Judges 1:1-13

Judah Takes the Lead

1:1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked ¹  the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” ²  1:2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. ³  Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.” ⁴  1:3 The men of Judah said to their relatives, the men of Simeon, ⁵  “Invade our allotted land with us and help us attack the Canaanites. ⁶  Then we ⁷  will go with you into your allotted land.” So the men of Simeon went with them.

1:4 The men of Judah attacked, ⁸  and the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They killed ten thousand men at Bezek. 1:5 They met ⁹  Adoni-Bezek at Bezek and fought him. They defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites. 1:6 When Adoni-Bezek ran away, they chased him and captured him. Then they cut off his thumbs and big toes. 1:7 Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up ¹⁰  food scraps ¹¹  under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them.” ¹²  They brought him to Jerusalem, ¹³  where he died. 1:8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They put the sword to it and set the city on fire.

1:9 Later the men of Judah went down to attack the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev, and the lowlands. ¹⁴  1:10 The men of Judah attacked the Canaanites living in Hebron. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba.) They killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 1:11 From there they attacked the people of Debir. ¹⁵  (Debir used to be called Kiriath Sepher.) 1:12 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Acsah as a wife.” 1:13 When Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, ¹⁶  captured it, Caleb ¹⁷  gave him his daughter Acsah as a wife.

[1:1]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “asked” (שָׁאַל, sha’al) refers here to consulting the Lord through a prophetic oracle; cf. NAB “consulted.”

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “Who should first go up for us against the Canaanites to attack them?”

[1:2]  ³ tn Heb “Judah should go up.”

[1:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew exclamation הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally, “Behold”), translated “Be sure of this,” draws attention to the following statement. The verb form in the following statement (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the Lord speaks of it as a “done deal.”

[1:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Judah said to Simeon, his brother.”

[1:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “Come up with me into our allotted land and let us attack the Canaanites.”

[1:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “I.” The Hebrew pronoun is singular, agreeing with the collective singular “Judah” earlier in the verse. English style requires a plural pronoun here, however.

[1:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “Judah went up.”

[1:5]  ⁹ tn Or “found.”

[1:7]  ¹⁰ tn Elsewhere this verb usually carries the sense of “to gather; to pick up; to glean,” but “lick up” seems best here in light of the peculiar circumstances described by Adoni-Bezek.

[1:7]  ¹¹ tn The words “food scraps” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[1:7]  ¹² tn Heb “Just as I did, so God has repaid me.” Note that the phrase “to them” has been supplied in the translation to clarify what is meant.

[1:7]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”

[1:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they went from there against the inhabitants of Debir.” The LXX reads the verb as “they went up,” which suggests that the Hebrew text translated by the LXX read וַיַּעַל (vayya’al) rather than the MT’s וַיֵּלֶךְ (vayyelekh). It is possible that this is the text to be preferred in v. 11. Cf. Josh 15:15.

[1:13]  ¹⁶ tn “Caleb’s younger brother” may refer to Othniel or to Kenaz (in which case Othniel was Caleb’s nephew; so CEV).

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Caleb) has been specified in the translation for clarity.