Judah Fights the Canaanites

1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who will be first to go and fight for us against the Canaanites?”

² The Lord said to them, “The tribe of Judah will go. I have handed the land over to them.”

³ The men of Judah said to the men of Simeon, their relatives, “Come and help us fight the Canaanites for our land. If you do, we will go and help you fight for your land.” So the men of Simeon went with them.

⁴ When Judah attacked, the Lord handed over the Canaanites and the Perizzites to them, and they defeated ten thousand men at the city of Bezek. ⁵ There they found Adoni-Bezek, the ruler of the city, and fought him. The men of Judah defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites, ⁶ but Adoni-Bezek ran away. The men of Judah chased him, and when they caught him, they cut off his thumbs and big toes.

⁷ Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings whose thumbs and big toes had been cut off used to eat scraps that fell from my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.” The men of Judah took Adoni-Bezek to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸ Then the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. They attacked with their swords and burned the city.

⁹ Later, they went down to fight the Canaanites who lived in the mountains, in the dry country to the south, and in the western hills. ¹⁰ The men of Judah went to fight against the Canaanites in the city of Hebron (which used to be called Kiriath Arba). And they defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

Caleb and His Daughter

¹¹ Then they left there and went to fight against the people living in Debir. (In the past Debir had been called Kiriath Sepher.) ¹² Before attacking the city, Caleb said, “I will give Acsah, my daughter, as a wife to the man who attacks and captures the city of Kiriath Sepher.” ¹³ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured the city, so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel to be his wife. ¹⁴ When Acsah came to Othniel, she told him to ask her father for a field. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?”

¹⁵ Acsah answered him, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in southern Canaan, also give me springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

Fights with the Canaanites

¹⁶ The Kenite people, who were from the family of Moses’ father-in-law, left Jericho, the city of palm trees. They went with the men of Judah to the Desert of Judah to live with them there in southern Judah near the city of Arad.

¹⁷ The men of Judah and the men of Simeon, their relatives, defeated the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They completely destroyed the city, so they called it Hormah.^{[a] 18} The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the lands around them.