Daniel P. Barron

Judges 1

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 

Judges i

1 And it was, after Joshua's death, so sons of Israel asked Yehvah saying, “Who shall go up for us to the Canaanite in the beginning to war against him?” 2 And Yehvah said, “Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into your hand.” 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Go up with me in my lot, ii and we will fight against the Canaanite. And also I will go with you in your lot.” And Simeon went with him. 4 And Judah went up, and Yehvah gave the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hand. And they struck them in Bezek, ten-thousand men.

5 And they found My Lord Bezek iii in Bezek, and they fought against him and struck the Canaanite and the Perizzite. 6 And My Lord Bezek fled, and they pursued after him. And they cut off thumbs iv of his hands and his feet. 7 And My Lord Bezek said, “Seventy kings, thumbs of their hands and their feet cut off were gatherers under my table. Just as I have done, so Gods, he repaid to me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 And sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured her, and struck her with mouth of sword. And they set the city on fire. 9 Afterwards, sons of Judah went down to fight against the mountain, and the southern, and the lowland dwelling Canaanite. 10 And Judah went to the Canaanite dwelling in Hebron (and name of Hebron was before Town of Four). v And they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. vi 11 And from there they went to inhabitants of Debir (and name of Debir was before Town of Book).

12 And Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Town of Book and captures her, so I will give to him Achsah, my daughter, for a woman.” 13 And Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, vii captured her. So, he gave to him Achsah his daughter for a woman. 14 And it was, in her coming, she persuaded him to ask from her father the field. And she dismounted from upon the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” viii 15 And she said to him, “Give to me a blessing. For you have given me land in the south, so you shall give to me basins ix of water.” And Caleb gave to her upper basins and lower basins. x

16 And sons of Kenite, father-in-law of Moses, went up from the city of the Palm Trees with sons of Judah, to wilderness of Judah, which is south of Arad, and went and dwelt with the people. xi

17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanite inhabiting Zephath. xii And they utterly destroyed her, and called the name of the city Hormah. xiii 18 And Judah captured Gaza and her border, and Ashkelon xiv and her border, and Ekron and her border. 19 And Yehvah was with Judah, and they possessed the mountain. But, they did not dispossess the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

20 And they gave to Caleb Hebron, just as Moses said. And they dispossessed from there three sons of the Anak. xv 21 And the Jebusite, inhabitant of Jerusalem, sons of Benjamin did not dispossess. And the Jebusite dwells with sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. xvi

22 And house of Joseph, they also went up to House of God, and Yehvah was with them. 23 And house of Joseph spied in House of God (and the name of the city before was Luz). xvii 24 And those watching saw a man coming out from the city, and said to him, “Please show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal with you kindly.” 25 And he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with a mouth of a sword. And the man and all his family they sent out. 26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called her name Luz, which is her name unto this day.

27 And Manasseh did not dispossess House of Shean and her daughters, and Taanah and her daughers, and inhabitant of Dor and her daughers, and inhabitants of Ibleam and her daughters, and inhabitants of Meggido and her daughters. And the Canaanite was determined to dwell in that land. 28 And it was, when Israel was strong, so he put the Canaanite to forced labor, xviii and dispossessing, he did not dispossess. xix

29 And Ephraim did not dispossess the Canaanite who dwelt in Gezer, and the Canaanite dwelt in his midst in Gezer. 30 Zebulun did not dispossess inhabitants of Kitron xx and inhabitants of Nahalol. And the Canaanite dwelt in his midst, and they were to forced labor. 31 Asher did not dispossess inhabitants of Acco, xxi and inhabitants of Sidon and Ahlab xxii and Achzib and Helbah xxiii and Aphik and Rechob. 32 And the Asherite dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite, the inhabitants of the land, for he did not dispossess him.

33 Naphtali did not dispossess inhabitants of House of Sun and inhabitants of House of Anath. And he dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite, the inhabitants of the land. And inhabitants of House of Sun and inhabitants of House of Anath were put to forced labor. 34 And the Amorite oppressed sons of Dan to the mountain, for he did not allow him to descend to the valley. 35 And the Amorite was determined to dwell in mount Heres, xxiv in Aijalon and in Shaalbim. xxv And the hand of house of Joseph was heavy, and they were put to forced labor. 36 And the border of the Amorite was from Ascent of Scorpions xxvi from the rock and upward.

Joshua 24 - Judges 2

Translated by Darwin Fish. See original pdf and the recently updated.

  1. This is both the Hebrew, שֹׁפְטִים (shophtiym), and Greek, LXX κριταὶ (kritai), title. ^
  2. בגוֹרָלִי (vegorâliy) “my lot” KJV, YLT - “my allotted territory” NKJV; “territory allotted me” NAS – remember, the land was given by lot (e.g. Joshua 13:6; 14:2). ^
  3. אֲדֹני בֶוֶ֜ק (adoniy bezeq) “My Lord Bezek” - NKJV, etc. “Adoni-Bezek”; KJV “Adonibezek” - “Adoni” אֲדֹנִֹי ('adoniy) is “my lord” (e.g. Genesis 18:12 [Sarah calls Abraham “my lord” to herself, 1 Peter 3:6]; 23:6, 11, 15; 24:18; etc.). ^
  4. בְּהֹנוֹת (beholot) “thumbs” - Same term in Hebrew for both thumb and big toe, בֹּהֶן (bohen) e.g. Exodus 29:20. ^
  5. קִרְיַת אַרְבַּע (qiryat 'arba`) “Town of Four” - see footnote for Genesis 23:2. ^
  6. Judges 1:10-15 = Joshua 15:13-19. ^
  7. Kenaz is Caleb's younger brother. Caleb was the son of Jephunneh (Numbers 13:6). ^
  8. מַה־לּךְ (mah-lâk) “What do you want?” NAS; “What do you wish?” NKJV – more literally, “What's to you?” ^
  9. גֻּלֹּת (gullot) “basins” - NKJV, KJV, NAS “springs” - this word is used elsewhere for “bowls” e.g. 1 Kings 7:41-42 and “bowl” (Ecclesiastes 12:6). ^
  10. In Joshua 15:19 “upper” and “lower” are plural along with the plural “basins.” Here, “upper” and “lower” are singular, yet “basins” plural. ^
  11. This was forbidden (Exodus 23:23-24; Deuteronomy 7:1-5, 22-26; 20:16-18). ^
  12. צְפַת (tsphat) "Zephath" - only here. ^
  13. חָרְמָה (chârmâh) - “Hormah” means “devoted to destruction” or “destruction.” It is used with the related verb in this verse, יַחֲרִימוּ [yacharimu], "utterly destroyed." See also footnotes for Numbers 14:45. There is also the place of war in Numbers 21:2-3 called "Hormah." ^
  14. אַשְׁקְלוֹן (ashqelon) “Ashkelon” - found also in Judges 14:19; 1 Samuel 6:17; 2 Samuel 1:20; Jeremiah 25:20; 47:5, 7; Amos 1:8; Zephaniah 2:4, 7; Zechariah 9:5. ^
  15. Anak, also called “Anok” in Joshua 21:11, sons are noted to be from the Nephilim (Numbers 13:33) and these Anakim (sons of Anak) were considered Rephaim (Deuteronomy 2:10-11). ^
  16. This was obviously written before 2 Samuel 5:6-9/1 Chronicles 11:4-7. ^
  17. Jacob named the place “House of God” in Genesis 28:19, apparently near the city of Luz. See Joshua 16:2. ^
  18. לָמס (lâmas) “to forced labor” NAS - “under tribute” NKJV; “to tribute” KJV – same word as in Joshua 17:13 “to forced labor” NKJV, NAS; “to tribute” KJV ^
  19. In other words, “did not completely” (NKJV) dispossess them. ^
  20. קִטְרוֹן (qitron) “Kitron” - only here ^
  21. עַכּוֹ (akko) “Acco” - only here ^
  22. אַחְלב (achlâv) “Ahlab” - only here ^
  23. חֶלְבָּה (chelbâh) “Helbah” - only here ^
  24. חֶרֶס (cheres) “Heres” is another word for the “Sun” found in Judges 8:13 (KJV “sun”; NKJV, NAS “Heres”); 14:18; Job 9:7, “itch” in Deuteronomy 28:27, and as a location also in Judges 2:9. ^
  25. בְשֲׁעַלְבִים (vesha'albim) “Shaalbim” - found also in 1 Kings 4:9. ^
  26. עַקְרַבִּים (aqrabbiym) “Scorpions” - NKJV “Akrabbim” - this is the same word as is found in Ezekiel 2:6 “scorpions” (NKJV, etc.). This location is also found in Numbers 34:4; Joshua 15:3 and Judges 1:36. ^

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