Judges 1-2

American Standard Version

1 And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel asked of Jehovah, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? ² And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. ³ And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. ⁴ And Judah went up; and Jehovah delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they smote of them in Bezek ten thousand men. ⁵ And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. ⁷ And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their food under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸ And the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. ⁹ And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the hill-country, and in the South, and in the lowland. ¹⁰ And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron (now the name of Hebron beforetime was Kiriath-arba); and they smote Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

¹¹ And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir beforetime was Kiriath-sepher.) ¹² And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kiriath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. ¹³ And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. ¹⁴ And it came to pass, when she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she alighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou? ¹⁵ And she said unto him, Give me a ^[a]blessing; for that thou hast ^[b]set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.

¹⁶ And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ ^[c]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 dwelt with the people. ¹⁷ And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and ^[d]utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. ¹⁸ Also Judah took Gaza with the border thereof, and Ashkelon with the border thereof, and Ekron with the border thereof. ¹⁹ And Jehovah was with Judah; and drove out the inhabitants of the hill-country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. ²⁰ And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out thence the three sons of Anak. ²¹ And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.

²² And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and Jehovah was with them. ²³ And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el. (Now the name of the city beforetime was Luz.) ²⁴ And the watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with thee. ²⁵ And he showed them the entrance into the city; and they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family. ²⁶ And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz, which is the name thereof unto this day.

²⁷ And Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its ^[e]towns, nor of Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. ²⁸ And it came to pass, when Israel was waxed strong, that they put the Canaanites to taskwork, and did not utterly drive them out.

²⁹ And Ephraim drove not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

³⁰ Zebulun drove not out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became subject to taskwork.

³¹ Asher drove not out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob; ³² but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

³³ Naphtali drove not out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to taskwork.

³⁴ And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill-country; for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley; ³⁵ but the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to taskwork. ³⁶ And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from ^[f]the rock, and upward.

2 And ^[g]the angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you: ² and ye shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall break down their altars. But ye have not hearkened unto my voice: why have ye done this? ³ Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. ⁴ And it came to pass, when the angel of Jehovah spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. ⁵ And they called the name of that place ^[h]Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto Jehovah.

⁶ Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. ⁷ And the people served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Jehovah that he had wrought for Israel. ⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died, being a hundred and ten years old. ⁹ And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰ And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, that knew not Jehovah, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel.

¹¹ And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baalim; ¹² and they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves down unto them: and they provoked Jehovah to anger. ¹³ And they forsook Jehovah, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴ And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that despoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵ Whithersoever they went out, the hand of Jehovah was against them for evil, as Jehovah had spoken, and as Jehovah had sworn unto them: and they were sore distressed.

¹⁶ And Jehovah raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those that despoiled them. ¹⁷ And yet they hearkened not unto their judges; for they played the harlot after other gods, and bowed themselves down unto them: they turned aside quickly out of the way wherein their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Jehovah; but they did not so. ¹⁸ And when Jehovah raised them up judges, then Jehovah was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented Jehovah because of their groaning by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. ¹⁹ But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; ^[i]they ceased not from their doings, nor from their stubborn way. ²⁰ And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel; and he said, Because this nation have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; ²¹ I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died; ²² that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Jehovah to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. ²³ So Jehovah left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.