King James Version · The judges
Judges 1
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Now after the of it came to pass, that the asked , saying, Who shall go up for us against first, to fight against them? And said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have the land into his hand. And Judah said unto his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against ; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So went with him. And Judah went up; and and the into their hand: and they slew of them in ten thousand men. 5And they found Adoni–bezek in : and they fought against him, and they slew and the . 6But Adoni–bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and his thumbs and his great toes. And Adoni–bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes , gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so hath requited me. And they brought him to , and there he . Now the children of Judah had fought against , and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of , and set the city on . And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against , that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. And Judah went against that dwelt in : (now the name of before was Kirjath–arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and , and Talmai. And from thence he went against the inhabitants of : and the name of before was Kirjath–sepher: And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath–sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give my daughter to wife. And the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him his daughter to wife. And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? And she said unto him, Give me a : 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. And the children of the , ’ in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into of Judah, which lieth in the south of ; and they went and dwelt among the people. And Judah went with his brother, and they slew that inhabited Zephath, and it. And the name of the city was called . Also Judah took with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and with the coast thereof. And 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. And they gave unto Caleb, as said: and he expelled thence the three sons of . And the children of did not drive out the that inhabited ; but the with the children of in unto this day. And the , they also went up against Beth–el: and was with them. And the sent to descry Beth–el. (Now the name of the city before was .) And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of ; but they let go the man and all his family. And the man went into the land of the , and built a city, and called the name thereof : which is the name thereof unto this day. Neither did drive out the inhabitants of and her towns, nor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of and her towns, nor the inhabitants of and her towns, nor the inhabitants of and her towns: but would in that land. 28And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. Neither did drive out that dwelt in ; but dwelt in among them. Neither did drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but dwelt among them, and became tributaries. Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of , nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of , nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of : But the dwelt among , the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. Neither did drive out the inhabitants of , nor the inhabitants of ; but he dwelt among , the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of and of became tributaries unto them. And the forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: But the would in mount Heres in , and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the prevailed, so that they became tributaries. And the coast of the was from the going up to , from , and upward.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.