And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, “Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
And Yahweh said, “Judah is to go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand.”
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.
Judah went up and Yahweh gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and in Bezek they struck 10,000 men of them.
And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
But Adoni-bezek fled and they pursued after him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings, their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. God has repaid me for what I have done.” And they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.
The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the mouth of the sword and the city they sent up in flames.
Afterward, the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country and in the Negev and in the Shephelah.
And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron in former times was Kiriath-arba) and they struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (now in former times the name of Debir was Kiriath-sepher).
And Caleb said, “He who strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give to him Achsah my daughter as a wife.”
Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife.
It came to pass when she arrived that she urged him to ask her father for a field. She got off of her donkey and Caleb said, “What do you want?”
And she said, “Give me a blessing. Since you have set me in the land of the Negev, give me also pools of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper pools and the lower pools.
And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up out of the City of Date Palms with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the Negev of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.
And Judah went with Simeon his brother and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction. And they called the name of the city Hormah.
Also Judah captured Gaza with its territory and Ashkelon with its territory and Ekron with its territory.
Yahweh was with Judah and he drove out the inhabitants of the hill country, but he did not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
And they gave Hebron to Caleb as Moses had spoken, and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak.
But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites live in Jerusalem among the children of Benjamin to this day.
And the house of Joseph also went up, they went against Bethel, and Yahweh was with them.
The house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel (now in former times the name of the city was Luz).
The scouts saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Show us the entrance into the city and we will deal mercifully with you.”
And he showed them the entrance into the city and they struck the city with the mouth of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.
And 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.
Failure to Complete the Conquest
And Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its towns, nor 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 were determined to live in that land.
And it came to pass when Israel had grown strong that they put the Canaanites to forced labor and did not completely dispossess them.
And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, but the Canaanites lived in their midst in Gezer.
Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol, but the Canaanites lived in their midst and became subject to forced labor.
Asher did not 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;
but the Asherites lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out.
Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but they lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor.
And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country, for they would not allow them to come down to the plain,
but the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed so that they became subject to forced labor.
The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock and upward.