the First Day after Christmas
Click here to join the effort!
Read the Bible
Updated Bible Version
Judges 1
1 And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?
2 And Yahweh said, Judah shall go up: look, I have delivered the land into his hand.
3 And 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.
4 And Judah went up; and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they smote of them in Bezek ten thousand men.
5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
7 And 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 repaid me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 And the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.
9 And afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the hill-country, and in the South, and in the lowland.
10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba); and they smote Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.
11 And from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher.)
12 And Caleb said, He that smites Kiriath-sepher, and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife.
13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.
14 And it came to pass, when she came [to him], that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she dismounted from off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, What do you want?
15 And 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. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.
16 And the sons of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm-trees with the sons of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the Negeb of Arad; and Amalek went and dwelt with them.
17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and completely destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.
18 Also Judah took Gaza with the border thereof, and Ashkelon with the border thereof, and Ekron with the border thereof.
19 And 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.
20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak.
21 And the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and Yahweh was with them.
23 And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el. (Now the name of the city formerly was Luz.)
24 And 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.
25 And he showed them the entrance into the city; and they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family.
26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz, which is the name thereof to this day.
27 And 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 determined to dwell in that land.
28 And it came to pass, when Israel was waxed strong, that they put the Canaanites to slave labor, and did not completely drive them out.
29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became subject to slave labor.
31 Asher did not 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;
32 but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to slave labor.
34 And the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill-country; for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;
35 but the Amorites determined to dwell in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to slave labor.
36 And the border of the Amorites was the Edomites, from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.
Updated Bible Version
Scripture quotations are from the UPDV® Updated Bible Version 1.9, Copyright © 2003-4 by Updated Publishers. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.