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The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them.
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From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).
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And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”
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The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.
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The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.
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the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.”
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But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.
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The Angel of the Lord at Bokim
The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,
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and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?
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And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’”
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When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,
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The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
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They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger
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Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.
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But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
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I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
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I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.”
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I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
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Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
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“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.
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Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
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“When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves— praise the Lord!
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“Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I, even I, will sing to the Lord; I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.
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My heart is with Israel’s princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the Lord!
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the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the victories of the Lord, the victories of his villagers in Israel. “Then the people of the Lord went down to the city gates.
