Day 66: Judges 1-4
The Unfinished Conquest, the Cycle of the Judges, & Deborah & Barak
Judges 1
1 After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, “Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
2 Yahweh said, “Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.”
3 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 Judah went up, and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck ten thousand men in Bezek. 5 They found Adoni Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 But Adoni Bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
7 Adoni Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has requited me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 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 Afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland.
10 Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron before that was Kiriath Arba); and they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.
11 From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. Now the name of Debir before that was Kiriath Sepher. 12 Caleb said, “He who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife.”
13 Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.
14 When she came, she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. She dismounted from her donkey; and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”
15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing; because you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water.”
Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
16 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 lived with the people.
17 Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who lived in Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.
18 Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.
19 Yahweh was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; but he couldn’t drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
20 They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said; and he drove out there the three sons of Anak.
21 The children of Benjamin didn’t drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
22 The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and Yahweh was with them.
23 The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city before that was Luz.) 24 The watchers saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.”
25 He showed them the entrance into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go.
26 The man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.
27 Manasseh didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor of Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
28 It happened, when Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and didn’t utterly drive them out.
29 Ephraim didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.
31 Asher didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob; 32 but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they didn’t drive them out.
33 Naphtali didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labor.
34 The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country; for they wouldn’t allow them to come down to the valley.
35 But 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 subject to forced labor.
36 The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.
Judges 2
1 Yahweh’s angel came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, “I brought you up from 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 You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you haven’t 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 gods shall be a snare to you.’”
4 It happened, when Yahweh’s angel spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
5 They called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to Yahweh.
6 Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel each went to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 The people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had done for Israel.
8 Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old. 9 They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.
10 Also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. Another generation arose after them, who didn’t know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he had done for Israel.
11 The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals. 12 They abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; and they provoked Yahweh to anger.
13 They abandoned Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
14 Yahweh’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
15 Wherever they went out, Yahweh’s hand was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as Yahweh had sworn to them; and they were very distressed.
16 Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they wouldn’t listen to their judges, for they prostituted themselves after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They quickly turned aside from the way in which their fathers walked, obeying Yahweh’s commandments. They didn’t do so.
18 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 grieved Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and afflicted them.
19 But when the judge was dead, they turned back, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, following other gods to serve them, and to bow themselves down to them. They didn’t cease from their practices, nor from their stubborn way.
20 Yahweh’s anger was kindled against Israel; and he said, “Because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and hasn’t listened to my voice, 21 I also will not henceforth drive out from before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died; 22 that by them I may test Israel, whether they will keep Yahweh’s way to walk therein, as their fathers kept it, or not.”
23 So Yahweh left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.
Judges 3
1 Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to test 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 those who before knew nothing of it: 3 the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
4 They were left to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to Yahweh’s commandments, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.
5 The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth. 8 Therefore Yahweh’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.
9 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 Yahweh’s Spirit came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. His hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim. 11 The land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight; and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight. 13 He gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to him; and he went and struck Israel. They possessed the city of palm trees. 14 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 left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
16 Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his right thigh. 17 He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.
18 When he had finished offering the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back from the stone quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”
He said, “Keep silence!” All who waited on him went out from him.
20 Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room.
Ehud said, “I have a message from God to you.”
He arose out of his seat. 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body. 22 The handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn’t draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind. 23 Then Ehud went out onto the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.
24 Now after he had gone out, his servants came; and they saw that, behold, the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room.”
25 They waited until they were ashamed, and behold, he didn’t open the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key, and opened them; and behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the floor.
26 Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the stone quarries, and escaped to Seirah.
27 When he had come, 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 He said to them, “Follow me; for Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.”
They went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan toward the Moabites, and didn’t allow a man to pass over. 29 They struck at that time about ten thousand men of Moab, every strong man, and every man of valor; and not a man escaped.
30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The land had rest eighty years.
31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. He also saved Israel.
Judges 4
1 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, when Ehud was dead. 2 Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3 The children of Israel cried to Yahweh; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he oppressed the children of Israel mightily twenty years.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. 5 She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? 7 I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.’”
8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you won’t go with me, I will not go.”
9 She said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the journey that you take won’t be for your honor; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”
Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
12 They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles to the river Kishon.
14 Deborah said to Barak, “Get up; for this is the day in which Yahweh has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn’t Yahweh gone out before you?”
So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15 Yahweh confused Sisera, with all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword, before Barak; and Sisera got down from his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
16 But Barak pursued the chariots, and the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left.
17 However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don’t be afraid.”
He went in to her tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.”
She opened a container of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
20 He said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and asks you, saying, ‘Is there any man here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’”
21 Then Jael Heber’s wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and came softly to him, and struck the peg into his temple, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died.
22 Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.”
He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temple.
23 So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel that day. 24 The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.
