Judges 1

¹After the death of Josue the children of Israel consulted our Lord, saying: Who shall go up before us against the Chananite, & shall be captain of the war?

²And our Lord said: Judas shall go up: behold I have delivered the Land into his hands.

³And Judas said to Simeon his brother: Come up with me into my lot, and fight against the Chananite, that I also may go forward with thee into thy lot. And Simeon went with him.

⁴And Judas went up and our Lord delivered the Chananite, and the Pherezite into their hands: and they struck in Bezec ten thousand men.

⁵And they found Adonibezec in Bezec, and fought against him, and struck the Chananite and the Pherezite.

⁶And Adonibezec fled: whom pursuing they took, cutting off the extreme parts of his hands and feet.

⁷And Adonibezec said: Seventy kings having the extreme parts of their hands and feet cut off, gathered up the relics of meats under my table: as I have done, so hath God repayed me. And they brought him into Jerusalem, and there he died.

⁸Therefore the children of Judas assaulting Jerusalem, took it, and struck it in the edge of the sword, setting the whole city on fire.

⁹And afterward going down they fought against the Chananite, which dwelled in the mountains, and southward, & in the champion countries.

¹⁰And Judas going forward, against the Chananite, that dwelled in Hebron (the name whereof was before time Cariatharbe) struck Sesai, and Ahiman, and Tholmai:

¹¹and departing thence went to the inhabitants of Dabir, the old name whereof was Cariath Sepher, that is a city of letters.

¹²And Caleb said: He that shall strike Cariath Sepher, and spoil it, I will give him Axa my daughter to wife.

¹³And when Othoniel the son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb had taken it, he gave him Axa his daughter to wife.

¹⁴Whom going on her way her husband admonished to ask a field of her father. To whom, when she had sighed sitting on her ass, Caleb said: What aileth thee?

¹⁵But she answered. Give me a blessing, for a dry land thou hast given me: give me also a watery. Caleb therefore gave her a watery ground above, and watery beneath.

¹⁶And the children of the Cineite the cousin of Moyses went up from the city of palms, with the children of Judas into the desert of his lot, which is at the south side of Arad, & dwelt with him.

¹⁷But Judas went with Simeon his brother, & together they struck the Chananite that dwelt in Sephaath, and slew him. And the name of the city was called, Horma, that is, Anathema.

¹⁸And Judas took Gaza with the coasts thereof, & Ascalon, & Accaron with their bounds.

¹⁹And our Lord was with Judas, & he possessed the mountains: neither could he destroy the inhabitants of the valley, because they had many hooked chariots.

²⁰And they gave to Caleb Hebron, as Moyses had said, who destroyed out of it the three sons of Enac.

²¹But the Jebusite the inhabiter of Jerusalem the children of Benjamin destroyed not: and the Jebusite dwelt with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this present day.

²²The house also of Joseph went up into Bethel, and our Lord was with them.

²³For when they besieged the city, which before was called Luza,

²⁴they saw a man coming out of the city, and said to him: Shew us the entrance of the city, and we will shew thee mercy.

²⁵Who when he had shewed them, they struck the city in the edge of the sword: but that man, & all his kindred they dismissed.

²⁶Who being dismissed, went into the Land of the Hetthims, & built there a city, & called it Luza: which is so called until this present day.

²⁷Manasses also destroyed not Bethsan, and Thanac with their little towns, and the inhabitants of Dor, and Jeblaam, and Mageddo with their little towns. And the Chananeite began to dwell with them.

²⁸But after that Israel was waxen strong he made them tributaries, and would not destroy them.

²⁹Ephraim also killed not the Chananite, that dwelt in Gazer, but dwelt with him.

³⁰Zabulon destroyed not the inhabitants of Cetron, and Naalol: but the Chananite dwelt in the midst of him, & was made tributary to him.

³¹Aser also destroyed not the inhabitants of Accho, & of Sidon, of Ahalab, and Achazib, & Helba, & Aphec, & Rohob:

³²and he dwelt in the midst of the Chananite the inhabiter of that Land, neither did he kill them.

³³Nephthali also destroyed not the inhabitants of Bethsames, & Bethanath: and he dwelt in the midst of the Chananite the inhabiter of the Land, and the Bethsamites & Bethanites were tributaries to him.

³⁴And the Amorrhite straitened the children of Dan in the mountain, and gave them not place to go down to the plain:

³⁵and he dwelt in the mount Hares which is interpreted shells, in Aialon and Salebim. And the hand of the house of Joseph was aggravated, and he became tributary to him.

³⁶And the border of the Amorrhite was from the Ascent of the Scorpion, the rock, and the higher places.