Judges 1:1-18

World English Bible

1 After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh,^[a] saying, “Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”

² Yahweh said, “Judah shall go up. Behold,^[b] I have delivered the land into his hand.”

³ Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot.” So Simeon went with him. ⁴ Judah went up, and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck ten thousand men in Bezek. ⁵ They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and they fought against him. They struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ But Adoni-Bezek fled. They pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. ⁷ Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God^[c] has done to me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. ⁸ The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, took it, struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

⁹ After that, the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland. ¹⁰ Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron. (The name of Hebron before that was Kiriath Arba.) They struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

¹¹ From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir before that was Kiriath Sepher.) ¹² Caleb said, “I will give Achsah my daughter as wife to the man who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it.” ¹³ Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it, so he gave him Achsah his daughter as his wife.

¹⁴ When she came, she got him to ask her father for a field. She got off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”

¹⁵ She said to him, “Give me a blessing; because you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water.” Then Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. ¹⁶ The children of the Kenite, Moses’ brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people. ¹⁷ Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah. ¹⁸ Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.