Judges 1-3

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Judges 1

And it came to pass after the death of Yahshua, that the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? 2 And Yahweh said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot. So Simeon went with him. 4 And Judah went up; and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they smote of them in Bezek ten thousand men. 5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. 7 And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their food under my table: as I have done, so Elohim has punished me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

 

8 And the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the hill-country, and in the south, and in the lowland. 10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath-arab:) and they defeated Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

 

11 And from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir before was Kiriath-sepher.)

 

12 And Caleb said, He that attacks Kiriath-sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. 14 And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she urged him to ask of her father a field: and she got down off from her ass; and Caleb said to her, What do you desire? 15 And she said to him, Give me a blessing; for that you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

 

16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm-trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt with the people. 17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they attacked the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with the border of it, and Ashkelon with the border of it, and Ekron with the border of it. 19 And Yahweh was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the hill-country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak. 21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

 

22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and Yahweh was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) 24 And the watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, we pray you, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you. 25 And he showed them the entrance into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family. 26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name of it Luz, which is the name of it to this day.

 

27 And Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its towns, or of Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites wanted to dwell in that land. 28 And it came to pass, when Israel had grown strong, that they put the Canaanites to taskwork, and did not utterly drive them out.

 

29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

 

30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became subject to taskwork.

 

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 But the Asherites dwelt 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 he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to taskwork.

 

34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill-country; for they would not allow them to come down to the valley; 35 But the Amorites wanted to dwell in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to taskwork. 36 And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

 

 

Judges 2

And an angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you: 2 And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars. But you have not listened to my voice: why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their elohim shall be a snare to you. 4 And it came to pass, when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 5 And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to Yahweh.

 

6 Now when Yahshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 And the people served Yahweh all the days of Yahshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Yahshua, who had seen all the great works of Yahweh that he had wrought for Israel. 8 And Yahshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being a hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north side of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, that did not know Yahweh, or the work which he had wrought for Israel.

 

11 And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baalim; 12 And they forsook Yahweh, the Elohim of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other elohim, of the elohim of the people that were around them, and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked Yahweh to anger. 13 And they forsook Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders that plundered them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as Yahweh had sworn to them: and they were greatly distressed.

 

16 And Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those that plundered them. 17 And yet they did not listen to their judges; for they played the harlot after other elohim, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Yahweh; but they did not so. 18 And when Yahweh raised them up judges, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. 19 But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other elohim to serve them, and to bow down to them; they ceased not from their doings, nor from their stubborn way. 20 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel; and he said, Because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to my voice; 21 I also will not from now on drive out any from before them of the nations that Yahshua left when he died: 22 That by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it, as their fathers did keep it, or not. 23 So Yahweh left those nations, without driving them out quickly; neither did he deliver them into the hand of Yahshua.

 

 

Judges 3

Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before-time knew nothing of it; 3 namely, the five rulers of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 4 And they were left to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses. 5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: 6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their elohim.

 

7 And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and forgot Yahweh their Elohim, and served the Baalim and the Asheroth. 8 Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishasaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan-rishasaim eight years. 9 And when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel, and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan-rishasaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishasaim. 11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

 

12 And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 13 And he gathered to himself the children of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and attacked Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees. 14 And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

 

15 But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed: and the children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 But Ehud made a sword which had two edges, a cubit length; and he wore it under his raiment upon his right thigh. 17 And he offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people that bore the tribute. 19 But he himself turned again from the standing pillars that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. And he said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. 20 And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. And Ehud said, I have a message from Elohim to you. And he arose out of his seat. 21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body: 22 And the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind. 23 Then Ehud went forth to the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room behind him, and locked them.

 

24 Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of upper room were locked, they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber. 25 And they waited till they were ashamed; and, behold, he did not open the doors of upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened them: and, behold, their Ruler was fallen down dead on the earth.

 

26 And Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirath. 27 And it came to pass, when he arrived, that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he before them. 28 And he said to them, Follow after me; for Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and allowed not one man to cross over. 29 And they struck down of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every men of valor; and not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.

 

31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: and he also saved Israel.

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