Knox Bible

1

Now that Josue was dead, the sons of Israel asked counsel of the Lord, to know who should be their champion against the Chanaanites, and bear the brunt of the attack.

2

And the Lord’s bidding was, Juda shall be your champion; I have marked it down for his conquest.

3

Upon this, the men of Juda said to their brethren, the Simeonites, Come and help us win these lands of ours, and we, in our turn, will help to win your lands. So the men of Simeon marched at Juda’s side,

4

and when they went to the attack, the Lord gave them mastery over Chanaanite and Pherezite at Bezec, where they overcame an army of ten thousand men.

5

They encountered the king, Adonibezec, there in his capital; and when Chanaanite and Pherezite were routed,

6

and Adonibezec fled, they pursued and caught him, and mutilated him, cutting off his thumbs and his great toes.

7

There were seventy kings, Adonibezec said, that used to eat the crumbs left under my table, mutilated hand and foot, every one. God has served me as I served others. And they took him to Jerusalem, where he died.

8

This city of Jerusalem was attacked and taken by the sons of Juda, who put the inhabitants to the sword, and burnt it all down.

9

They went down, too, and routed Chanaan on hill, desert and plain.

10

They even attacked the Chanaanites who lived at Hebron (which in old days was called Cariath Arbe), defeating Sesai, Ahiman, and Tholmai;

11

then they marched against Dabir, that was once called Cariath-Sepher, the City of Writings.

12

(Caleb had promised that whoever defeated and took Cariath-Sepher should have the hand of his daughter Axa in marriage;

13

and it was taken by his own younger brother, Othoniel son of Cenez, to whom he wedded his daughter Axa accordingly.

14

One day he heard her sighing as she rode on her ass in his company, and asked what ailed her. She had been urged by her husband to win him a grant of land from her father.

15

So her answer was, Grant me yet one present; the portion thou hast given me is parched land; give me well-watered land too. So he gave her the High Springs and the Low Springs both together.✻ )

16

When the men of Juda made their expedition from the city of Palm-trees, to conquer the waste land that was to be theirs south of Arad, they were accompanied by the Cinites, into whose clan Moses had married; and these shared the land with them.✻

17

Together, Juda and Simeon defeated and destroyed the Chanaanites in Sephaath; which city was afterwards called Horma, that is, Forfeited.

18

Gaza, too, and Ascalon, and Accaron, with the regions around them fell into Juda’s power;

19

and still the Lord was on their side; so that they occupied all the hill-country, although they could not overcome the plain-dwellers, that had scythed chariots in plenty.

20

So Caleb had his portion, as Moses promised that he should; the city of Hebron, where he defeated the three sons of Enac.

21

As for Jerusalem, Benjamin could never exterminate the Jebusites that lived there, and they share it with the sons of Benjamin to this day.

22

Meanwhile the men of Joseph made an expedition against Bethel, where the Lord gave them good speed.

23

They were laying siege to the city (which in former times was called Luza)

24

when they found a man escaping from it, and promised him his life if he would shew them how to enter it;

25

this he did, and they put the inhabitants to the sword, except this one man and his family.

26

And he, after this escape, made his way into the Hethite country, where he built a city that is still called Luza.

27

In Manasses, Bethsan, Thanac, Dor, Jeblaam and Mageddo, with the villages around them, were never cleared of their inhabitants; the Chanaanites made bold to live on there.

28

When the Israelites had grown stronger, they subdued them and forced them to pay tribute, but did not exterminate them.

29

Ephraim, too, spared the Chanaanites in Gazer, and shared it with them;

30

nor did Zabulon exterminate the inhabitants of Cetron and Naalol; the Chanaanites lived on among them as tributaries.

31

In Aser, Accho, Sidon, Ahalab, Achazib, Helba, Aphec and Rohob were spared;

32

the Chanaanite inhabitants of those parts lived on there.

33

Nephthali shared Bethsames and Bethanath with the old Chanaanite inhabitants, who paid tribute to them.

34

And as for the men of Dan, the Amorrhites kept them cooped up in the hills, and would not let them find any footing in the level plains;

35

they still made bold to live on in mount Hares (the Mount of Pottery) and Aialon and Salebim, until at last the rising power of Joseph forced them to become tributaries.

36

The territory of these Amorrhites once reached as far as the Scorpion Pass, and Petra, and beyond them still.