Judges 1

¹Aftir the deeth of Josue the sones of Israel counseliden the Lord, and seiden, Who schal stie bifor vs ayens Cananei, and schal be duik of the batel?

²And the Lord seide, Judas schal stie; lo! Y haue youe the lond in to hise hondis.

³And Juda seide to Symeon, his brother, Stie thou with me in my lot, and fiyte thou ayens Cananei, that Y go with thee in thi lot.

⁴And Symeon yede with hym; and Judas stiede. And the Lord bitook Cananey and Feresei in to `the hondis of hem, and thei killiden in Besech ten thousynde of men.

⁵And thei founden Adonybozech in Besech, and thei fouyten ayens hym, and smytiden Cananei, and Feresey.

⁶Forsothe Adonybozech fledde, whom thei pursueden, and token, and kittiden the endis of hise hondis and feet.

⁷And Adonybozech seide, Seuenti kyngis, whanne the endis of hondis and feet weren kit awey, gaderiden relifs of metis vndur my bord; as Y dide, so God hath yolde to me. And thei brouyten hym in to Jerusalem, and there he diede.

⁸Therfor the sones of Juda fouyten ayens Jerusalem, and token it, and smytiden bi the scharpnesse of swerd, and bitoken al the cytee to brennyng.

⁹And aftirward thei yeden doun, and fouyten ayens Cananey, that dwellide in the hilli places, and at the south, in `feeldi places.

¹⁰And Judas yede ayens Cananei, that dwellide in Ebron, whos name was bi eld tyme Cariatharbe; and Judas killide Sisay, and Achyman, and Tholmai.

¹¹And fro thennus he yede forth, and yede to the dwelleris of Dabir, whos eld name was Cariathsepher, that is, the citee of lettris.

¹²And Caleph seide, Y schal yyue Axa, my douyter, wijf to hym that schal smyte Cariathsepher, and schal waste it.

¹³And whanne Othonyel, sone of Seneth, the lesse brother of Caleph, hadde take it, Caleph yaf Axa, his douyter, wijf to hym.

¹⁴And hir hosebonde stiride hir, goynge in the weie, that sche schulde axe of hir fadir a feeld; and whanne sche hadde siyid, sittynge on the asse, Caleph seide to hir, What hast thou?

¹⁵And sche answeride, Yiue thou blessyng to me, for thou hast youe a drye lond to me; yyue thou also a moyst lond with watris. And Caleph yaf to hir the moist lond aboue, and the moist lond bynethe.

¹⁶Forsothe the sones of Cyney, `alye of Moyses, stieden fro the citee of palmes with the sones of Juda, in to the desert of his lot, which desert is at the south of Arath; and dwelliden with hym.

¹⁷Sotheli Judas yede with Symeon, his brother; and thei smytiden togidere Cananei, that dwellide in Sephar, and killiden hym; and the name of that citee was clepid Horma, that is, cursyng, `ether perfit distriyng, for thilke citee was distried outerly.

¹⁸And Judas took Gaza with hise coostis, and Ascolon, and Accaron with hise termes.

¹⁹And the Lord was with Judas, and he `hadde in possessioun the hilli places; and he myyte not do awey the dwelleris of the valei, for thei weren plenteuouse in `yrun charis, scharpe as sithis.

²⁰And `the sones of Israel yauen Ebron to Caleph, as Moises hadde seid, which Caleph dide awei for it thre sones of Enach.

²¹Forsothe the sones of Beniamyn diden not awei Jebusei, the dwellere of Jerusalem; and Jebusei dwellide with the sones of Beniamyn in Jerusalem `til in to present dai.

²²Also the hows of Joseph stiede in to Bethel, and the Lord was with hem.

²³For whanne thei bisegiden the citee, that was clepid Lusa bifore,

²⁴thei sien a man goynge out of the citee, and thei seiden to hym, Schewe thou to vs the entrynge of the cytee, and we schulen do mercy with thee.

²⁵And whanne he hadde schewid to hem, thei smytiden the citee bi scharpnes of swerd; sotheli thei delyueriden that man and al his kynrede.

²⁶And he was delyuerede, and yede in to the lond of Sethym, and bildide there a citee, and clepid it Luzam; which is clepid so til in to present dai.

²⁷Also Manasses dide not awei Bethsan and Thanael with her townes, and the dwelleris of Endor, and Geblaam and Magedo with her townes; and Cananei bigan to dwelle with hem.

²⁸Sotheli after that Israel was coumfortid, he made hem tributaries, `ethir to paye tribute, and nolde do awey hem.

²⁹Sotheli Effraym killide not Cananei that dwellyde in Gaser, but dwellide with hym.

³⁰Zabulon dide not awey the dwelleris of Cethron, and of Naalon; but Cananei dwellide in the myddis of hym, and was maad tributarie to him.

³¹Also Aser dide not awey the dwelleris of Acho, and of Sidon, of Alab, and of Azazib, and of Alba, and Aphech, and of Aloa, and of Pha, and of Roob; and he dwellide in the myddis of Cananey,

³²dwellere of that lond, and killide not hym.

³³Neptalym dide not awei the dwelleris of Bethsames, and of Bethanach; and he dwellide among Cananey, dwellere of the lond; and Bethsamytis and Bethanytis weren tributarie to hym.

³⁴And Ammorrey helde streit the sones of Dan in the hil, and yaf not place to hem to go doun to pleynere places;

³⁵and he dwellide in the hil of Hares, `which is interpretid, Witnessyng, in Hailon, and in Salabym. And the hond of the hows of Joseph was maad heuy, and he was maad tributarie to hym.

³⁶And the terme of Ammorrei was fro the stiyng of Scorpioun, and the stoon, and hiyere places.

Judges 1

¹Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?

²And the Lord said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

³And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.

⁴And Judah went up; and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

⁵And they found Adoni–bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

⁶But Adoni–bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

⁷And Adoni–bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

⁸Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

⁹And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.

¹⁰And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath–arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

¹¹And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath–sepher:

¹²And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath–sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.

¹³And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.

¹⁴And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?

¹⁵And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: 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.

¹⁶And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.

¹⁷And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.

¹⁸Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.

¹⁹And the Lord 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.

²⁰And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.

²¹And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.

²²And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth–el: and the Lord was with them.

²³And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth–el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

²⁴And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.

²⁵And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.

²⁶And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.

²⁷Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth–shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

²⁸And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.

²⁹Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

³⁰Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.

³¹Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:

³²But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.

³³Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth–shemesh, nor 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 tributaries unto them.

³⁴And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:

³⁵But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.

³⁶And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.