Beginning
1 After Joshua was dead, the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, “Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites, to fight first against them?”
2 And the LORD said, “Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand.”
3 And Judah said to Simeon, his brother, “Come up with me into my lot, so that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into your lot.” So, Simeon went with him.
4 Then Judah went up. And the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands. And in Bezek, they killed ten thousand of them.
5 And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him and killed the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6 But Adoni-Bezek fled. And they pursued after him and caught him and cut off the thumbs of his hands and of his feet.
7 And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having the thumbs of their hands and their feet cut off, gathered crumbs under my table. As I have done, so God has rewarded me.” So, they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
8 Now, the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it and struck it with the edge of the sword and had set the city on fire.
9 Afterward, the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountain and toward the South and in the low country.
10 And Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron (the Hebron which beforetime was called Kirjath Arba) and they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
11 And from there he went to the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir in old time was Kirjath Sepher).
12 And Caleb said, “He who strikes Kirjath Sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah, my daughter, for a wife.”
13 And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it, to whom he gave Achsah, his daughter, for a wife.
14 And when she came, she moved him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted her donkey; and Caleb said to her, “What are you doing?”
15 And she answered him, “Give me a blessing. For you have given me a southern country, give me also springs of water.” And Caleb gave her the springs above and the springs beneath.
16 And the children of Keni, Moses’ father-in-law, went up out of the city of the palm trees, with the children of Judah, into the wilderness of Judah that lies in the southern region of Arad, and went and dwelt among the people.
17 But Judah went with Simeon, his brother, and they killed the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it, and called the name of the city Hormah.
18 Also, Judah took Gaza, with its territories, and Ashkelon, with its territories, and Ekron, with its territories.
19 And the LORD was with Judah; and he possessed the mountains. For he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valleys because they had chariots of iron.
20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said; and he expelled from there the three sons of Anak.
21 But, the children of Benjamin did not cast out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. Therefore, the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
22 They, also, who were of the House of Joseph, went up to Bethel. And the LORD was with them.
23 And the House of Joseph spied out Bethel (the name of the city beforetime was Luz.)
24 And the spies saw a man come out of the city; and they said to him, “Show us, please, the way into the city; and we will show you mercy.”
25 And when he had shown them the way into the city, they struck the city with the edge of the sword. But they let the man and all his household depart.
26 Then the man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name ‘Luz’, which is its name to this day.
27 Nor did Manasseh destroy Beth Shean, with her towns, or Taanach with her towns, or the inhabitants of Dor with her towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam with her towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo with her towns. But the Canaanites still dwelt in that land.
28 And it came to pass at that time, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, but did not expel them completely.
29 Likewise, Ephraim did not expel the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
30 Nor did Zebulun expel the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, but the Canaanites dwelt among them and became tributaries.
31 Nor did Asher cast out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob,
32 but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. For they did not drive them out.
33 Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth Anath, but dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became tributaries to them.
34 And the Amorites drove the children of Dan into the mountain, so that they did not allow them to come down to the valley.
35 And the Amorites still dwelt on Mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. And when the hand of Joseph’s family prevailed, they became tributaries.
36 And the territory of the Amorites was from Maaleh-Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
2 And the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, “I made you go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I had sworn to your fathers, and said, ‘I will never break My Covenant with you.
2 ‘You, also, shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land, but shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My Voice. Why have you done this?
3 “Therefore, I also said, ‘I will not cast them out before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides. And their gods shall be your destruction.’”
4 And when the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept.
5 Therefore, they called the name of that place ‘Bochim’, and offered sacrifices to the LORD there.
6 Now, when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went, every man into his inheritance, to possess the land.
7 And the people had served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD that He did for Israel.
8 And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died when he was a hundred ten years old.
9 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath Heres, on Mount Ephraim, on the northern side of Mount Gaash.
10 And so, all that generation was gathered to their fathers. And another generation arose after them, which neither knew the LORD nor even the works which He had done for Israel.
11 Then, the children of Israel did wickedly in the sight of the LORD, and served Baal,
12 and forsook the LORD God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they followed other gods, the gods of the people that were all around them, and bowed to them, and provoked the LORD to anger.
13 So, they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtoreth.
14 And the wrath of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He delivered them into the hands of plunderers, who spoiled them. And He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was very much against them, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. So, He punished them severely.
16 Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hands of their oppressors.
17 But still they would not obey their judges; for they went a whoring after other gods, and worshipped them, turning quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked (obeying the Commandments of the LORD). They did not do so.
18 And when the LORD had raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge (for the LORD had compassion of their groanings, because of those who oppressed them and tormented them).
19 Yet, when the judge was dead, they returned, and did worse than their fathers, following other gods to serve them and worship them. They did not cease from their own inventions, or from their rebellious way.
20 Therefore, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He said, “Because this people has transgressed My Covenant which I Commanded their fathers, and has not obeyed My Voice,
21 “I will, therefore, no longer cast out any of the nations before them which Joshua left when he died,
22 “so that through them I may test Israel, to see whether they will keep the way of the LORD, to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.”
23 So, the LORD left those nations, and did not immediately drive them out or deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
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