Judges 1:8–26

⁸Then the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire. ⁹Afterward, the men of Judah marched down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, in the Negev, and in the foothills.^a

¹⁰Judah also marched against the Canaanites who were living in Hebron (formerly known as Kiriath-arba), and they struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

¹¹From there they marched against the inhabitants of Debir (formerly known as Kiriath-sepher). ¹²And Caleb said, “To the man who strikes down Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage.” ¹³So Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz captured the city, and Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

¹⁴One day Acsah came to Othniel and urged him^b to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you desire?”

¹⁵“Give me a blessing,” she answered. “Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs of water as well.”

So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.

¹⁶Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms^c to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live among the people.

¹⁷Then the men of Judah went with their brothers the Simeonites, attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction.^d So it was called Hormah.^{e 18}And Judah also captured^f Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron — each with its territory. ¹⁹The LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains because they had chariots of iron.

²⁰Just as Moses had promised, Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, who drove out the descendants of the three sons of Anak.

²¹The Benjamites, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live there among the Benjamites.

²²The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. ²³They sent spies to Bethel (formerly known as Luz), ²⁴and when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us how to get into the city, and we will treat you kindly.”

²⁵So the man showed them the entrance to the city, and they put the city to the sword but released that man and all his family. ²⁶And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.