Keeping the Word

²⁷ And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ^(A)“Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

²⁸ But He said, ^(B)“More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Seeking a Sign^(C)

^29 (D)And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a ^(E)sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah ^[a]the prophet. ³⁰ For as ^(F)Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. ^31 (G)The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a ^(H)greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for ^(I)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

The Lamp of the Body^(J)

^33 (K)“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a ^(L)basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. ^34 (M)The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is ^[b]good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is ^[c]bad, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

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.