1. After Joshua's death the people of Israel asked the Lord, “Which of our tribes should be the first to go and attack the Canaanites?”
2. The Lord answered, “The tribe of Judah will go first. I am giving them control of the land.”
3. The people of Judah said to the people of Simeon, “Go with us into the territory assigned to us, and we will fight the Canaanites together. Then we will go with you into the territory assigned to you.” So the tribes of Simeon
4. and Judah went into battle together. The Lord gave them victory over the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and they defeated 10,000 men at Bezek.
5. They found Adonibezek there and fought against him.
6. He ran away, but they chased him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
7. Adonibezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. God has now done to me what I did to them.” He was taken to Jerusalem, where he died.
8. The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They killed its people and set fire to the city.
18-19. The Lord helped the people of Judah, and they took possession of the hill country. But they did not capture Gaza, Ashkelon, or Ekron, with their surrounding territories. These people living along the coast had iron chariots, and so the people of Judah were not able to drive them out.
22-23. The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh went to attack the city of Bethel, at that time called Luz. The Lord helped them. They sent spies to the city,