Judges

Judges

¹After Joshua died, the children of Israel asked the LORD, "Who will go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight them?" ²The LORD said to them, "Judah will go up. Look, I have given the land into his hand." ³Judah said to his brother Simeon, "Come up with me into my allotted portion, and we will fight the Canaanites. Then I will also go with you into your portion." So Simeon went with him. ⁴Judah went up, and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into his hand, and he killed ten thousand men at Bezek. ⁵They found Adoni-bezek and fought against him, and they killed the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶Adoni-bezek fled, but they chased him, followed him, and caught him, and they cut off his thumbs and his big toes. ⁷Adoni-bezek said to them, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table. As I have done, so the LORD has repaid me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. ⁸The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. They struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. ⁹After that the children of Judah went down to fight the Canaanites who lived in the hill country. ¹⁰Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron, and the people of Hebron came out to meet them. (The former name of Hebron was Kiriath-arbo-sepher.) They killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak. ¹¹From there they went against the people who lived in Debir. The former name of Debir was City of Writing. ¹²Caleb said, "Whoever strikes City of Writing and captures it, I will give him my daughter Achsah to be his wife." ¹³Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, captured it, and Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah to be his wife. ¹⁴When she was about to leave, Othniel urged her to ask her father to give her a walled field. She grumbled as she sat on the donkey, and she cried out from the donkey, "You have sent me off into the land of the south!" Caleb said to her, "What is wrong?" ¹⁵Achsah said to him, "Give me a blessing. Since you have sent me into the land of the south, give me a source of water too." So Caleb gave her what her heart desired: the upper spring and the lower spring. [unclear in the Ge'ez] ¹⁶The descendants of Jobab the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the City of Palms with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lies to the south at the descent of Arad. He went and lived among the people. ¹⁷Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they killed the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They devoted it to destruction and wiped it out. ¹⁸But Judah did not take possession of Gaza and its territory, or Ashkelon and its territory, or Azotus and its territory and surrounding lands. ¹⁹The LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country. But he could not drive out those who lived in the valleys, because Rechab had set it apart. ²⁰They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. He took possession of the cities there and drove out the three sons of Anak from there. ²¹The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, and the Jebusites have lived with the children of Benjamin to this day. ²²The sons of Joseph also went up against Bethel. ²³The former name of that city was Luz. ²⁴The scouts saw a man coming out of the city. They seized him and said to him, "Show us the way into the city, and we will treat you kindly." ²⁵He showed them where to get into the city, and they struck that city with the edge of the sword. But they let that man and his family go free. ²⁶The man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city there. He named it Luz, and that has been its name to this day. ²⁷Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean, the city of the Scythians, or its villages or its surrounding lands. Nor did he take Taanach and its villages, or those who lived in Dor and its villages, or those who lived in Balaam and its villages, or those who lived in Megiddo and its villages, or those who lived in Ibleam and its villages. The Canaanites were determined to stay in that land. ²⁸Later, when Israel grew strong, they made the Canaanites pay forced tribute, but they did not wipe them out. ²⁹Ephraim also did not wipe out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. The Canaanites lived among them in Gezer and became tributaries to them. ³⁰Zebulun also did not wipe out those who lived in Kedron or those who lived in Aman. The Canaanites lived among them and became tributaries to them. ³¹Asher also did not wipe out those who lived in Acco, though they became tributaries to them, or those who lived in Dor, or those who lived in Sidon, or those who lived in Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphek, and Rehob. ³²So Asher lived among the Canaanites who lived in that land, because they could not wipe them out. ³³Naphtali also did not wipe out those who lived in Beth-shemesh or those who lived in Beth-anath. Israel lived among the Canaanites who were in that land, and those who lived in Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became tributaries to them. ³⁴The Amorites pressed the children of Dan back into the hill country, for they would not let them come down into the valleys. The Amorites settled on Mount Myrsinon, where there are bears and foxes. But the hand of the house of Joseph grew strong against the Amorites, and they became tributaries to them. ³⁵The mountain of the Amorites lay above Edom, at the ascent of Akrabbim, up on the rock. [unclear in the Ge'ez]