- 1Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?
- 2And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.
- 3And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.
- 4And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.
- 5And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
- 6But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
- 7And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
- 8Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.
- 9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.
- 10And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.
- 11And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher:
- 12And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
- 13And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.
- 14And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?
- 15And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.
- 16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.
- 17And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.
- 18Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.
- 19And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
- 20And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.
- 21And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.
- 22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the LORD was with them.
- 23And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)
- 24And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.
- 25And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.
- 26And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.
- 27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
- 28And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.
- 29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
- 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.
- 31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:
- 32But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.
- 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them.
- 34And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:
- 35But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.
- 36And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.
KING JAMES VERSION
JUDGES 1
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Judges 1 — Judah advances in the land, but tribe after tribe leaves Canaanite strongholds and peoples in place.
About this illustration
The panorama combines Judah’s victories, Achsah’s springs, and the unresolved valley threat. Battle is shown at a distance, and the remaining strongholds emphasize the chapter’s repeated incompleteness.
Scripture basis: Judges 1:1–36King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGE
Related Watchman 33 Resources
Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Approximately 1208 BC, Merneptah’s fifth regnal year
The Merneptah Stele: Israel in Canaan
A victory hymn from Merneptah's fifth year, about 1208 BC, contains the earliest secure extra-biblical occurrence of Israel's name and marks Israel as a people within the Canaanite campaign horizon.
Judges 1:1–36 · Joshua 11:16–23 · Joshua 13:1–7
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEArchaeological site
Main cemetery approximately eleventh–eighth centuries BC; sampled population spans Bronze–Iron transition
The Philistine Cemetery at Ashkelon
More than two hundred burials outside Ashkelon's walls provide the first large, securely excavated cemetery associated with a major Philistine city, while a separate ancient-DNA time series detects a short-lived European-related ancestry signal at the beginning of the Iron Age without reducing Philistine identity to biology.
Judges 1:18 · 1 Samuel 6:17 · 2 Samuel 1:20
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Approximately 1350–1330 BC
The Amarna Letters from Canaan and Jerusalem
Clay tablets from Egypt's fourteenth-century BC royal archive preserve the actual diplomatic voices of Canaanite rulers, including six appeals from Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, documenting a literate city-state under Egyptian authority centuries before the Israelite monarchy.
Genesis 14:18 · Joshua 10:1–5 · Joshua 15:63
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Nineteenth–eighteenth centuries BC
Egyptian Execration Texts Naming Jerusalem
Middle Kingdom Egyptian enemy lists preserve a toponym widely read as Jerusalem and associate two rulers with it, providing early evidence for a Canaanite highland polity while saying nothing about Abraham or Israelite rule.
Genesis 14:18–20 · Joshua 10:1–5 · Joshua 15:63
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCECult & worship
10th century BC
Taanach Cult Stand: Iron Age Religious Iconography
A four-tiered terracotta stand from Taanach preserves a dense program of animals, a sacred tree, a female figure, and an empty guarded space, illuminating debated Iron Age worship.
Joshua 12:21 · Joshua 17:11–13 · Judges 1:27
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Late Bronze Age, mainly 15th–14th centuries BC
Taanach Cuneiform Archive
A small group of Late Bronze Akkadian tablets from Taanach preserves correspondence, administration, personal names, and scribal practice within a Canaanite city later named in Joshua and Judges.
Joshua 12:21 · Judges 1:27 · Judges 5:19
View all 10 archaeology resources
- The Seti I Stelae from Beth Shean
- The Deir el-Balah Anthropoid Coffins
- Ashkelon’s Middle Bronze Arched Gate and Ramparts
- Building 1500: The Egyptian Governor's Residence at Beth Shean
Sermons
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In part two of his deliverance series, Pastor Dean Odle argues that a Christian can be genuinely saved and still require deliverance from demonic oppression or indwelling influence in areas of life that have not been surrendered or cleansed. He distinguishes salvation from sanctification and deliverance, using Israel’s exodus, wilderness journey, tabernacle cleansing, and several Gospel accounts as patterns for the believer’s continuing spiritual warfare.
Spiritual WarfareDoctrine and DiscernmentChrist Alone
View sermon Spiritual Warfare #8 - Can a Christian Have Demons?
Dean Odle directly answers the question “Can a Christian have demons?” in the affirmative, distinguishing salvation from the surrender of particular areas of a believer’s soul or body. He argues from warnings addressed to Christians, Israel’s Old Testament experience, and Gospel deliverance accounts that covenant people can fellowship with demons, retain unclean strongholds, and need those bondages removed.
Spiritual WarfareDoctrine and DiscernmentHoly Spirit and Spiritual GiftsChristian Living
View sermon