Shof’tim (Jdg) 1

1 After the death of Y’hoshua, the people of Isra’el askedAdonai, “Who will go up for us first to fight against the Kena‘ani?”

2 Adonaisaid: “Y’hudah will go up; here, I have handed the land over to him.”

3 Y’hudah said to his brother Shim‘on, “Come up with me into my assigned territory, so that we can fight against the Kena‘ani; and I likewise will go with you into your territory.” So Shim‘on went with him.

4 Y’hudah went up; andAdonaigave the Kena‘ani and the P’rizi into their hands; of those in Bezek they killed ten thousand men.

5 They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him. They killed the Kena‘ani and the P’rizi,

6 but Adoni-Bezek fled. They pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

7 Adoni-Bezek said: “Seventy kings, with their thumbs and their big toes cut off, gathered food under my table; God has paid me back in accordance with what I did.” They brought him to Yerushalayim, and he died there.

8 Then the people of Y’hudah fought against Yerushalayim, captured it, overpowered it with the sword, and set the city on fire.

9 Afterwards, the people of Y’hudah went down to fight against the Kena‘ani who lived in the hill-country, in the Negev, and in the Sh’felah.

10 Y’hudah also attacked the Kena‘ani living in Hevron (formerly called Kiryat-Arba), and they overpowered Sheshai, Achiman and Talmai.

11 From there they attacked the inhabitants of D’vir (D’vir was formerly called Kiryat-Sefer).

12 Kalev said: “To whoever overpowers Kiryat-Sefer and captures it I will give my daughter ‘Akhsah as his wife.”

13 ‘Otni’el the son of K’naz, Kalev’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him ‘Akhsah his daughter as his wife.

14 After becoming his wife, she persuaded him to ask her father to give them a field; when she got off her donkey, Kalev asked her, “What do you want?”

15 She said to him: “Give me a blessing: since you gave me land in the Negev, also give me sources of water.” So Kalev gave her the Upper Springs and the Lower Springs.

16 Next, the descendants of the Keini, Moshe’s father-in-law, went up out of the City of Date-Palms with the people of Y’hudah into the Y’hudah Desert south of ‘Arad; and they came and settled with the people.

17 Y’hudah went with Shim‘on his brother; they overpowered the Kena‘ani who inhabited Tz’fat, and completely destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.

18 Y’hudah also took ‘Azah with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory and ‘Ekron with its territory.

19 Adonaiwas with Y’hudah, and they took possession of the hill-country, because they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, since they had iron chariots.

20 They gave Hevron to Kalev, as Moshe had said to do; and he drove out from there the three sons of ‘Anak.

21 The people of Binyamin did not drive out the Y’vusi who inhabited Yerushalayim; rather, the Y’vusi continued living with the people of Binyamin in Yerushalayim, as they do to this day.

22 The house of Yosef likewise attacked Beit-El; andAdonaiwas with them.

23 The house of Yosef sent spies to Beit-El (the city was formerly called Luz).

24 The spies saw a man coming out of the city and said to him: “Please show us the way to enter the city, and we will treat you kindly.”

25 So he showed them the way into the city, and they overpowered the city with the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free.

26 He went into the land of the Hittim, built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

27 M’nasheh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beit-Sh’an and its villages, Ta‘anakh and its villages, Dor and its villages, Yivle‘am and its villages or Megiddo and its villages; so that the Kena‘ani managed to keep on living in that land.

28 In time, when Isra’el had grown strong, they did put the Kena‘ani to forced labor but failed to drive them out completely.

29 Efrayim did not drive out the Kena‘ani living in Gezer; so the Kena‘ani continued living in Gezer along with them.

30 Z’vulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or Nahalol; so the Kena‘ani continued to live among them but became subject to forced labor.

31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of ‘Akko, Tzidon, Achlav, Akhziv, Helbah, Afik or Rechov;

32 so the Asheri lived among the Kena‘ani who were living in the land, because they didn’t drive them out.

33 Naftali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beit-Shemesh or Beit-‘Anat but lived among the Kena‘ani living in the land; however, the inhabitants of Beit-Shemesh and Beit-‘Anat became forced labor for them.

34 The Emori forced the people of Dan into the hills; for they would not let them come down to the valley.

35 The Emori had resolved to live in the Heres Hills, in Ayalon and in Sha‘alvim; but when the power of the house of Yosef grew greater, they became subject to forced labor.

36 So the territory of the Emori was from the Scorpion Ascent and the Rock upward.

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