Judah Fights the Canaanites

1 Joshua died. Then the people of Israel prayed to the Lord. They said, “Which of our family groups should be the first to go and fight for us against the Canaanite people?” ²The Lord said to the Israelite people, “The family group of Judah will go. I will let them take this land.” ³The men of Judah asked for help from their brothers from the family group of Simeon. The men of Judah said, “Brothers, the Lord {promised to} give each of us some land. If you will come and help us fight for our land, then we will go and help you fight for your land.” The men of Simeon agreed to help their brothers from Judah fight. ⁴The Lord helped the men of Judah defeat the Canaanites and the Perizzites. The men of Judah killed 10,000 men at the city of Bezek. ⁵In the city of Bezek the men of Judah found the ruler of Bezek* and fought him. The men of Judah defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶The ruler of Bezek* tried to escape. But the men of Judah chased him and caught him. When they caught him, they cut off his thumbs and big toes. ⁷Then the ruler of Bezek said, “I cut the thumbs and big toes off of 70 kings. And those kings had to eat pieces of food that fell from my table. Now God has paid me back for the things I did to those kings.” The men of Judah took the ruler of Bezek to Jerusalem and he died there. ⁸The men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. The men of Judah used their swords to kill the people of Jerusalem. Then they burned the city. ⁹Later, the men of Judah went down to fight against some more Canaanites. Those Canaanites lived in the hill country, in the Negev,* and in the western foothills. ¹⁰Then the men of Judah went to fight against the Canaanite people that lived in the city of Hebron. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba.) The men of Judah defeated the men named Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.*

Caleb and His Daughter

¹¹The men of Judah left that place. They went to the city of Debir to fight against the people there. (In the past, Debir was called Kiriath Sepher.) ¹²Before the men of Judah started to fight, Caleb made a promise to the men. Caleb said, “I want to attack Kiriath Sepher. I will give my daughter Acsah to the man that attacks and captures that city. I will let that man marry my daughter.” ¹³Caleb had a younger brother named Kenaz. Kenaz had a son named Othniel. Othniel captured the city of Kiriath Sepher. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel to be his wife. ¹⁴Acsah went to live with Othniel. Othniel told Acsah* to ask her father for some land. {Acsah went to her father.} When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What is wrong?” ¹⁵Acsah answered Caleb, “Give me a blessing.* You gave me dry desert land in the Negev.* Please give me some land with water on it.” So Caleb gave her what she wanted. He gave her the upper and lower pools of water in that land. ¹⁶The Kenite people left the City of Palm Trees (Jericho) and went with the men of Judah. Those people went to the Desert of Judah to live with the people there. This was in the Negev* near the city Arad. (The Kenite people were from the family of Moses’ father-in-law.) ¹⁷Some Canaanite people lived in the city of Zephath. So the men of Judah and men from the family group of Simeon attacked those Canaanite people. They completely destroyed the city. So they named the city Hormah.* ¹⁸The men of Judah also captured the city of Gaza and the small towns around it. The men of Judah also captured the cities of Ashkelon and Ekron and all the small towns around them. ¹⁹The Lord was on the side of the men of Judah when they fought. They took the land in the hill country. But the men of Judah failed to take the land in the valleys, because the people living there had iron chariots.* ²⁰Moses had promised to give the land near Hebron to Caleb. So that land was given to Caleb’s family. The men of Caleb forced the three sons of Anak* to leave that place.

The Men of Benjamin Settle in Jerusalem

²¹The family group of Benjamin could not force the Jebusite people to leave Jerusalem. So even today,* the Jebusite people live with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem.

The Men of Joseph Capture Bethel

^22–23Men from the family group of Joseph went to fight against the city of Bethel. (In the past, Bethel was named Luz.) The Lord was on the side of the men from the family group of Joseph. The men from the family of Joseph sent some spies to the city of Bethel. {These men looked for ways to defeat the city of Bethel.} ²⁴While the spies were watching the city of Bethel, they saw a man come out of the city. The spies said to the man, “Show us a secret way into the city. We will attack the city. But if you help us, we will not hurt you.” ²⁵The man showed the spies the secret way into the city. The men of Joseph used their swords to kill the people of Bethel. But they did not hurt the man that helped them. And they did not hurt the people in his family. That man and his family were allowed to go free. ²⁶That man then went to the land where the Hittite people lived and built a city. He named the city Luz. And that city is still called Luz today.

Other Family Groups Fight the Canaanites

²⁷There were Canaanite people living in the cities of Beth Shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and the small towns around those cities. The people from the family group of Manasseh could not force those people to leave those towns. So the Canaanite people stayed. They refused to leave their homes. ²⁸Later the people of Israel grew stronger and forced the Canaanite people to work as slaves for them. But the people of Israel could not force all of the Canaanite people to leave their land. ²⁹{The same thing happened with the people from the family group of Ephraim.} There were Canaanite people living in Gezer. And the people of Ephraim did not make all of those Canaanite people leave their land. So the Canaanite people continued to live in Gezer with the people of Ephraim. ³⁰{The same thing happened with the people from the family group of Zebulun.} Some Canaanite people lived in the cities of Kitron and Nahalol. The people of Zebulun did not force those people to leave their land. Those Canaanite people stayed and lived with the people of Zebulun. But the people of Zebulun made those people work for them as slaves. ³¹{The same thing happened with the people from the family group of Asher.} The people of Asher did not force the other people to leave the cities of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek, and Rehob. ³²The people of Asher did not force those Canaanite people to leave their land. So the Canaanite people continued to live with the people of Asher. ³³{The same thing happened with the people from the family group of Naphtali.} The people of Naphtali did not force the people to leave the cities of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath. So the people of Naphtali continued to live with the people in those cities. Those Canaanite people worked as slaves for the people of Naphtali. ³⁴The Amorite people forced the people of the family group of Dan to live in the hill country. They had to stay in the hills because the Amorite people would not let them come down to live in the valleys. ³⁵The Amorite people decided to stay in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. Later, the family group of Joseph grew stronger. Then they made the Amorite people work as slaves for them. ³⁶The land of the Amorite people was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and up into the hill country past Sela.

ruler of Bezek Or, “Adoni Bezek.” Negev The desert area south of Judah. Sheshai, Ahiman, Talmai Three sons of a man named Anak. They were giants. See Num. 13:22. Othniel told Acsah Or, “Acsah told Othniel.” Give me a blessing Or, “Please welcome me.” Or, “Give me a stream of water.” Negev The desert area south of Judah. Hormah This name means “completely destroyed.” iron chariots Small wagons used in war. They were faster and could carry more weapons than soldiers on foot. three sons of Anak Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, mentioned above in verse 10. even today That is, at the time the book was written.

The Angel of the Lord at Bokim

2 The Angel of the Lord went up to the city of Bokim from the city of Gilgal. The angel spoke a message from the Lord to the people of Israel. This was the message: “I brought you out of Egypt. I led you to the land that I promised to give to your ancestors.* I told you I would never break my agreement with you. ²But in return, you must never make any agreement with the people living in that land. You must destroy their altars.* I told you that. But you didn’t obey me! ³“Now I will tell you this, ‘I will not force the other people to leave this land any longer. These people will become a problem for you. They will be like a trap to you. Their false gods will become like a net to trap you.’” ⁴After the angel gave the people of Israel this message from the Lord, the people cried loudly. ⁵So the people of Israel named the place where they cried, Bokim.* At Bokim the people of Israel offered sacrifices to the Lord.

Disobedience and Defeat

⁶Then Joshua told the people to go home. So each family group went to take their area of land to live in it. ⁷The people of Israel served the Lord as long as Joshua was alive. They continued serving the Lord during the lifetimes of the elders (leaders) that lived after Joshua had died. These old men had seen all the great things the Lord had done for the people of Israel. ⁸Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. ⁹The people of Israel buried Joshua. They buried Joshua on the land that he had been given. That was at Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰After that whole generation died, the next generation grew up. This new generation did not know about the Lord and what the Lord had done for the people of Israel. ¹¹So the people of Israel did evil and served the false god Baal.* The Lord saw the people doing this evil thing. ¹²The Lord had brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. And the ancestors* of these people had worshiped the Lord. But the people of Israel quit following the Lord. The people of Israel began to worship the false gods of the people living around them. That made the Lord angry. ¹³The people of Israel quit following the Lord and began worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth.* ¹⁴The Lord was angry with the people of Israel. So the Lord let enemies attack the people of Israel and take their possessions. The Lord let their enemies that lived around them defeat them. The people of Israel could not protect themselves from their enemies. ¹⁵When the people of Israel went out to fight, they always lost. They lost because the Lord was not on their side. The Lord had already warned the people of Israel that they would lose if they served the gods of the people living around them. The people of Israel suffered very much. ¹⁶Then the Lord chose leaders called judges. These leaders saved the people of Israel from the enemies that took their possessions. ¹⁷But the people of Israel did not listen to their judges. The people of Israel were not faithful to God—they followed other gods.* In the past, the ancestors* of the people of Israel obeyed the Lord’s commands. But now the people of Israel changed and stopped obeying the Lord. ¹⁸Many times the enemies of Israel did bad things to the people. So the people of Israel would cry for help. And each time, the Lord felt sorry for the people. Each time he sent a judge to save the people from their enemies. The Lord was always with those judges. So each time, the people of Israel were saved from their enemies. ¹⁹But when each judge died, the people of Israel again sinned and started worshiping the false gods. The people of Israel were very stubborn—they refused to change their evil ways. ²⁰So the Lord became angry with the people of Israel, and he said, “This nation has broken the Agreement that I made with their ancestors.* They have not listened to me. ²¹So I will no longer defeat the nations and clear the way for the people of Israel. Those nations were still in this land when Joshua died. And I will let those nations stay in this land. ²²I will use those nations to test the people of Israel. I will see if the people of Israel can keep the Lord’s commands like their ancestors did.” ²³The Lord allowed those nations to stay in the land. The Lord did not force those nations to quickly leave the country. He did not help Joshua’s army defeat them.

ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. altar(s) A stone table used for burning sacrifices that were offered as gifts to God. Bokim This name means “People crying.” Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land produce good crops. Ashtoreth The Canaanite people thought that this false goddess could make people able to have babies. She was their goddess of love and war. were not faithful … other gods Literally, “acted like a prostitute to other gods.”