^(GC)And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction. So the name of the city was called ^(GD)Hormah.^[e] ¹⁸Judah also ^(GE)captured Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. ¹⁹^(GF)And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the ^(GG)hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had ^(GH)chariots of iron. ²⁰^(GI)And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from it ^(GJ)the three sons of Anak. ²¹But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, ^(GK)so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

²²The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, ^(GL)and the Lord was with them. ²³And the house of Joseph scouted out Bethel. (^(GM)Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.) ²⁴And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the way into the city, ^(GN)and we will deal kindly with you.” ²⁵And he showed them the way into the city. And they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go. ²⁶And the man went to ^(GO)the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name to this day.

Failure to Complete the Conquest

²⁷^(GP)Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. ²⁸When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.

²⁹^(GQ)And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

³⁰Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of ^(GR)Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.

³¹^(GS)Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob, ³²so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

³³Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of ^(GT)Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.

³⁴^(GU)The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. ³⁵The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, ^(GV)in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor. ³⁶And the border of the Amorites ran from ^(GW)the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.

Israel's Disobedience

2 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to ^(GX)Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ^(GY)‘I will never break my covenant with you, ²^(GZ)and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^(HA)you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? ³So now I say, ^(HB)I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become ^(HC)thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” ⁴As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵And they called the name of that place Bochim.^[f] And they sacrificed there to the Lord.

The Death of Joshua

⁶When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. ⁷^(HD)And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. ⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. ⁹And they buried him within the boundaries of ^(HE)his inheritance in Timnath-heres, ^(HF)in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Israel's Unfaithfulness

¹¹^(HG)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. ¹²^(HH)And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. ^(HI)They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and ^(HJ)bowed down to them. ^(HK)And they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³They abandoned the Lord ^(HL)and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴^(HM)So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he ^(HN)gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. ^(HO)And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, ^(HP)so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. ¹⁵Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, ^(HQ)and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

The Lord Raises Up Judges

¹⁶^(HR)Then the Lord raised up judges, ^(HS)who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. ¹⁷Yet they did not listen to their judges, for ^(HT)they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. ^(HU)They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. ¹⁸Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, ^(HV)the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. ^(HW)For the Lord was moved to pity by ^(HX)their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. ¹⁹But ^(HY)whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. ²⁰^(HZ)So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people ^(IA)have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, ²¹^(IB)I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, ²²in order ^(IC)to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” ²³So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

3 ^(ID)Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. ²It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. ³These are the nations: ^(IE)the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. ⁴They were for ^(IF)the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ⁵So the people of Israel lived ^(IG)among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁶^(IH)And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

⁷^(II)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and ^(IJ)the Asheroth. ⁸Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, ^(IK)and he sold them into the hand of ^(IL)Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹But when the people of Israel ^(IM)cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a ^(IN)deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, ^(IO)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. ¹⁰^(IP)The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹^(IQ)So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

¹²^(IR)And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon ^(IS)the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the ^(IT)Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of ^(IU)the city of palms. ¹⁴And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵Then the people of Israel ^(IV)cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them ^(IW)a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, ^(IX)a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit^[g] in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. ¹⁷And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. ¹⁹But he himself turned back ^(IY)at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. ²⁰And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his ^(IZ)cool roof chamber. ^(JA)And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²²And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. ²³Then Ehud went out into the porch^[h] and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him ^(JB)and locked them.

²⁴When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, ^(JC)“Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” ²⁵And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

²⁶Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond ^(JD)the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷When he arrived, ^(JE)he sounded the trumpet in ^(JF)the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. ²⁸And he said to them, “Follow after me, ^(JG)for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized ^(JH)the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. ²⁹And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. ^(JI)And the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹After him was ^(JJ)Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines ^(JK)with an oxgoad, and he also ^(JL)saved Israel.

Deborah and Barak

4 ^(JM)And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. ²And the Lord ^(JN)sold them into the hand of ^(JO)Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in ^(JP)Hazor. The commander of his army was ^(JQ)Sisera, who lived in ^(JR)Harosheth-hagoyim. ³Then the people of Israel ^(JS)cried out to the Lord for help, for he had ^(JT)900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in ^(JU)the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶She sent and summoned ^(JV)Barak the son of Abinoam from ^(JW)Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount ^(JX)Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. ⁷And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by ^(JY)the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, ^(JZ)and I will give him into your hand’?” ⁸Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will ^(KA)sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰And Barak called out ^(KB)Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber ^(KC)the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of ^(KD)Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in ^(KE)Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹²When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, ¹³Sisera called out all his chariots, ^(KF)900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which ^(KG)the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. ^(KH)Does not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. ¹⁵^(KI)And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. ¹⁶And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

¹⁷But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened ^(KJ)a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. ²⁰And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” ²¹But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. ²²And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.