Judges 1:1-18

International Children’s Bible

The Men of Judah Fight the Canaanites

1 Joshua died. Then the people of Israel prayed to the Lord. They said, “Who will be first to go and fight for us against the Canaanite people?”

² The Lord said to them, “The tribe of Judah will go. I have given them the power to take this land.”

³ The men of Judah asked for help from the men of Simeon, their relatives. The men of Judah said, “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 The Lord gave the men of Judah the victory over the Canaanites and the Perizzites. The men of Judah defeated l0,000 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 So Adoni-Bezek ran away. But the men of Judah chased him. When they caught him, they cut off his thumbs and big toes.

⁷ Then Adoni-Bezek said, “I cut off the thumbs and big toes of 70 kings. And those kings had 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 used their swords to kill the people of Jerusalem. And they burned the city.

⁹ Later, they went down to fight against more of the Canaanites. Some of the Canaanites lived in the mountains. Others lived in the dry country to the south. And still others lived in the western mountain slopes. ¹⁰ Then the men of Judah went to fight against the Canaanites in the city of Hebron. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba.) The men of Judah defeated the descendants of Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.

Caleb and His Daughter

¹¹ Then the men of Judah left Hebron. They went to the city of Debir to fight against the people there. (Debir used to be called Kiriath Sepher.) ¹² Before attacking the city, Caleb said, “I want a man to attack and capture the city of Kiriath Sepher. I will give him Acsah, my daughter, as a wife.” ¹³ Caleb had a younger brother named Kenaz. Kenaz had a son named Othniel. Othniel captured the city of Kiriath Sepher. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel to be his wife. ¹⁴ When Acsah came to Othniel, he told her to ask her father for some land. So she got down from her donkey, and Caleb said, “What do you want?”

¹⁵ Acsah answered Caleb, “Do me a favor. You have put me in the dry land of southern Judah. Give me some land with springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs of water.

Fights with the Canaanites

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

¹⁷ Some Canaanite people also lived in the city of Zephath. So the men of Judah and the men of Simeon, their relatives, defeated those Canaanites. They completely destroyed the city. So they called the city Hormah.^{[a] 18} The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron and all the lands around them.