Judges 1:1-3:6
New Catholic Bible
The Israelites Fail to Conquer Canaan[a]
Chapter 1
Conquests by Judah and Simeon. 1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who will be the first among us to go up to fight against the Canaanites?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah will go up for, behold, I have delivered the land into his hands.” 3 Judah said to Simeon, his brother, “Come up with me into my allotted portion and we will fight against the Canaanites together, and I will then go up into your allotted portion.” So Simeon went up with him.
4 Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands. They slew ten thousand of them at Bezek. 5 They came across Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 Adoni-bezek fled away, but they chased after him and caught him, cutting off his thumbs and his big toes. 7 Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings who had their thumbs and big toes cut off used to scrounge for their meals under my table. God has paid me back for what I have done.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 The Judahites fought against Jerusalem and they captured it, putting it to the sword and setting the city on fire.[b] 9 After this, the Judahites went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negeb, and the western slopes. 10 They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (which had previously been called Kiriath-arba). They defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 11 From there they marched against the people who were living in Debir (which had previously been called Kiriath-sepher).
12 Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Achsah as a wife to whomever attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher.” 13 Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb captured it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter in marriage.
14 When she came to be with him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” 15 She answered, “Please do me a favor. You have given me land in the Negeb. Please also give me some springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
16 The Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, traveled to the City of Palms with the Judahites to live in the Desert of Judah, the Negeb, near Arad. They went and settled there among the people.[c] 17 Judah and his brother Simeon went out against the Canaanites living in Zephath. They conquered it, totally demolishing it. This is why the city is now called Hormah. 18 Judah captured Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
19 The Lord was with Judah. They occupied the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had iron chariots.[d] 20 They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had decreed, driving the three sons of Anak out from it.
21 The Benjaminites could not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and the Jebusites have continued to live with the Benjaminites up to the present.
22 The descendants of Joseph[e] attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 23 The descendants of Joseph had first sent up spies against Bethel. (Its name had previously been Luz.) 24 The spies saw a man coming out of the city and said to him, “If you show us an entranceway into the city, we will be merciful to you.” 25 He showed them an entranceway into the city, and they put the city to the sword, but they let the man and his entire family go free. 26 The man traveled to the land of the Hittites and he built a city there that he called Luz, which is its name up to the present.
27 Forced Labor. Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and the towns dependent upon it, Taanach and the towns dependent upon it, Dor and the towns dependent upon it, Ibleam and the towns dependent upon it, or Megiddo and the towns dependent upon it, for the Canaanites were determined to live in those places. 28 But when Israel became strong, it subjected the Canaanites to forced labor, although it did not completely drive them out.
29 Nor did Ephraim drive the Canaanites out who lived in Gezer, and the Canaanites continue to live among them in Gezer.
30 Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol. The Canaanites continue to live among them, and they have been subjected to forced labor.
31 Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor Ahlab, Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor Rehob, 32 and so the Asherites continue to live among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out.
33 Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath. They continue to dwell among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were subjected to forced labor.
34 The Amorites forced the Danites to continue to live in the hill country; they would not permit them to come down into the plain. 35 The Amorites were also determined to continue to live on Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim, but when the descendants of Joseph grew powerful, they subjected them to forced labor. 36 The Amorite boundary ran from Akrabbim up to Sela and beyond.
Chapter 2
The Israelites Break the Covenant.[f] 1 An angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim[g] and said, “I brought you up from out of the land of Egypt and led you to the land that I had promised your fathers saying, ‘I will never break my covenant with you. 2 Make no covenant with the people of this land. Break down their altars.’ But you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 Now I proclaim to you that I will not drive them out from before you. They will be like thorns in your sides, and their gods will become a snare to you.” 4 When the angel of the Lord said these things to the Israelites, the people wept out loud. 5 They named that place Bochim, and they offered sacrifices to the Lord there.
The Death of Joshua. 6 After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites all went to their inheritances and they took possession of the land. 7 The people served the Lord during Joshua’s lifetime and the lifetimes of the elders who survived Joshua and who had seen all of the great things that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. 9 They buried him within the land that was his inheritance, at Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, to the north of Mount Gaash.
10 Infidelity of the People. When that whole generation had been gathered home to their fathers, another generation arose after them that did not know the Lord[h] or the works that he had done for Israel. 11 [i]The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, serving the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out from the land of Egypt. They followed other gods, the gods of the people who lived around them, and they worshiped them. This provoked the Lord’s anger 13 because they had abandoned him to serve Baal and the Astartes. 14 The Lord’s anger blazed out against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies living around them so that they could not stand up to them anymore. 15 Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as the Lord had told them, for the Lord had promised this to them. They therefore suffered terribly.
16 Deliverance through Judges. However, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hands of those raiders. 17 Yet, they would not listen to the judges, and they prostituted themselves after other gods, worshiping them. They quickly turned away from the way in which their fathers had walked, that of obeying the commandments of the Lord. They did not do this. 18 When the Lord raised up judges, the Lord was with the judge. He delivered them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived, for the Lord had mercy on them when they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
19 But when the judge died,[j] they turned back and became even worse than their fathers, following other gods, serving and worshiping them. They would not abandon their selfish, stubborn ways. 20 So the anger of the Lord blazed out against Israel and he said, “Because this people has sinned against the covenant that I gave to their fathers and they have not heeded my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out any of the nations before them that were left when Joshua died. 22 Thus, I will test Israel, to see whether or not they will keep to the way of the Lord, walking in it as their fathers did.” 23 The Lord therefore left those nations there, not hurrying to drive them out, nor delivering them into Joshua’s hands.
Chapter 3
1 Now these are the nations that the Lord left to put Israel to the test through them (that is, all of those who had not experienced the wars in Canaan). 2 This was so that the descendants of the Israelites might learn about war, for up to that time they had not yet experienced it. 3 They were the five lords of the Philistines, all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who were living in the mountains of Lebanon between Mount Baal-hermon and Lebo-hamath. 4 They were left there to put Israel to the test to see whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord that the Lord had given them through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters to be their wives, they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.
Footnotes
- Judges 1:1 With each tribe fighting on its own behalf, the tribes of Israel establish themselves with difficulty in Canaan and often can do no better than coexist with the pagan populations that have been there from time immemorial.
- Judges 1:8 Jerusalem will in fact be captured only in the time of David and he named it for himself, “The City of David” (2 Sam 5:6-9).
- Judges 1:16 Moses’ father-in-law is Hobab (Jdg 4:11); but the actual degree of kinship of Hobab with Moses is doubtful (see Ex 2:18). Num 10:29ff tells of Moses’ invitation to Hobab (here identified as son of Reuel) to join the Israelites.
- Judges 1:19 In many instances the Israelites are able to overcome a more powerful enemy, but in this case a more superior army will prevail, forcing the Israelites to live among them.
- Judges 1:22 The descendants of Joseph: the author is referring to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
- Judges 2:1 The explanation given by the angels offers a religious interpretation of Israel’s failures; this is a later reflection by the Deuteronomist redactor as he attempts to understand the reason for the failures.
- Judges 2:1 Bochim: Hebrew for “weeper.” It was a sacred place near Gilgal.
- Judges 2:10 Did not know the Lord: we may not know why the Israelites drifted from their spiritual roots, but we do know that a faithful remnant stayed faithful to the Lord.
- Judges 2:11 Baals: lords, the gods of the country (2 Ki 17:24-33). “Baal and the Astartes” (often in the plural) is the designation frequently used in the Old Testament for the Canaanite divinities, Baal being the masculine, and Astarte, the goddess of love and fruitfulness; the name of the latter is often replaced by the Hebrew word asherah, meaning a pole (see Jdg 3:7; Ex 34:13).
- Judges 2:19 When the judge died: a cycle of unfaithfulness to the Lord, followed by repentance and God’s deliverance, marked the time of the judges who led the Israelites temporarily but effectively.
