Juízes 1

ARC · Chapter 1/21

1E succedeu, depois da morte de Josué, que os filhos de Israel perguntaram ao Senhor, dizendo: Quem d'entre nós primeiro subirá aos cananeos, para pelejar contra elles?

2E disse o Senhor: Judah subirá: eis que lhe dei esta terra na sua mão.

3Então disse Judah a Simeão, seu irmão: Sobe commigo á minha sorte, e pelejemos contra os cananeos, e tambem eu comtigo subirei á tua sorte. E Simeão partiu com elle.

4E subiu Judah, e o Senhor lhe deu na sua mão os cananeos e os pherezeos: e feriram d'elles em Bezek a dez mil homens.

5E acharam a Adoni-bezek em Bezek, e pelejaram contra elle: e feriram aos cananeos e aos pherezeos.

6Porém Adoni-bezek fugiu, e o seguiram, e o prenderam, e lhe cortaram os dedos pollegares das mãos e dos pés.

7Então disse Adoni-bezek: Setenta reis com os dedos pollegares das mãos e dos pés cortados apanhavam as migalhas debaixo da minha mesa: assim como eu fiz, assim Deus me pagou. E o trouxeram a Jerusalem, e morreu ali.

8Porque os filhos de Judah pelejaram contra Jerusalem, e a tomaram, e a feriram ao fio da espada: e a cidade pozeram a fogo.

9E depois os filhos de Judah desceram a pelejar contra os cananeos que habitavam nas montanhas, e no sul, e nas planicies.

10E partiu Judah contra os cananeos que habitavam em Hebron (era porém d'antes o nome de Hebron Quiriath-arba): e feriram a Sesai, e a Ahiman e a Talmai.

11E d'ali partiu contra os moradores de Debir: e era d'antes o nome de Debir Quiriath-sepher.

12E disse Caleb: Quem ferir a Quiriath-sepher, e a tomar, lhe darei a minha filha Acsa por mulher.

13E tomou-a Othniel, filho de Kenaz, o irmão de Caleb, mais novo do que elle: e Caleb lhe deu a sua filha Acsa por mulher.

14E succedeu que, vindo ella a elle, o persuadiu que pedisse um campo a seu pae; e ella se apeou do jumento, saltando: e Caleb lhe disse: Que é o que tens?

15E ella lhe disse: Dá-me uma benção; pois me déste uma terra secca, dá-me tambem fontes de aguas. E Caleb lhe deu as fontes superiores e as fontes inferiores.

16Tambem os filhos do Keneo, sogro de Moysés, subiram da cidade das palmeiras com os filhos de Judah ao deserto de Judah, que está ao sul de Arad: e foram, e habitaram com o povo.

17Foi-se pois Judah com Simeão, seu irmão, e feriram aos cananeos que habitavam em Zephath: e totalmente a destruiram, e chamaram o nome d'esta cidade Horma.

18Tomou mais Judah a Gaza com o seu termo, e a Ascalon com o seu termo, e a Ecron com o seu termo.

19E foi o Senhor com Judah, e despovoou as montanhas: porém não expelliu aos moradores do valle, porquanto tinham carros ferrados.

20E deram Hebron a Caleb, como Moysés o dissera: e d'ali expelliu os tres filhos d'Enak.

21Porém os filhos de Benjamin não expelliram os jebuseos que habitavam em Jerusalem: antes os jebuseos habitaram com os filhos de Benjamin em Jerusalem, até ao dia d'hoje.

22E subiu tambem a casa de José a Beth-el, e foi o Senhor com elles.

23E fez a casa de José espiar a Beth-el: e foi d'antes o nome d'esta cidade Luz.

24E viram os espias a um homem, que sahia da cidade, e lhe disseram: Ora mostra-nos a entrada da cidade, e usaremos comtigo de beneficencia.

25E, mostrando-lhes elle a entrada da cidade, feriram a cidade ao fio da espada: porém áquelle homem e a toda a sua familia deixaram ir.

26Então aquelle homem foi-se á terra dos hetheos, e edificou uma cidade, e chamou o seu nome Luz; este é o seu nome até ao dia d'hoje.

27Nem Manasseh expelliu os habitantes de Beth-sean, nem dos logares da sua jurisdicção; nem a Taanach, com os logares da sua jurisdicção; nem aos moradores de Dor, com os logares da sua jurisdicção; nem aos moradores de Ibleam, com os logares da sua jurisdicção; nem aos moradores de Megiddo, com os logares da sua jurisdicção: e quizeram os cananeos habitar na mesma terra.

28E succedeu que, quando Israel cobrou mais forças, fez dos cananeos tributarios: porém não os expelliu de todo.

29Tão pouco expelliu Ephraim aos cananeos que habitavam em Gezer: antes os cananeos habitavam no meio d'elle, em Gezer.

30Tão pouco expelliu Zebulon aos moradores de Kitron, nem aos moradores de Nahalol: porém os cananeos habitavam no meio d'elle, e foram tributarios.

31Tão pouco Aser expelliu aos moradores d'Acco, nem aos moradores de Sidon: como nem a Acbal, nem a Acsih, nem a Chelba, nem a Aphik, nem a Recob;

32Porém os aseritas habitaram no meio dos cananeos que habitavam na terra: porquanto os não expelliram.

33Tão pouco Naphtali expelliu aos moradores de Beth-semes, nem aos moradores de Beth-anath; mas habitou no meio dos cananeos que habitavam na terra: porém lhes foram tributarios os moradores de Beth-semes e Beth-anath.

34E apertaram os amorrheos aos filhos de Dan até ás montanhas: porque nem os deixavam descer ao valle.

35Tambem os amorrheos quizeram habitar nas montanhas de Heres, em Ajalon e em Saalbim: porém prevaleceu a mão da casa de José, e ficaram tributarios.

36E foi o termo dos amorrheos desde a subida d'Akrabbim: desde a penha, e d'ali para cima.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

After the death of Joshua, the tribes of Israel continue the conquest of Canaan, with Judah and Simeon winning victories, but several tribes fail to completely drive out the Canaanites.

Explanation

The book of Judges opens where Joshua leaves off, but with a different tone: instead of complete, coordinated victories, each tribe acts more independently and with only partial success. The repeated pattern — that a given region's Canaanites 'were not driven out' — appears nine times in this chapter alone, establishing the central problem of the entire book: gradual disobedience and coexistence with the idolatry God had clearly forbidden. The cruelty inflicted on Adoni-Bezek, paid back in the very coin he had dealt out (cutting off the thumbs of kings), shows a principle of retributive justice recognized even by the pagan peoples of the time. This transitional chapter teaches that partial compromises with what God asks tend to accumulate and bring consequences later on.

Fun facts

  • Adoni-Bezek, the mutilated Canaanite king, acknowledges that he suffered the same evil he had inflicted on seventy other kings — a rare moment in which an enemy of Israel recognizes God's justice at work against him.
  • The story of Othniel conquering Debir and receiving Achsah as his wife is repeated almost word for word from Joshua 15, directly connecting the two books.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Juízes 1:1After Joshua dies, Israel has no clear successor and asks God which tribe should go up first to fight the Canaanites. This is the book’s starting point: the conquest of the land continues, but without a single leader.
  2. Juízes 1:2God answers directly: the tribe of Judah is to go up first, with the promise that the land is already given into its hand before the fighting even begins.
  3. Juízes 1:3Judah calls on the tribe of Simeon, a smaller neighboring tribe, to fight alongside it, promising to help later in Simeon’s own territory. It is an alliance between two tribes that shared nearby land.
  4. Juízes 1:4Judah and Simeon defeat the Canaanites and Perizzites and kill ten thousand men at Bezek. The chapter opens by showing the conquest going well.
  5. Juízes 1:5At Bezek, the Israelites find and confront the local king himself, Adoni-bezek, along with his army.
  6. Juízes 1:6Adoni-bezek flees, but he is caught, and his thumbs and big toes are cut off. Without them, he can never again grip a weapon or run to escape.
  7. Juízes 1:7Adoni-bezek recognizes that losing the thumbs and big toes, which keeps a man from holding a bow or running, is the very punishment he himself once inflicted on seventy kings before him. The text records this as his own admission of a kind of payback, not as the Israelites inventing a new cruelty.
  8. Juízes 1:8The men of Judah attack Jerusalem, defeat it, and set the city on fire. But verse 21 of this same chapter shows that this victory did not drive out its inhabitants for good.
  9. Juízes 1:9After Jerusalem, Judah goes down to fight in the mountains, in the dry south (the Negev), and in the lowland plains, that is, across every kind of terrain in the region.
  10. Juízes 1:10Judah attacks Hebron, a city formerly called Kirjath-arba, and defeats three local chiefs descended from Anak, the people remembered as giants from the earlier spy reports.
  11. Juízes 1:11From there Judah moves against the inhabitants of Debir, a city formerly called Kirjath-sepher.
  12. Juízes 1:12Caleb promises his own daughter Achsah in marriage to whoever conquers Kirjath-sepher, using a personal prize to spur on the courage to attack.
  13. Juízes 1:13Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, conquers the city and receives Achsah as his wife. This is Othniel’s first appearance; later in the book he becomes Israel’s first judge.
  14. Juízes 1:14Achsah gets down from her donkey in front of her father to get his attention and asks Caleb for something beyond what was agreed: a more fertile field than the dry land she had received.
  15. Juízes 1:15Achsah also asks for springs of water, since the land she received was dry, and Caleb grants both the upper and lower springs. It is a shrewd bit of negotiating for better resources.
  16. Juízes 1:16Descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenites, travel along with Judah and settle in the wilderness of the region, showing outside allies joining themselves to Israel.
  17. Juízes 1:17Judah and Simeon destroy the city of Zephath and change its name to Hormah, a word that points to total destruction.
  18. Juízes 1:18Judah takes Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron along with their territories, Philistine cities that, as later chapters show, do not stay under Israel’s control for long.
  19. Juízes 1:19God is with Judah in the mountains, but they cannot drive out those living in the valley because that people had iron chariots. This is the first time the book admits to an incomplete conquest.
  20. Juízes 1:20Hebron is given to Caleb, fulfilling what Moses had promised earlier, and from there he drives out three descendants of Anak.
  21. Juízes 1:21The tribe of Benjamin does not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and the two peoples end up living there together right up to the time the book was written. It is the first clear example of the pattern of incomplete conquest.
  22. Juízes 1:22The house of Joseph, made up of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, attacks the city of Bethel, and God is with them in this attack.
  23. Juízes 1:23Bethel was formerly called Luz, the very place where, generations earlier, Jacob had the dream of the ladder reaching to heaven, in Genesis 28.
  24. Juízes 1:24The spies see a man coming out of the city and offer him a deal: if he shows them the entrance, they will show him mercy.
  25. Juízes 1:25The man shows them the way in, the city is conquered, but he and his family are spared. It is a strategy similar to Rahab’s at Jericho: sparing whoever helps from the inside.
  26. Juízes 1:26The spared man goes off to the land of the Hittites and founds another city, naming it Luz as well. An enemy escapes and starts a new life elsewhere.
  27. Juízes 1:27Manasseh fails to drive out the inhabitants of several important cities, such as Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo, and the Canaanites keep living there.
  28. Juízes 1:28When Israel grows stronger, instead of driving the Canaanites out for good, it merely puts them to forced labor. It is a half-measure the text does not treat as a complete victory.
  29. Juízes 1:29Ephraim likewise fails to drive out the Canaanites from Gezer, and the two peoples end up living together in the same city.
  30. Juízes 1:30Zebulun does not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol, who likewise become mere tributaries, paying tribute instead of being removed from the land.
  31. Juízes 1:31Asher does not drive out the inhabitants of several coastal cities, such as Accho and Zidon, among others listed.
  32. Juízes 1:32Because they failed to drive out the Canaanites, the Asherites themselves end up living among them, mixed together in the same land.
  33. Juízes 1:33Naphtali does not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath, but at least manages to make them tributaries.
  34. Juízes 1:34The Amorites push the men of Dan back into the mountains, not letting them come down into the valley. This territorial squeeze explains why the tribe of Dan, later in the book, goes looking for new land.
  35. Juízes 1:35The Amorites insist on staying in mount Heres, in Aijalon and Shaalbim, but the house of Joseph manages to subdue them and makes them tributaries.
  36. Juízes 1:36The verse closes the chapter with a geographical note, marking how far the Amorite territory extended, from the ascent of Akrabbim onward.

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