Judges 1
Open in the reader1After the death of He-Who-Is-Saves, the children of Strives-with-God inquired of He-Who-Is, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Humbled-Ones?”
2“Praised shall go up,” answered He-Who-Is. “Indeed, I have delivered the land into their hands.”
3Then the men of Praised said to their brothers the children of Heard, “Come up with us to our allotted territory, and let us fight against the Humbled-Ones. And we likewise will go with you to your territory.” So the children of Heard went with them.
4When Praised attacked, He-Who-Is delivered the Humbled-Ones and Open-Country-Dwellers into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Lightning.
5And there they found Lord-of-Bezek and fought against him, striking down the Humbled-Ones and Open-Country-Dwellers.
6As Lord-of-Bezek fled, they pursued him, seized him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
7Then Lord-of-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Foundation-of-Peace, where he died.
8Then the men of Praised fought against Foundation-of-Peace and captured it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.
9Afterward, the men of Praised marched down to fight against the Humbled-Ones living in the hill country, in South-Country, and in the foothills.
10Praised also marched against the Humbled-Ones who were living in Association (formerly known as City-of-Four), and they struck down Whitish, My-Brother-Is-a-Gift, and Furrowed.
11From there they marched against the inhabitants of Oracle-Place (formerly known as City-of-the-Book).
12And Dog said, “To the man who strikes down City-of-the-Book and captures it, I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage.”
13So Lion-of-God son of Dog’s younger brother Hunter captured the city, and Dog gave his daughter Anklet to him in marriage.
14One day Acsah came to Lion-of-God and urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Dog asked her, “What do you desire?”
15“Give me a blessing,” she answered. “Since you have given me land in South-Country, give me springs of water as well.” So Dog gave her both the upper and lower springs.
16Now the descendants of Drawn-Out’ father-in-law, the Smith-One, went up with the men of Praised from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Praised in South-Country near Fugitive. They went to live among the people.
17Then the men of Praised went with their brothers the children of Heard, attacked the Humbled-Ones living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction. So it was called Devoted-to-Destruction.
18And Praised also captured Stronghold, Market-Place, and Uprooting—each with its territory.
19He-Who-Is was with Praised, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains because they had chariots of iron.
20Just as Drawn-Out had promised, Praised gave Association to Dog, who drove out the descendants of the three sons of Long-Necked.
21The Benjamites, however, failed to drive out the Trodden-Ones living in Foundation-of-Peace. So to this day the Trodden-Ones live there among the Benjamites.
22The house of May-He-Add also attacked House-of-God, and He-Who-Is was with them.
23They sent spies to House-of-God (formerly known as Almond),
24and when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us how to get into the city, and we will treat you kindly.”
25So the man showed them the entrance to the city, and they put the city to the sword but released that man and all his family.
26And the man went to the land of the Son-of-Terrors, built a city, and called it Almond, which is its name to this day.
27At that time Causing-to-Forget failed to drive out the inhabitants of House-of-Ease, Taanach, Generation, Devouring-the-People, Rendezvous, and their villages; for the Humbled-Ones were determined to dwell in that land.
28When Strives-with-God became stronger, they pressed the Humbled-Ones into forced labor, but they never drove them out completely.
29Double-Fruit also failed to drive out the Humbled-Ones living in Portion; so the Humbled-Ones continued to dwell among them in Portion.
30Dwelling failed to drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Pasture; so the Humbled-Ones lived among them and served as forced laborers.
31Happy failed to drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Fertile-Land, Deception, Helbah, Fortress, and Broad-Place.
32So the Asherites lived among the Humbled-One inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out.
33My-Wrestling failed to drive out the inhabitants of House-of-Sun and House-of-Anath. So the children of My-Wrestling also lived among the Humbled-One inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of House-of-Sun and House-of-Anath served them as forced laborers.
34The Mountaineers forced the children of Judge into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain.
35And the Mountaineers were determined to dwell in Mount Sun, Place-of-Deer, and Fox-Holes. But when the house of May-He-Add grew in strength, they pressed the Mountaineers into forced labor.
36And the border of the Mountaineers extended from the Ascent of Ascent-of-Scorpions to Crag and beyond.