Judges 1:17-21

1:17 The men of Judah went with their brothers the men of Simeon ¹  and defeated the Canaanites living in Zephath. They wiped out Zephath. ²  So people now call the city Hormah. ³  1:18 The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the territory surrounding each of these cities. ⁴ 

1:19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered ⁵  the hill country, but they could not ⁶  conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels. ⁷  1:20 Caleb received ⁸  Hebron, just as Moses had promised. He drove out the three Anakites. 1:21 The men of Benjamin, however, did not conquer the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. ⁹  The Jebusites live with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this very day. ¹⁰ 

[1:17]  ¹ tn Heb “Judah went with Simeon, his brother.”

[1:17]  ² tn Heb “it”; the referent (the city of Zephath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ³ sn The name Hormah (חָרְמָה, khormah) sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “wipe out” (חָרַם, kharam).

[1:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “The men of Judah captured Gaza and its surrounding territory, Ashkelon and its surrounding territory, and Ekron and its surrounding territory.”

[1:19]  ⁵ tn Or “seized possession of”; or “occupied.”

[1:19]  ⁶ tc Several textual witnesses support the inclusion of this verb.

[1:19]  ⁷ tn Regarding the translation “chariots with iron-rimmed wheels,” see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 255, and the article by R. Drews, “The ‘Chariots of Iron’ of Joshua and Judges,” JSOT 45 (1989): 15-23.

[1:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “they gave to Caleb.”

[1:21]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:21]  ¹⁰ sn The statement to this very day reflects the perspective of the author, who must have written prior to David’s conquest of the Jebusites (see 2 Sam 5:6-7).