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¹After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to fight for us against the Canaanites?”

²The LORD answered, “Judah is to go. I have handed the land over to him.”

³Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Come with me to my allotted territory, and let us fight against the Canaanites. I will also go with you to your allotted territory.” So Simeon went with him.

⁴When Judah attacked, the LORD handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They struck down ten thousand men in Bezek.

⁵They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek, fought against him, and struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites.

⁶When Adoni-bezek fled, they pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

⁷Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I have done.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸The men of Judah fought against Jerusalem, captured it, put it to the sword, and set the city on fire.

⁹Afterward, the men of Judah marched down to fight against the Canaanites who were living in the hill country, the Negev, and the Judean foothills.

¹⁰Judah also marched against the Canaanites who were living in Hebron (Hebron was formerly named Kiriath-arba ). They struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

¹¹From there they marched against the residents of Debir (Debir was formerly named Kiriath-sepher).

¹²Caleb said, “Whoever attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher, I will give my daughter Achsah to him as a wife.”

¹³So Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother, captured it, and Caleb gave his daughter Achsah to him as his wife.

¹⁴When she arrived, she persuaded Othniel to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?”

¹⁵She answered him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs also.” So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.

¹⁶The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’s father-in-law, had gone up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah, which was in the Negev of Arad. They went to live among the people.

¹⁷Judah went with his brother Simeon, struck the Canaanites who were living in Zephath, and completely destroyed the town. So they named the town Hormah.

¹⁸Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory.

¹⁹The LORD was with Judah and enabled them to take possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the people who were living in the valley because those people had iron chariots.

²⁰Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, just as Moses had promised. Then Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak who lived there.

²¹At the same time the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites have lived among the Benjaminites in Jerusalem to this day.

²²The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them.

²³They sent spies to Bethel (the town was formerly named Luz ).

²⁴The spies saw a man coming out of the town and said to him, “Please show us how to get into town, and we will show you kindness.”

²⁵When he showed them the way into the town, they put the town to the sword but released the man and his entire family.

²⁶Then the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a town, and named it Luz. That is its name still today.

²⁷At that time Manasseh failed to take possession of Beth-shean and Taanach and their surrounding villages, or the residents of Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo and their surrounding villages; the Canaanites were determined to stay in this land.

²⁸When Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labor but never drove them out completely.

²⁹At that time Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived among them in Gezer.

³⁰Zebulun failed to drive out the residents of Kitron or the residents of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced labor.

³¹Asher failed to drive out the residents of Acco or of Sidon, or Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob.

³²The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, because they failed to drive them out.

³³Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath. They lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, but the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served as their forced labor.

³⁴The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to go down into the valley.

³⁵The Amorites were determined to stay in Har-heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. When the house of Joseph got the upper hand, the Amorites were made to serve as forced labor.

³⁶The territory of the Amorites extended from the Scorpions’ Ascent, that is from Sela upward.

¹The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your fathers. I also said: I will never break my covenant with you.

²You are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What is this you have done?

³Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you.”

⁴When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.

⁵So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD.

⁶Previously, when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites had gone to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.

⁷The people worshiped the LORD throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the LORD’s great works he had done for Israel.

⁸Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.

⁹They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

¹⁰That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works he had done for Israel.

¹¹The Israelites did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. They worshiped the Baals

¹²and abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They angered the LORD,

¹³for they abandoned him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.

¹⁴The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies.

¹⁵Whenever the Israelites went out, the LORD was against them and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly.

¹⁶The LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders,

¹⁷but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commands. They did not do as their fathers did.

¹⁸Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, the LORD was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The LORD was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them.

¹⁹Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their fathers, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ways.

²⁰The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he declared, “Because this nation has violated my covenant that I made with their fathers and disobeyed me,

²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

²²I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep the LORD’s way by walking in it, as their fathers had.”

²³The LORD left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.

¹These are the nations the LORD left in order to test all those in Israel who had experienced none of the wars in Canaan.

²This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before.

³These nations included the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.

⁴The LORD left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the LORD’s commands he had given their fathers through Moses.

⁵But they settled among the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

⁶The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.

⁷The Israelites did what was evil in the LORD’s sight; they forgot the LORD their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.

⁸The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.

⁹The Israelites cried out to the LORD. So the LORD raised up Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother, as a deliverer to save the Israelites.

¹⁰The Spirit of the LORD came on him, and he judged Israel. Othniel went out to battle, and the LORD handed over King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram to him, so that Othniel overpowered him.

¹¹Then the land had peace for forty years, and Othniel son of Kenaz died.

¹²The Israelites again did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. He gave King Eglon of Moab power over Israel, because they had done what was evil in the LORD’s sight.

¹³After Eglon convinced the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join forces with him, he attacked and defeated Israel and took possession of the City of Palms.

¹⁴The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjaminite, as a deliverer for them. The Israelites sent him with the tribute for King Eglon of Moab.

¹⁶Ehud made himself a double-edged sword eighteen inches long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes

¹⁷and brought the tribute to King Eglon of Moab, who was an extremely fat man.

¹⁸When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had carried it.

¹⁹At the carved images near Gilgal he returned and said, “King Eglon, I have a secret message for you.” The king said, “Silence!” and all his attendants left him.

²⁰Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in his upstairs room where it was cool. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you,” and the king stood up from his throne.

²¹Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.

²²Even the handle went in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And the waste came out.

²³Ehud escaped by way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room behind him.

²⁴Ehud was gone when Eglon’s servants came in. They looked and found the doors of the upstairs room locked and thought he was relieving himself in the cool room.

²⁵The servants waited until they became embarrassed and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened the doors — and there was their lord lying dead on the floor!

²⁶Ehud escaped while the servants waited. He passed the Jordan near the carved images and reached Seirah.

²⁷After he arrived, he sounded the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hill country, and he became their leader.

²⁸He told them, “Follow me, because the LORD has handed over your enemies, the Moabites, to you.” So they followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.

²⁹At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all stout and able-bodied men. Not one of them escaped.

³⁰Moab became subject to Israel that day, and the land had peace for eighty years.

³¹After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath became judge. He also delivered Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with a cattle prod.