Joshua 15:15-19

15:15 From there he attacked the people of Debir. ¹  (Debir used to be called Kiriath Sepher.) 15:16 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Acsah as a wife.” 15:17 When Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, ²  captured it, Caleb ³  gave Acsah his daughter to him as a wife.

15:18 One time Acsah ⁴  came and charmed her father ⁵  so that she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?” 15:19 She answered, “Please give me a special present. ⁶  Since you have given me land in the Negev, now give me springs of water. So he gave her both upper and lower springs.

¹ tn Heb “he went up against the inhabitants of Debir.”

² tn “Caleb’s brother” may refer either to Othniel or to Kenaz. If Kenaz was the brother of Caleb, Othniel is Caleb’s nephew.

³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Caleb) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Acsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “him.” The referent of the pronoun could be Othniel, in which case the translation would be, “she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field.” This is problematic, however, for Acsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 19. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18//Judges 1:14,” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. This incident is also recorded in Judg 1:14.

⁶ tn Elsewhere this Hebrew word (בְּרָכָה, bÿrakhah) is often translated “blessing,” but here it refers to a gift (as in Gen 33:11; 1 Sam 25:27; 30:26; and 2 Kgs 5:15).