Judges 1:1-18

Wycliffe Bible

1 After the death of Joshua the sons of Israel counselled with the Lord, and said, Who shall go up before us against Canaanites, and shall be duke of the battle? (After Joshua’s death the Israelites counselled with the Lord, and asked, Who shall go out first against the Canaanites, and shall be our leader in the battle?)

² And the Lord said, Judah shall go up (in the lead); lo! I have given the land into his hands.

³ And Judah said to Simeon, his brother, Go thou up with me in(to) my lot, and fight thou against Canaanites, that I go with thee in thy lot (and then I shall go with thee into thy lot). And (so) Simeon went with him;

⁴ and Judah went up (in the lead). And the Lord betook (the) Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they killed in Bezek ten thousand men.

⁵ And they found Adonibezek in Bezek, and they fought against him, and they overcame Canaanites, and Perizzites.

⁶ And Adonibezek fled, whom they pursued, and took (hold of), and they cut off the ends of his hands and of his feet.

⁷ And Adonibezek said, Seventy kings, when the ends of their hands and of their feet were cut away, gathered remnants of meats under my board (gathered scraps of food under my table); as I have done, so God hath yielded to me. And they brought him into Jerusalem, and there he died.

⁸ Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and they took it, and they smote it by the sharpness of sword, and they betook all the city to burning. (Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and they took it, and they struck down the people of Jerusalem with their sharp swords, and they burned down all the city.)

⁹ And afterward they went down, and fought against Canaanites, that dwelled in the hilly places (who lived in the hill country), and at the south, (and) in [the] wild fields.

¹⁰ And Judah went against Canaanites, that dwelled in Hebron, whose name was by eld time Kiriatharba (And Judah went out against the Canaanites, who lived in Hebron, whose name in olden times was Kiriatharba); and Judah killed Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

¹¹ And from thence he went forth, and he came to the dwellers of Debir, whose eld name was Kiriathsepher, that is, the city of letters. (And from there he went forth, and he came to the inhabitants of Debir, whose old name was Kiriathsepher, that is, the City of Letters.)

¹² And Caleb said, I shall give Achsah, my daughter, (for a) wife to him that shall smite Kiriathsepher, and shall waste it.

¹³ And when Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, had taken it, Caleb gave Achsah, his daughter, (for a) wife to him.

¹⁴ And her husband stirred her, going in the way, that she should ask of her father a field; and when she had sighed, sitting on the ass, Caleb said to her, What hast thou? (And her husband stirred her up, going on the way, to ask for a field from her father; and when she sighed, sitting on the donkey, Caleb said to her, What is the matter?)

¹⁵ And she answered, Give thou [a] blessing to me, for thou hast given a dry land to me; give thou to me also a moist land with waters (now give thou also to me some land with abundant water). And (so) Caleb gave to her the moist land above, and the moist land beneath.

¹⁶ Forsooth the sons of (the) Kenite, the father of Moses’ wife, ascended from the city of Palms with the sons of Judah, into the desert of his lot, which desert is at the south of Arad; and [they] dwelled with him. (And the sons of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the City of Palms with the sons of Judah, into the wilderness of Judah, which wilderness is south of Arad; and they lived among the people there.)

¹⁷ And Judah went with Simeon, his brother; and they smote altogether Canaanites, that dwelled in Zephath, and they killed him; and the name of that city was called Hormah, that is, cursing, either perfect destroying, for that city was destroyed utterly. (And Judah went with his brother Simeon; and they struck down the Canaanites who lived in Zephath, and they killed them all; and the name of that city was called Hormah, that is, Cursed, or Completely Destroyed, for that city was utterly destroyed.)

¹⁸ And Judah took Gaza with his coasts, and Askelon (with his terms), and Ekron with his terms. (And Judah took Gaza, and Askelon, and Ekron, along with their land.)