Judges 1 - New King James Version (NKJV)

The Continuing Conquest of Canaan^(A)

1 Now after the ^(B)death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel ^(C)asked the Lord, saying, “Who shall be first to go up for us against the ^(D)Canaanites to fight against them?”

² And the Lord said, ^(E)“Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.”

³ So Judah said to ^(F)Simeon his brother, “Come up with me to my allotted territory, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and ^(G)I will likewise go with you to your allotted territory.” And Simeon went with him. ⁴ Then Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand; and they killed ten thousand men at ^(H)Bezek. ⁵ And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him; and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶ Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. ⁷ And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; ^(I)as I have done, so God has repaid me.” Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

⁸ Now ^(J)the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. ^{9 (K)}And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in the ^[a]South, and in the lowland. ¹⁰ Then Judah ^[b]went against the Canaanites who dwelt in ^(L)Hebron. (Now the name of Hebron was formerly ^(M)Kirjath Arba.) And they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

^{11 (N)}From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir was formerly Kirjath Sepher.)

^{12 (O)}Then Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife.” ¹³ And Othniel the son of Kenaz, ^(P)Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife. ^{14 (Q)}Now it happened, when she came to him, that ^[c]she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?” ¹⁵ So she said to him, ^(R)“Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water.”

And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

^{16 (S)}Now the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up ^(T)from the City of Palms with the children of Judah into the Wilderness of Judah, which lies in the South near ^(U)Arad; ^(V)and they went and dwelt among the people. ^{17 (W)}And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called ^(X)Hormah. ¹⁸ Also Judah took ^(Y)Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. ¹⁹ So the Lord was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had ^(Z)chariots of iron. ^{20 (AA)}And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he ^[d]expelled from there the ^(AB)three sons of Anak. ^{21 (AC)}But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

²² And the ^[e]house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, ^(AD)and the Lord was with them. ²³ So the ^[f]house of Joseph ^(AE)sent men to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city was formerly ^(AF)Luz.) ²⁴ And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and ^(AG)we will show you mercy.” ²⁵ So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go. ²⁶ And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

Incomplete Conquest of the Land

^{27 (AH)}However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or ^(AI)Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of ^(AJ)Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. ²⁸ And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites ^[g]under tribute, but did not completely drive them out.

^{29 (AK)}Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; so the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

³⁰ Nor did ^(AL)Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites dwelt among them, and ^[h]were put under tribute.

^{31 (AM)}Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. ³² So the Asherites ^(AN)dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

^{33 (AO)}Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but they dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were put under tribute to them.

³⁴ And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley; ³⁵ and the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, ^(AP)in Aijalon, and in ^[i]Shaalbim; yet when the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, they ^[j]were put under tribute.

³⁶ Now the boundary of the Amorites was ^(AQ)from the Ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela, and upward.

Footnotes

1. Judges 1:9 Heb. Negev, and so throughout the book
2. Judges 1:10 attacked
3. Judges 1:14 LXX, Vg. he urged her
4. Judges 1:20 drove out from there
5. Judges 1:22 family
6. Judges 1:23 family
7. Judges 1:28 to forced labor
8. Judges 1:30 became forced laborers
9. Judges 1:35 Shaalabbin, Josh. 19:42
10. Judges 1:35 became forced laborers

Cross references

1. Judges 1:1 : Josh. 15:13–19
2. Judges 1:1 : Josh. 24:29
3. Judges 1:1 : Num. 27:21; Judg. 20:18
4. Judges 1:1 : Josh. 17:12, 13
5. Judges 1:2 : Gen. 49:8, 9; Rev. 5:5
6. Judges 1:3 : Josh. 19:1
7. Judges 1:3 : Judg. 1:17
8. Judges 1:4 : 1 Sam. 11:8
9. Judges 1:7 : Lev. 24:19; 1 Sam. 15:33; [James 2:13]
10. Judges 1:8 : Josh. 15:63; Judg. 1:21
11. Judges 1:9 : Josh. 10:36; 11:21; 15:13
12. Judges 1:10 : Josh. 15:13–19
13. Judges 1:10 : Josh. 14:15
14. Judges 1:11 : Josh. 15:15
15. Judges 1:12 : Josh. 15:16, 17
16. Judges 1:13 : Judg. 3:9
17. Judges 1:14 : Josh. 15:18, 19
18. Judges 1:15 : Gen. 33:11
19. Judges 1:16 : Num. 10:29–32; Judg. 4:11, 17; 1 Sam. 15:6; 1 Chr. 2:55
20. Judges 1:16 : Deut. 34:3; Judg. 3:13
21. Judges 1:16 : Josh. 12:14
22. Judges 1:16 : 1 Sam. 15:6
23. Judges 1:17 : Judg. 1:3
24. Judges 1:17 : Num. 21:3; Josh. 19:4
25. Judges 1:18 : Josh. 11:22
26. Judges 1:19 : Josh. 17:16, 18; Judg. 4:3, 13
27. Judges 1:20 : Num. 14:24; Josh. 14:9, 14
28. Judges 1:20 : Josh. 15:14; Judg. 1:10
29. Judges 1:21 : Josh. 15:63; Judg. 1:8
30. Judges 1:22 : Judg. 1:19
31. Judges 1:23 : Josh. 2:1; 7:2
32. Judges 1:23 : Gen. 28:19
33. Judges 1:24 : Josh. 2:12, 14
34. Judges 1:27 : Josh. 17:11–13
35. Judges 1:27 : Josh. 21:25
36. Judges 1:27 : Josh. 17:11
37. Judges 1:29 : Josh. 16:10; 1 Kin. 9:16
38. Judges 1:30 : Josh. 19:10–16
39. Judges 1:31 : Josh. 19:24–31
40. Judges 1:32 : Ps. 106:34, 35
41. Judges 1:33 : Josh. 19:32–39
42. Judges 1:35 : Josh. 19:42
43. Judges 1:36 : Num. 34:4; Josh. 15:3