Judges 1-5
New Catholic Bible
The Israelites Fail to Conquer Canaan[a]
Chapter 1
Conquests by Judah and Simeon. 1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who will be the first among us to go up to fight against the Canaanites?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah will go up for, behold, I have delivered the land into his hands.” 3 Judah said to Simeon, his brother, “Come up with me into my allotted portion and we will fight against the Canaanites together, and I will then go up into your allotted portion.” So Simeon went up with him.
4 Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands. They slew ten thousand of them at Bezek. 5 They came across Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 Adoni-bezek fled away, but they chased after him and caught him, cutting off his thumbs and his big toes. 7 Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings who had their thumbs and big toes cut off used to scrounge for their meals under my table. God has paid me back for what I have done.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 The Judahites fought against Jerusalem and they captured it, putting it to the sword and setting the city on fire.[b] 9 After this, the Judahites went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negeb, and the western slopes. 10 They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (which had previously been called Kiriath-arba). They defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 11 From there they marched against the people who were living in Debir (which had previously been called Kiriath-sepher).
12 Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Achsah as a wife to whomever attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher.” 13 Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb captured it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter in marriage.
14 When she came to be with him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” 15 She answered, “Please do me a favor. You have given me land in the Negeb. Please also give me some springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
16 The Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, traveled to the City of Palms with the Judahites to live in the Desert of Judah, the Negeb, near Arad. They went and settled there among the people.[c] 17 Judah and his brother Simeon went out against the Canaanites living in Zephath. They conquered it, totally demolishing it. This is why the city is now called Hormah. 18 Judah captured Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
19 The Lord was with Judah. They occupied the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had iron chariots.[d] 20 They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had decreed, driving the three sons of Anak out from it.
21 The Benjaminites could not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and the Jebusites have continued to live with the Benjaminites up to the present.
22 The descendants of Joseph[e] attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 23 The descendants of Joseph had first sent up spies against Bethel. (Its name had previously been Luz.) 24 The spies saw a man coming out of the city and said to him, “If you show us an entranceway into the city, we will be merciful to you.” 25 He showed them an entranceway into the city, and they put the city to the sword, but they let the man and his entire family go free. 26 The man traveled to the land of the Hittites and he built a city there that he called Luz, which is its name up to the present.
27 Forced Labor. Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and the towns dependent upon it, Taanach and the towns dependent upon it, Dor and the towns dependent upon it, Ibleam and the towns dependent upon it, or Megiddo and the towns dependent upon it, for the Canaanites were determined to live in those places. 28 But when Israel became strong, it subjected the Canaanites to forced labor, although it did not completely drive them out.
29 Nor did Ephraim drive the Canaanites out who lived in Gezer, and the Canaanites continue to live among them in Gezer.
30 Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol. The Canaanites continue to live among them, and they have been subjected to forced labor.
31 Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor Ahlab, Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor Rehob, 32 and so the Asherites continue to live among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out.
33 Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath. They continue to dwell among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were subjected to forced labor.
34 The Amorites forced the Danites to continue to live in the hill country; they would not permit them to come down into the plain. 35 The Amorites were also determined to continue to live on Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim, but when the descendants of Joseph grew powerful, they subjected them to forced labor. 36 The Amorite boundary ran from Akrabbim up to Sela and beyond.
Chapter 2
The Israelites Break the Covenant.[f] 1 An angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim[g] and said, “I brought you up from out of the land of Egypt and led you to the land that I had promised your fathers saying, ‘I will never break my covenant with you. 2 Make no covenant with the people of this land. Break down their altars.’ But you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 Now I proclaim to you that I will not drive them out from before you. They will be like thorns in your sides, and their gods will become a snare to you.” 4 When the angel of the Lord said these things to the Israelites, the people wept out loud. 5 They named that place Bochim, and they offered sacrifices to the Lord there.
The Death of Joshua. 6 After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites all went to their inheritances and they took possession of the land. 7 The people served the Lord during Joshua’s lifetime and the lifetimes of the elders who survived Joshua and who had seen all of the great things that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. 9 They buried him within the land that was his inheritance, at Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, to the north of Mount Gaash.
10 Infidelity of the People. When that whole generation had been gathered home to their fathers, another generation arose after them that did not know the Lord[h] or the works that he had done for Israel. 11 [i]The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, serving the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out from the land of Egypt. They followed other gods, the gods of the people who lived around them, and they worshiped them. This provoked the Lord’s anger 13 because they had abandoned him to serve Baal and the Astartes. 14 The Lord’s anger blazed out against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies living around them so that they could not stand up to them anymore. 15 Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as the Lord had told them, for the Lord had promised this to them. They therefore suffered terribly.
16 Deliverance through Judges. However, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hands of those raiders. 17 Yet, they would not listen to the judges, and they prostituted themselves after other gods, worshiping them. They quickly turned away from the way in which their fathers had walked, that of obeying the commandments of the Lord. They did not do this. 18 When the Lord raised up judges, the Lord was with the judge. He delivered them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived, for the Lord had mercy on them when they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
19 But when the judge died,[j] they turned back and became even worse than their fathers, following other gods, serving and worshiping them. They would not abandon their selfish, stubborn ways. 20 So the anger of the Lord blazed out against Israel and he said, “Because this people has sinned against the covenant that I gave to their fathers and they have not heeded my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out any of the nations before them that were left when Joshua died. 22 Thus, I will test Israel, to see whether or not they will keep to the way of the Lord, walking in it as their fathers did.” 23 The Lord therefore left those nations there, not hurrying to drive them out, nor delivering them into Joshua’s hands.
Chapter 3
1 Now these are the nations that the Lord left to put Israel to the test through them (that is, all of those who had not experienced the wars in Canaan). 2 This was so that the descendants of the Israelites might learn about war, for up to that time they had not yet experienced it. 3 They were the five lords of the Philistines, all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who were living in the mountains of Lebanon between Mount Baal-hermon and Lebo-hamath. 4 They were left there to put Israel to the test to see whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord that the Lord had given them through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters to be their wives, they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.
The Period of the Judges
Othniel’s Conquest.[k] 7 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting the Lord, their God, and serving the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord blazed out against Israel, so he sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, the king of Aram-naharaim.[l] The Israelites were subjected to Cushan-rishathaim for eight years. 9 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord sent the Israelites a liberator. It was Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, and he delivered them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord[m] came upon him, and he became a judge of Israel. He went to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-rishathaim, the king of Aram-naharaim, into his hands. His hand overpowered Cushan-rishathaim. 11 The land was at peace for forty years, and then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.
12 Ehud’s Victory. The Israelites once again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Because of the evil they had done in the sight of the Lord, the Lord gave Eglon, the king of Moab, power over Israel. 13 He joined up with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and they went and attacked Israel, conquering the City of Palms. 14 The Israelites were subjects of Eglon, the king of Moab, for eighteen years.
15 The Israelites cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a liberator for them. He was Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.[n] The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon, the king of Moab. 16 Ehud had made a double-edged sword that was one foot[o] long, and he strapped it on under his clothing on his right thigh. 17 He brought the tribute to Eglon. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 When he had received the tribute, he dismissed the people who were carrying the tribute. 19 At the idols of Gilgal, he turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” He said, “Be quiet,” until all his attendants left him. 20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” As he got out of his seat, 21 Ehud reached in with his left hand, drew the sword out from his right thigh, and stuck it into his stomach. 22 It went in so far that even the handle of the sword was covered over by fat, and he could not draw the sword out from his stomach. In fact, excrement came out.
23 When Ehud went out onto the porch, he shut and locked the doors to the upper room behind himself. 24 When he left, the servants came back. They saw that the doors to the upper room were locked, and they said, “He must be relieving himself in the summer chamber.” 25 They waited so long that they became anxious, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. They took a key and opened it, and they found their lord dead on the ground.
26 While they were waiting, Ehud was able to escape. Passing beyond the idols, he hurried to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country of Ephraim, and he stood in front of them. 28 He said, “Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands.” They followed him, and they captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab, and they did not let anyone cross over. 29 They slew around ten thousand of the Moabites that day, all of them robust and courageous warriors, and not one of them escaped. 30 Moab was vanquished that day under the hand of Israel, and there was peace in the land for eighty years.
31 Deliverance by Shamgar. He was succeeded by Shamgar,[p] the son of Anath. He killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad, and he delivered Israel.
Chapter 4
Judges Deborah and Barak. 1 After Ehud died the Israelites once again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 2 The Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin, the king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. 3 The Israelites cried out to the Lord, for he had nine hundred iron chariots. He oppressed the Israelites terribly for twenty years.
4 Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, a prophetess, was then a judge in Israel.[q] 5 She used to sit underneath the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites would come up to her for judgment there. 6 She summoned Barak, the son of Ahinoam, from Kadesh of Naphtali, and she said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun with yourself and march toward Mount Tabor.[r] 7 I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and his forces, to the Kishon River, and I will deliver him up into your hands.’ ” 8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, then I will go, but if you do not go with me, then I will not go.” 9 She said, “Fine, I will go with you. But because of how you are doing this, it will not work out to your glory. The Lord will hand Sisera over into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah rose up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak had summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. Ten thousand men were under his command, and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber, the Kenite, had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses. He pitched his tent by the terebinth of Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
12 They reported to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all of the men who were with him, and he traveled from Harosheth-haggoyim to the Wadi Kishon. 14 Deborah said to Barak, “Rise up, for this is the day that the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hands. Has the Lord not gone out before you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by his men.
15 The Lord routed Sisera before Barak at the edge of the sword along with all his chariots and all his troops. Sisera climbed down from his chariot and fled on foot. 16 Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-haggoyim. All of the troops of Sisera fell to the sword; there was not a survivor left among them.
17 Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to greet Sisera. She said to him, “Come in, my lord, come right in. Do not be afraid.” He came into the tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened up a skin of milk, gave him some to drink, and covered him again. 20 He told her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes by and asks, ‘Is there anyone here,’ tell that person, ‘No.’ ” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, got a tent peg, she took a hammer in her hands, and she snuck up to him when he was in a deep sleep. She drove it through his temple into the ground, and he died.[s]
22 Barak passed by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael came out to him and said to him, “Come in, I will show you the man you are looking for.” He found Sisera dead, the peg through his temple. 23 On that day the Lord brought Jabin, the king of Canaan, into subjection to the Israelites. 24 The hand of the Israelites constantly grew stronger against Jabin, the king of Canaan, until they had crushed Jabin, the king of Canaan.
Chapter 5[t]
The Song of Deborah. 1 On that day Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, sang,
2 “Israel’s leaders led bravely,
the people followed gladly,
praise the Lord.
3 Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes,
for I, myself, will sing about the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4 Lord, when you went out from Seir,
when you marched out of the fields in Edom,
the earth trembled, and the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.[u]
5 The mountains quaked before the Lord,
he who was on Sinai,
before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath,
in the days of Jael,
the highways were deserted,
travelers took winding paths.
7 Village life ceased in Israel,
it ceased until I, Deborah,
until I rose up as mother in Israel.[v]
8 When they chose new gods,
war showed up at the gates.
Not a shield nor a spear was to be found
among the forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart was with the leaders of Israel;
they offered themselves willingly with the people.
Bless the Lord.
10 Speak, you who ride on white donkeys,
who sit in judgment,
who walk along the ways.
11 Far from the noise of archers,
in the places where there is water,
there they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord,
his righteous deeds toward his villagers in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord will go down to the gates.
12 Awake, awake, Deborah.
Awake, awake, sing a song.
Arise, O Barak,
and lead your captives away,
O son of Abinoam.
13 Then the remnant of the nobles marched,
the people of the Lord came to me with the mighty.
14 Some came from Ephraim,
whose roots were in Amalek;
Benjamin was with your people who followed you.
From Machir[w] officers came down,
from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah,
Issachar was with Barak;
he sent them into the valley under his command.
In the districts of Reuben
there were serious doubts.
16 Why did you stay among the sheep folds
to hear the bleating of the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
there were serious doubts.
17 Gilead remained beyond the Jordan.
Dan, why did he remain by the ships?
Asher remained by the seashore
and stayed in his coves.[x]
18 The people of Zebulun risked their lives,
as did Naphtali on the heights of the field.
19 Kings came and fought;
the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,
but they took no plunder, no silver.
20 From the heavens the stars fought on;[y]
they fought against Sisera in their courses.
21 The Wadi Kishon swept them away;
the ancient wadi,
the Wadi Kishon.
March on, O my soul, be strong.
22 Then the horses’ hoof beats thundered,
galloping, galloping, go the mighty steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’[z] said the angel,
‘bitterly curse those who live there.
They did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord against the mighty.’
24 You will be blessed above other women,
O Jael, wife of Heber, the Kenite;
you are blessed above other women who live in tents.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk.
In a dish fit for royalty, she brought him cream.
26 Her hand reached for a tent peg,
her right hand for a workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera; she crushed his head,
she pierced and bored through his temple.
27 He sank down to her feet,
fell down and lay there.
At her feet he sank and fell down;
where he sank, there he fell, dead!
28 Sisera’s mother looked out through a window,
she cried from behind the lattice,
‘Why is his chariot taking so long?
Why is the clatter of chariots so late in coming?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answers her,
indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
30 ‘Are they having trouble finding and dividing the spoils?
A woman or two to each man,
colorful garments as plunder to Sisera,
the plunder of garments with colorful needlework,
colorful needlework for around the plunderer’s neck?’
31 So may all of your enemies perish, O Lord,
may those who love him come forth like the mighty sun.”
There was then peace in the land for forty years.
Footnotes
- Judges 1:1 With each tribe fighting on its own behalf, the tribes of Israel establish themselves with difficulty in Canaan and often can do no better than coexist with the pagan populations that have been there from time immemorial.
- Judges 1:8 Jerusalem will in fact be captured only in the time of David and he named it for himself, “The City of David” (2 Sam 5:6-9).
- Judges 1:16 Moses’ father-in-law is Hobab (Jdg 4:11); but the actual degree of kinship of Hobab with Moses is doubtful (see Ex 2:18). Num 10:29ff tells of Moses’ invitation to Hobab (here identified as son of Reuel) to join the Israelites.
- Judges 1:19 In many instances the Israelites are able to overcome a more powerful enemy, but in this case a more superior army will prevail, forcing the Israelites to live among them.
- Judges 1:22 The descendants of Joseph: the author is referring to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
- Judges 2:1 The explanation given by the angels offers a religious interpretation of Israel’s failures; this is a later reflection by the Deuteronomist redactor as he attempts to understand the reason for the failures.
- Judges 2:1 Bochim: Hebrew for “weeper.” It was a sacred place near Gilgal.
- Judges 2:10 Did not know the Lord: we may not know why the Israelites drifted from their spiritual roots, but we do know that a faithful remnant stayed faithful to the Lord.
- Judges 2:11 Baals: lords, the gods of the country (2 Ki 17:24-33). “Baal and the Astartes” (often in the plural) is the designation frequently used in the Old Testament for the Canaanite divinities, Baal being the masculine, and Astarte, the goddess of love and fruitfulness; the name of the latter is often replaced by the Hebrew word asherah, meaning a pole (see Jdg 3:7; Ex 34:13).
- Judges 2:19 When the judge died: a cycle of unfaithfulness to the Lord, followed by repentance and God’s deliverance, marked the time of the judges who led the Israelites temporarily but effectively.
- Judges 3:7 The story of Othniel is typical of the way in which judges or “charismatic” leaders appeared on the scene: they were raised up by God in a difficult situation.
- Judges 3:8 Naharaim: meaning two rivers and are the upper Tigris and the upper Euphrates (southern Syria).
- Judges 3:10 The Spirit of the Lord: from the very beginning of scripture, God’s Spirit in nature (Gen 1:2) and in individuals is given to do his will for the good of his people. Here Othniel is God’s channel, as are other judges, Gideon (Jdg 6:34) and Jephthah (Jdg 11:29), and later King David (1 Sam 16:13). Jesus, too, is “filled with the Holy Spirit,” (Lk 4:1), as is Elizabeth (Lk 1:41).
- Judges 3:15 Left-handed man: this indicates how it was possible for Ehud to have access to his weapon that was concealed on his right thigh (3:21).
- Judges 3:16 Foot: Hebrew, gomed; a measure mentioned only here; its value cannot be determined; usually translated as “cubit.”
- Judges 3:31 Shamgar: one of the “minor” judges. But the distinction between “major” and “minor” is due more to the lack of information about the “minor” judges than to the lesser importance of the individuals themselves.
- Judges 4:4 Deborah is distinct among the judges as the only female and as one who could foretell the future. She apparently was held in high esteem and trust by the people she served.
- Judges 4:6 Tabor: the point where the territories of Naphtali, Zebulon, and Issachar met. It would be the mountain on which Jesus was transfigured.
- Judges 4:21 By killing Sisera, Jael disregarded the rules of hospitality that were normally extended to someone who entered another’s tent and guaranteed their safety.
- Judges 5:1 This song, composed in the enthusiasm of victory, testifies to the wonder roused in Israel by the feats of deliverance and by the Lord’s intervention. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of ancient literature and of great historical value as well, since it gives a vivid portrayal of the varying reactions of the tribes to the undertaking.
- Judges 5:4 The point of the imagery is that God came to the aid of his people with extraordinary assistance; his “coming” is concretized by mentioning areas of southern Palestine.
- Judges 5:7 As mother in Israel: an endearment for Deborah, who judges her people with a woman’s intuition, wisdom, and compassion.
- Judges 5:14 Machir: the elder son of Manasseh; here he stands for the half-tribe of Manasseh west of the Jordan, as opposed to the eastern half in Gilead.
- Judges 5:17 After receiving a territory west of Jerusalem, Dan pushed northward to the region of the sources of the Jordan (see chs. 17–18).
- Judges 5:20 The stars fought on: God’s army battled the enemy.
- Judges 5:23 Meroz: the residents of this area were apparently expected to take part in the battle and are condemned for not helping “the Lord against the mighty.”
