11 Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord , saying , "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites , to fight against them?" 2 The Lord said , " Judah shall go up; behold , I have given the land into his hand ." 3 Then Judah said to Simeon his brother , "Come up with me into [1]the territory allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites ; and [2]I in turn will go with you into [3]the territory allotted you." So Simeon went with him. 4 Judah went up, and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands , and they [4]defeated ten thousand men at Bezek . 5 They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they [5]defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites . 6 But Adoni-bezek fled ; and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his [6]thumbs and big toes e . 7 Adoni-bezek said , "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes e cut off used to gather up scraps under my table ; as I have done , so God has repaid me." So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there .
8 Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire .
9 Afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country and in the [7]Negev and in the lowland . 10 So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba ); and they struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai .
11 Then from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher ). 12 And Caleb said , "The one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter Achsah for a wife ." 13 Othniel the son of Kenaz , Caleb's younger brother , captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for a wife . 14 Then it came about when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field . Then she alighted from [8]her donkey , and Caleb said to her, "What [9]do you want?" 15 She said to him, "Give me a blessing , since you have given me the land of the [10]Negev , give me also springs of water ." So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs .
16 The [11]descendants of the Kenite , Moses' father-in-law , went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah , to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad ; and they went and lived with the people . 17 Then Judah went with Simeon his brother , and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath , and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah . 18 And Judah took Gaza with its territory and Ashkelon with its territory and Ekron with its territory . 19 Now the Lord was with Judah , and they took possession of the hill country ; but they could not [12]drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots . 20 Then they gave Hebron to Caleb , as Moses had [13]promised ; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak .
21 But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem ; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day .
22 Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel , and the Lord was with them. 23 The house of Joseph spied out Bethel ( now the name of the city was formerly Luz ). 24 The spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, "Please show us the entrance to the city and we will treat you kindly ." 25 So he showed them the entrance to the city , and they struck the city with the edge of the sword , but they let the man and all his family go free . 26 The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named e it Luz [14]which is its name to this day .
27 But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages , or Taanach and its villages , or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages , or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages , or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages ; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land . 28 It came about when Israel became strong , that they put the Canaanites to forced labor , but they did not drive them out completely . 29 Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer ; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron , or the inhabitants of [15]Nahalol ; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor . 31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco , or the inhabitants of Sidon , or of Ahlab , or of Achzib , or of Helbah , or of Aphik , or of Rehob . 32 So the Asherites lived 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 , or the inhabitants of Beth-anath , but lived among the Canaanites , the inhabitants of the land ; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them. 34 Then the Amorites [16]forced the sons of Dan into the hill country , for they did not allow them to come down to the valley ; 35 yet the Amorites persisted in [17]living in Mount Heres , in Aijalon and in Shaalbim ; but when the [18]power of the house of Joseph [19]grew strong , they became forced labor . 36 The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim , from Sela and upward .
31 Now these are the nations which the Lord left , to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan ; 2 only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war , those who had not experienced it formerly ). 3 These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon , from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath . 4 They were for testing Israel , to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord , which He had commanded their fathers through Moses . 5 The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites , the Hittites , the Amorites , the Perizzites , the Hivites , and the Jebusites ; 6 and they took their daughters for themselves as wives , and gave their own daughters to their sons , and served their gods .
7 The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord , and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth .
8 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel , so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia ; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years . 9 When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord , the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the son of Kenaz , Caleb's younger brother . 10 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel . When he went out to war , the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand , so that he prevailed e over Cushan-rishathaim . 11 Then the land had rest forty years . And Othniel the son of Kenaz died .
12 Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord . So the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel , because e they had done evil in the sight of the Lord . 13 And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek ; and he went and defeated Israel , and they possessed the city of the palm trees . 14 The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen e years . 15 But when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord , the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera , the Benjamite , a left-handed e e man . And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab . 16 Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges , a cubit in length , and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak . 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab . Now Eglon was a very fat man . 18 It came about when he had finished presenting the tribute , that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute . 19 But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal , and said , "I have a secret message for you, O king ." And he said , "Keep silence ." And all who attended him left him. 20 Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber . And Ehud said , "I have a message from God for you." And he arose from his seat . 21 Ehud stretched out his left hand , took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly . 22 The handle also went in after the blade , and the fat closed over the blade , for he did not draw the sword out of his belly ; and the refuse came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them. 24 When he had gone out, his servants came and looked , and behold , the doors of the roof chamber were locked ; and they said , " He is only relieving e himself in the cool room ." 25 They waited until they became anxious ; but behold , he did not open the doors of the roof chamber . Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold , their master had fallen to the floor dead . 26 Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying , and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah . 27 It came about when he had arrived , that he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim ; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country , and he was in front of them. 28 He said to them, "Pursue them, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands ." So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab , and did not allow anyone to cross . 29 They struck down at that time about ten thousand Moabites , all robust and valiant men ; and no one escaped . 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel . And the land was undisturbed for eighty years .
31 After him came Shamgar the son of Anath , who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad ; and he also saved Israel .
