Judges 1:1-3:30

International Standard Version

The Capture of Jerusalem

1 Sometime after Joshua had died, the Israelis asked the Lord, “Who is to lead^[a] us against the Canaanites in our opening attack against them?”

² The Lord replied, “The tribe of^[b] Judah is to lead you.^[c] Look! I’ve given the land into their control.”

³ But the tribe of Judah told the tribe of Simeon, the descendants of Judah’s^[d] brother, “Come with us^[e] into our territory, and we’ll both fight the Canaanites. In return, we’ll^[f] go with you when you fight in your territory.” So the army of^[g] the tribe of Simeon accompanied the army of the tribe of Judah.

⁴ When the army of the tribe of Judah went into battle, the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their control, and they defeated 10,000 men at Bezek. ⁵ They located Adoni-bezek in Bezek, fought him, and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ Adoni-bezek ran off, but they pursued him, caught him, and amputated his thumbs and big toes. ⁷ Adoni-bezek used to brag, “Seventy kings without thumbs and big toes used to eat what was left under my table. God has repaid me for what I’ve done.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he later died there.

⁸ Then the army of Judah attacked Jerusalem, captured it, executed its inhabitants, and set fire to the city. ⁹ Later, the army of Judah left Jerusalem^[h] to attack the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, the Negev,^[i] and the Shephelah.^{[j] 10} They^[k] attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Hebron (formerly known as Kiriath-arba) and fought Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

The Capture of Debir^(A)

¹¹ The army of Judah then proceeded to attack the inhabitants of Debir, which used to be known as Kiriath-sepher. ¹² Caleb announced, “I’ll give my daughter Achsah in marriage to whomever leads the attack against Kiriath-sepher and captures it.” ¹³ Othniel, Caleb’s nephew through his younger brother Kenaz, captured the city, so Caleb^[l] awarded him his daughter Achsah in marriage.

¹⁴ Later on, after she had arrived, she urged Othniel^[m] to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want^[n] for yourself?”

¹⁵ “I want this blessing from you,” she replied. “Since you’ve given me land in the Negev,^[o] give me water springs, too.” So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.

The Capture of Certain Southern Territories

¹⁶ The descendants of the Kenites, the tribe from which^[p] Moses’ father-in-law came, accompanied the descendants of Judah from the city of the palms to the Judean wilderness, which is in the desert area south of Arad, and lived with the people there. ¹⁷ The army of Judah accompanied the army of Simeon, Judah’s^[q] brother, as they attacked the Canaanites who were living in Zephath, and they completely destroyed it. Then they renamed the city Hormah. ¹⁸ The army of Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory. ¹⁹ The Lord was with the army of Judah, and they captured the hill country, but did not expel the inhabitants of the valley because they were equipped with iron chariots.

Hebron Awarded to Caleb^(B)

²⁰ They gave Hebron to Caleb, just as Moses had promised,^[r] and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there. ²¹ However, the descendants of Benjamin did not expel the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the descendants of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

The Capture of Bethel

²² Then the army of the tribe^[s] of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with them. ²³ The army of the tribe of Joseph scouted out Bethel, which had been formerly named Luz. ²⁴ The scouts observed a man coming out of the city and they promised him, “Please show us the entrance to the city and we’ll deal kindly with you.” ²⁵ So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they attacked the city with swords, but they let the man and his entire family escape. ²⁶ So the man traveled to the land of the Hittites and built a city that he named “Luz,” and it is called by that name to this day.

Unconquered Territories

²⁷ The army of the tribe of Manasseh did not conquer Beth-shean and its villages, Taanach and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages. Instead, the Canaanites continued to live in that land. ²⁸ When Israel had grown strong, they subjected the Canaanites to conscripted labor and never did expel them completely.

²⁹ The army of the tribe of Ephraim did not expel the Canaanites who were living in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

³⁰ The army of the tribe of Zebulun did not expel the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but were subjected to conscripted labor.

³¹ The army of the tribe of Asher did not expel the inhabitants of Acco nor the inhabitants of Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. ³² So the descendants of Asher lived among the Canaanites who continued to inhabit the land, because they did not expel them.

³³ The army of the tribe of Naphtali did not expel the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and the inhabitants of Beth-anath. Instead, they lived among the Canaanites who inhabited the land. However, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were subjected to conscripted labor.

³⁴ Later on, the Amorites forced the descendants of Dan into the hill country and did not permit them to come into the valleys of the hills. ³⁵ Furthermore, the Amorites continued to inhabit Mount Heres in Aijalon and Shaalbim. Eventually, however, after the tribe^[t] of Joseph had become strong, the Amorites^[u] were subjected to conscripted labor. ³⁶ The Amorite border extended upward from the Akrabbim Ascent, that is, from Sela.

Israel is Rebuked

2 Some time later, the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim and announced to Israel,^[v] “I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land that I promised to your ancestors. I had told them,^[w] ‘I’ll never breach my covenant with you. ² As for you, you must not make any treaties^[x] with the inhabitants of this land. Instead, tear down their altars.’ But you haven’t obeyed me. What have you done? ³ Therefore I’m now saying,^[y] ‘I won’t expel them before you. Instead, they’ll remain at your side, and their gods will ensnare you.’”

⁴ Because the angel of the Lord said these things to all of the Israelis, the people wept out loud, ⁵ which is why they named the place Bochim.^[z] And there they sacrificed to the Lord. ⁶ After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelis returned to their respective inheritances to take possession of the land.

The Death of Joshua^(C)

⁷ The people served the Lord during the entire lifetime of Joshua as well as the lifetimes of all the elders who outlived Joshua and who had observed all the great deeds that the Lord had done for Israel. ⁸ But then Nun’s son Joshua, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. ⁹ They buried him in Timnath-heres, within the boundaries of his inheritance in the mountainous region^[aa] of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ After that whole generation had died,^[ab] another generation grew up after them that was not acquainted with the Lord or with what he had done for Israel.

The Rise of the Judges

¹¹ So the Israelis practiced what the Lord considered to be evil by worshiping Canaanite deities.^{[ac] 12} They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who surrounded them. They bowed down in worship of them, and by doing so angered the Lord. ¹³ As a result, they abandoned the Lord by serving both Baal^[ad] and Ashtaroth.^{[ae] 14} So in his burning anger against Israel, the Lord gave them into the domination of marauders who plundered them. The enemies who surrounded the Israelis^[af] controlled them, and they were no longer able to withstand their adversaries. ¹⁵ Wherever they went, the Lord worked^[ag] against them to bring misfortune, just as the Lord had warned, and just as the Lord had promised them. As a result, they suffered greatly.

¹⁶ Then the Lord raised up leaders,^[ah] who delivered Israel^[ai] from domination by their marauders. ¹⁷ But they didn’t listen to their leaders, because they were committing spiritual immorality by following other gods and worshiping them. They quickly turned away from the road on which their ancestors had walked in obedience to the commands of the Lord. They didn’t follow their example. ¹⁸ As a result, whenever the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord remained present with their leader, delivering Israel^[aj] from the control of their enemies during the lifetime of that leader. The Lord^[ak] was moved with compassion by their groaning that had been caused by those who were oppressing and persecuting them. ¹⁹ However, after the leader had died, they would relapse to a condition more corrupt than their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and worshiping them. They would not abandon their activities or their obstinate lifestyles.

²⁰ In his burning anger against Israel, the Lord said, “Because the people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep, and because they haven’t obeyed me, ²¹ I’m also going to stop expelling any of the nations that remained after Joshua died. ²² That way, I’ll use them to demonstrate whether or not Israel will keep the Lord’s lifestyle by walking on that road like their ancestors did.” ²³ So the Lord caused those nations to remain and did not expel them quickly. He did not give them into Joshua’s control.

Unconquered Canaanite Nations

3 Here’s a list of nations that the Lord caused to remain in order to test Israel (that is,^[al] everyone who had not gained any battle experience in Canaan) ² only so that successive Israeli generations, who had not known war previously, might come to know it by experience. ³ These nations included^[am] the five lords of the Philistines, all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They remained there to test Israel, to reveal if they would obey the commands of the Lord that he issued to their ancestors through Moses.

Othniel, Israel’s First Judge

⁵ The Israelis continued to live among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, ⁶ taking their daughters as wives for themselves, giving their own daughters to their sons, and serving their gods. ⁷ The Israelis kept on practicing evil in full view of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served Canaanite male and female deities.^{[an] 8} Then in his burning anger against Israel, the Lord delivered them to domination by King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim.^[ao] So the Israelis served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years. ⁹ When the Israelis cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz, to deliver^[ap] them,^[aq] and he did. ¹⁰ The Spirit of the Lord was on him, and he governed Israel. When Othniel^[ar] went out to battle, the Lord handed king Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim^[as] into his control, and Othniel’s^[at] domination of Cushan-rishathaim was strong. ¹¹ As a result, the land was quiet for 40 years. Then Kenaz’ son Othniel died.

Ehud, Israel’s Second Judge

¹² The Israelis again practiced evil in full view of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab in his control over Israel, because they had practiced evil in full view of the Lord. ¹³ Eglon^[au] assembled together the Ammonites and the Amalekites, proceeded to attack Israel, and captured the cities of palms. ¹⁴ So the Israelis served king Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.

¹⁵ But when the Israelis cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up Gera’s son Ehud, a left-handed descendant of Benjamin, as a deliverer for them. The Israelis paid tribute through him to king Eglon of Moab. ¹⁶ Ehud forged a double-edged sword that was one cubit^[av] long, tied it to his right thigh under his cloak, ¹⁷ and went to present the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon happened to be a very obese man.

¹⁸ As he finished presenting the tribute, Ehud^[aw] sent away the people who had been carrying it. ¹⁹ He had turned away from the idols that were at Gilgal. So he told Eglon, “I have a secret message for you, king.”

King Eglon^[ax] responded “Silence!” and all of his attendants left him.

²⁰ Ehud approached him while he was sitting by himself in the cool roof chamber of his palace.^[ay] He said, “I have a message from God for you!” So when Eglon^[az] got up from his seat, ²¹ Ehud used his left hand to take the sword from his right thigh and then plunged it into Eglon’s^[ba] abdomen. ²² The hilt also penetrated along with the sword blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over the blade. Because he did not withdraw the sword from Eglon’s abdomen, the sword point^[bb] exited from Eglon’s entrails.^[bc]

²³ Then Ehud left the cool chamber in the direction of the vestibule, shutting and locking the doors behind him. ²⁴ After he left, Eglon’s^[bd] attendants came to look, but the doors to the cool chamber were locked! So they said, “He must be relieving himself^[be] in the inner part of the cool chamber.”^{[bf] 25} They waited until they were embarrassed, since he never opened the doors to the chamber. Eventually they took a key, opened the doors, and found their master dead on the ground.

²⁶ Meanwhile, Ehud escaped while they were delayed, passed by the idols, and escaped in the direction of Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived there, he sounded a trumpet in the mountainous region^[bg] of Ephraim. While the Israeli army accompanied Ehud from the mountainous regions,^{[bh] 28} he told them, “Attack them, because the Lord has given your enemies—the Moabites—into your control.” So the Israeli army^[bi] followed after him, seized the fords of the Jordan River opposite Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross. ²⁹ At that time they attacked about 10,000 Moabites, all of whom were strong and valiant men. Not one man escaped. ³⁰ As a result, Moab was subdued under the control of Israel, and the land remained quiet for 80 years.