Judges 1:1-16

Jerusalem Is Captured

¹Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” ²The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have handed the land over to him.” ³Then Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Go up with me into the territory allotted me, and let’s fight the Canaanites; and I in turn will go with you into the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him. ⁴Judah went up, and the Lord handed over to them the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek. ⁵They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. ⁷And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. ⁹Afterward, the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, and in the Negev, and in the lowland. ¹⁰So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was previously Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

Capture of Other Cities

¹¹Then from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was previously Kiriath-sepher). ¹²And Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as a wife.” ¹³Now Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife. ¹⁴Then it happened that when she came to him, she incited him to ask her father for a field. Then later, she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” ¹⁵She said to him, “Give me a blessing: since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me springs of water also.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

¹⁶Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

Places Not Conquered