Judges 1:1-10

New King James Version

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.