Richter 1 | King James Version New International Reader’s Version

Richter 1 | King James Version
1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? 2 And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. 3 And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. 4 And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men. 5 And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. 7 And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. 8 Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. 10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. 11 And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher: 12 And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb' younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to 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 lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? 15 And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. 16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses'father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. 17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof. 19 And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 20 And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. 21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. 22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) 24 And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. 25 And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man 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 unto this day. 27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. 29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. 31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, 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 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them. 34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: 35 But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. 36 And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

King James Bible (1769). Public Domain. Please note the following exceptions for use and publication in the United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

New International Reader’s Version

The Israelites fight against the remaining Canaanites

1 Joshua died. After that, the Israelites spoke to the LORD. They asked him, ‘Who of us will go up first and fight against the Canaanites?’ 2 The LORD answered, ‘The tribe of Judah will go up. I have handed the land over to them.’ 3 Then the men of Judah spoke to their fellow Israelites, the men of Simeon. They said, ‘Come up with us. Come into the territory Joshua gave us. Help us fight against the Canaanites. Then we’ll go with you into your territory.’ So the men of Simeon went with them. 4 When the men of Judah attacked, the LORD helped them. He handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They struck down 10,000 men at Bezek. 5 The men of Judah found Adoni-Bezek there. They fought against him. They struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 But Adoni-Bezek ran away. The men of Judah chased him and caught him. Then they cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 Adoni-Bezek said, ‘I cut off the thumbs and big toes of 70 kings. I made them pick up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.’ The men of Judah brought Adoni-Bezek to Jerusalem. That’s where he died. 8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They set the city on fire. They killed its people with their swords. 9 After that, the men of Judah went down to fight against some Canaanites. Those Canaanites were living in the central hill country. They also fought against those living in the Negev Desert and the western hills. 10 Then the men of Judah marched out against the Canaanites living in Hebron. Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba. The men of Judah won the battle over Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. 11 From Hebron they marched out against the people living in Debir. It used to be called Kiriath Sepher. 12 Caleb said, ‘I will give my daughter Aksah to be married. I’ll give her to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.’ 13 Othniel captured it. So Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him to be his wife. Othniel was the son of Kenaz. He was Caleb’s younger brother. 14 One day Aksah came to Othniel. She begged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What can I do for you?’ 15 She replied, ‘Do me a special favour. You have given me some land in the Negev Desert. Give me springs of water also.’ So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. 16 Moses’ father-in-law was a Kenite. His family went up from Jericho. Jericho was also known as the City of Palm Trees. His family went up with the people of Judah to the Desert of Judah. They went there to live among its people. Those people were living in the Negev Desert near Arad. 17 The men of Judah marched out with their fellow Israelites, the men of Simeon. They attacked the people of Canaan living in Zephath. They set the city apart to the LORD in a special way to be destroyed. That’s why the city was called Hormah. 18 The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron. They also captured the territory around each of those cities. 19 The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took over the central hill country. But they weren’t able to drive the people out of the plains. That’s because those people used chariots that had some iron parts. 20 Moses had promised to give Hebron to Caleb. So Hebron was given to Caleb. He drove the three sons of Anak out of it. 21 But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day they live there with the people of Benjamin. 22 The tribes of Joseph attacked Bethel. The LORD was with them. 23 They sent men to Bethel to check it out. It used to be called Luz. 24 Those who were sent saw a man coming out of the city. They said to him, ‘Show us how to get into the city. If you do, we’ll see that you are treated well.’ 25 So he showed them how to get in. The men of Joseph killed the people in the city with their swords. But they spared the man from Bethel. They also spared his whole family. 26 Then he went to the land of the Hittites. He built a city there. He called it Luz. That’s still its name to this day. 27 But the tribe of Manasseh didn’t drive out the people of Beth Shan. They didn’t drive out the people of Taanach, Dor, Ibleam and Megiddo. And they didn’t drive out the people of the settlements that are around those cities either. That’s because the Canaanites had made up their minds to continue living in that land. 28 Later, Israel became stronger. Then they forced the Canaanites to work hard for them. But Israel never drove them out completely. 29 The tribe of Ephraim didn’t drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer. So the Canaanites continued to live there among them. 30 The tribe of Zebulun didn’t drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron and Nahalol. So these Canaanites lived among them. But the people of Zebulun forced the Canaanites to work hard for them. 31 The tribe of Asher didn’t drive out the people living in Akko and Sidon. They didn’t drive out the people of Ahlab, Akzib, Helbah, Aphek and Rehob. 32 So the people of Asher lived among the Canaanites who were in the land. 33 The tribe of Naphtali didn’t drive out the people living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath. So the people of Naphtali lived among the Canaanites who were in the land. The people of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to work hard for them. 34 The Amorites made the people of Dan stay in the central hill country. They didn’t let them come down into the plain. 35 The Amorites made up their minds to stay in Mount Heres. They also stayed in Aijalon and Shaalbim. But the power of the tribes of Joseph grew. Then the Amorites were forced to work hard for them. 36 The border of the Amorites started at Scorpion Pass. It went to Sela and even past it.