Judges, starting at chapter 1
{1:1} It happened after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel
asked of Yahweh, saying, "Who should go up for us first against the
Canaanites, to fight against them?"
{1:2} Yahweh said, "Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the
land into his hand."
{1:3} Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into my
lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go
with you into your lot." So Simeon went with him. {1:4} Judah went up;
and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their
hand: and they struck of them in Bezek ten thousand men. {1:5} They
found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they
struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites. {1:6} But Adoni-Bezek fled;
and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and
his great toes. {1:7} Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their
thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my
table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to
Jerusalem, and he died there. {1:8} The children of Judah fought
against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the
sword, and set the city on fire. {1:9} Afterward the children of Judah
went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill
country, and in the South, and in the lowland. {1:10} Judah went
against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron
before was Kiriath Arba); and they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and
Talmai.
{1:11} From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the
name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher.) {1:12} Caleb said, "He who
strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my
daughter as wife." {1:13} Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger
brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.
{1:14} It happened, when she came [to him], that she moved him to
ask of her father a field: and she alighted from off her donkey; and
Caleb said to her, "What would you like?"
{1:15} She said to him, "Give me a blessing; for that you have set
me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water." Then
Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. {1:16} The
children of the Kenite, Moses' 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 lived with the
people. {1:17} Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the
Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name
of the city was called Hormah. {1:18} Also Judah took Gaza with its
border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.
{1:19} Yahweh 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. {1:20} They gave Hebron to
Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out there the three sons of
Anak. {1:21} The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites
who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of
Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
{1:22} The house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel; and
Yahweh was with them. {1:23} The house of Joseph sent to spy out
Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) {1:24} The watchers
saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, "Show us,
we pray you, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with
you." {1:25} He showed them the entrance into the city; and they
struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go
and all his family. {1:26} The man went into the land of the Hittites,
and built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this
day.
{1:27} Manasseh did not drive out [the inhabitants of] Beth Shean
and its 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. {1:28} It happened, when Israel had grown strong,
that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and did not utterly
drive them out. {1:29} Ephraim didn't drive out the Canaanites who
lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them. {1:30}
Zebulun didn't drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the
inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and
became subject to forced labor. {1:31} Asher didn't drive 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; {1:32} but the
Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for
they did not drive them out. {1:33} Naphtali didn't drive out the
inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he
lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless
the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to
forced labor. {1:34} The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the
hill country; for they would not allow them to come down to the
valley; {1:35} 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 forced labor. {1:36} The
border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock,
and upward.
{2:1} The angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, "I
made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which
I swore to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break my covenant
with you: {2:2} and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of
this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not
listened to my voice: why have you done this? {2:3} Therefore 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 to you."
{2:4} It happened, when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all
the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and
wept. {2:5} They called the name of that place Bochim: and they
sacrificed there to Yahweh. {2:6} Now when Joshua had sent the people
away, the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to
possess the land. {2:7} The people served Yahweh all the days of
Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had
seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had worked for Israel. {2:8}
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred
ten years old. {2:9} 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. {2:10} Also all that generation were gathered to
their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who
didn't know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he had worked for Israel.
{2:11} The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh, and served the Baals; {2:12} and they forsook Yahweh, the God
of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and
followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them,
and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked Yahweh to anger.
{2:13} They forsook Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. {2:14}
The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them
into the hands of spoilers who despoiled them; and he sold them into
the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could not any
longer stand before their enemies. {2:15} Wherever they went out, the
hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as
Yahweh had sworn to them: and they were sore distressed. {2:16} Yahweh
raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who
despoiled them. {2:17} Yet they didn't listen to their judges; for
they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down
to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their
fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Yahweh; [but] they didn't
do so. {2:18} When Yahweh raised them up judges, then Yahweh was with
the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the
days of the judge: for it grieved Yahweh because of their groaning by
reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them. {2:19} But it
happened, 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 to them; they didn't cease from their doings,
nor from their stubborn way. {2:20} The anger of Yahweh was kindled
against Israel; and he said, "Because this nation have transgressed my
covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to my
voice; {2:21} I also will not henceforth drive out any from before
them of the nations that Joshua left when he died; {2:22} that by them
I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk
therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not." {2:23} So Yahweh left
those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he
them into the hand of Joshua.
{3:1} Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to prove Israel
by them, even as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of
Canaan; {3:2} only that the generations of the children of Israel
might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew
nothing of it: {3:3} [namely], the five lords of the Philistines, and
all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on
Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. {3:4}
They were [left], to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would
listen to the commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers
by Moses. {3:5} The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the
Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and
the Jebusites: {3:6} and they took their daughters to be their wives,
and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.
{3:7} The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the
Asheroth. {3:8} Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against
Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of
Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight
years. {3:9} When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh
raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even
Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. {3:10} The Spirit
of Yahweh came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war,
and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his
hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim. {3:11} The
land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died. {3:12} The
children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh: and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel,
because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.
{3:13} He gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he
went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.
{3:14} The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen
years. {3:15} But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh
raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man
left-handed. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the
king of Moab. {3:16} Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, a
cubit in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his right
thigh. {3:17} He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon
was a very fat man. {3:18} When he had made an end of offering the
tribute, he sent away the people who bore the tribute. {3:19} But he
himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said,
"I have a secret errand to you, king."
The king said, "Keep silence!" All who stood by him went out from
him.
{3:20} Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the
cool upper room. Ehud said, "I have a message from God to you." He
arose out of his seat. {3:21} Ehud put forth his left hand, and took
the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body: {3:22}
and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the
blade, for he didn't draw the sword out of his body; and it came out
behind. {3:23} Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors
of the upper room on him, and locked them.
{3:24} Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw,
and behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said,
"Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber." {3:25} They
waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn't open the doors
of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened [them], and
behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
{3:26} Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the
quarries, and escaped to Seirah. {3:27} It happened, when he had come,
that he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the
children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he
before them.
{3:28} He said to them, "Follow me; for Yahweh has delivered your
enemies the Moabites into your hand." They followed him, and took the
fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn't allow any man to
pass over. {3:29} They struck of Moab at that time about ten thousand
men, every lusty man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a
man. {3:30} So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The
land had rest eighty years.
{3:31} After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the
Philistines six hundred men with an oxgoad: and he also saved Israel.
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