Judges 1:1-7

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.

[1:1]  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.