Jerusalem Is Captured

1Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the LORD, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2The LORD said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have handed the land over to him.” 3Then Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Go up with me into [a]the territory allotted me, and let’s fight the Canaanites; and [b]I in turn will go with you into [c]the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him. 4Judah went up, and the LORD handed over to them the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and they [d]defeated ten thousand men at Bezek. 5They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they [e]defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him, and cut off his [f]thumbs and big toes. 7And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 9Afterward, the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, and in the [g]Negev, and in the lowland. 10So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was previously Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

Capture of Other Cities

11Then from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was previously Kiriath-sepher). 12And Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as a wife.” 13Now Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife. 14Then it happened that when she came to him, she incited him to ask her father for a field. Then later, she dismounted from [h]her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What [i]do you want?” 15She said to him, “Give me a blessing: since you have given me the land of the [j]Negev, give me springs of water also.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

16Now the [k]descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people. 17Then Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah. 18And Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 19Now the LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not [l]drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had iron chariots. 20Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had [m]promised; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak. 21But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

22Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them. 23The house of Joseph had men spy out Bethel (the name of the city previously was Luz). 24And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will treat you kindly.” 25So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free. 26Then the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and named it Luz, [n]which is its name to this day.

Places Not Conquered

27But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in this land. 28And it came about, when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they did not drive them out completely.

29And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

30Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of [o]Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.

31Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or of Rehob. 32So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

33Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.

34Then the Amorites [p]forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley; 35yet the Amorites persisted in living on Mount Heres, in Aijalon and Shaalbim; but when the [q]power of the house of Joseph [r]grew strong, they became forced labor. 36The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.