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Juízes 1

BLIVRE · Chapter 1/21

1E aconteceu depois da morte de Josué, que os filhos de Israel consultaram ao SENHOR, dizendo: Quem subirá por nós primeiro para lutar contra os cananeus?

2E o SENHOR respondeu: Judá subirá; eis que eu entreguei a terra em suas mãos.

3E Judá disse a Simeão seu irmão: Sobe comigo à minha porção, e lutemos contra os cananeus, e eu também irei contigo à tua porção. E Simeão foi com ele.

4E subiu Judá, e o SENHOR entregou em suas mãos aos cananeus e aos perizeus; e deles feriram em Bezeque dez mil homens.

5E acharam a Adoni-Bezeque em Bezeque, e lutaram contra ele: e feriram aos cananeus e aos perizeus.

6Mas Adoni-Bezeque fugiu; e seguiram-no, e prenderam-no, e cortaram-lhe os polegares das mãos e dos pés.

7Então disse Adoni-Bezeque: Setenta reis, cortados os polegares de suas mãos e de seus pés, colhiam as migalhas debaixo de minha mesa: como eu fiz, assim Deus me pagou. E meteram-no em Jerusalém, de onde morreu.

8E combateram os filhos de Judá a Jerusalém, e a tomaram, e puseram à espada, e puseram a fogo a cidade.

9Depois os filhos de Judá desceram para lutar contra os cananeus que habitavam nas montanhas, e ao sul, e nas planícies.

10E partiu Judá contra os cananeus que habitavam em Hebrom, a qual se chamava antes Quiriate-Arba; e feriram a Sesai, e a Aimã, e a Talmai.

11E dali foi aos que habitavam em Debir, que antes se chamava Quiriate-Sefer.

12E disse Calebe: O que ferir a Quiriate-Sefer, e a tomar, eu lhe darei a Acsa minha filha por mulher.

13E tomou-a Otniel filho de Quenaz, irmão menor de Calebe: e ele lhe deu a Acsa sua filha por mulher.

14E quando a levavam, persuadiu-lhe que pedisse a seu pai um campo. E ela desceu do asno, e Calebe lhe disse: Que tens?

15Ela então lhe respondeu: Dá-me uma bênção: pois me deste terra de secura, que me dês também fontes de águas. Então Calebe lhe deu as fontes de acima e as fontes de abaixo.

16E os filhos de queneu, sogro de Moisés, subiram da cidade das palmeiras com os filhos de Judá ao deserto de Judá, que está ao sul de Arade: e foram e habitaram com o povo.

17E foi Judá ao seu irmão Simeão, e feriram aos cananeus que habitavam em Zefate, e assolaram-na: e puseram por nome à cidade, Hormá.

18Tomou também Judá a Gaza com seu termo, e a Asquelom com seu termo, e a Ecrom com seu termo.

19E o SENHOR foi com Judá, e expulsaram os das montanhas; mas não puderam expulsar os que habitavam nas planícies, os quais tinham carros de ferro.

20E deram Hebrom a Calebe, como Moisés havia dito: e ele expulsou dali três filhos de Anaque.

21Mas aos jebuseus que habitavam em Jerusalém, não expulsaram os filhos de Benjamim, e tanto os jebuseus habitaram com os filhos de Benjamim em Jerusalém até hoje.

22Também os da casa de José subiram a Betel; e o SENHOR foi com eles.

23E os da casa de José puseram espias em Betel, a qual cidade antes se chamava Luz.

24E os que espiavam viram um homem que saía da cidade, e disseram-lhe: Mostra-nos agora a entrada da cidade, e faremos contigo misericórdia.

25E ele lhes mostrou a entrada à cidade, e feriram-na a fio de espada; mas deixaram a aquele homem com toda sua família.

26E fosse o homem à terra dos heteus, e edificou uma cidade, à qual chamou Luz; e este é seu nome até hoje.

27Tampouco Manassés expulsou os de Bete-Seã, nem aos de suas aldeias, nem aos de Taanaque e suas aldeias, nem os de Dor e suas aldeias, nem os habitantes de Ibleão e suas aldeias, nem aos que habitavam em Megido e em suas aldeias; mas os cananeus quiseram habitar nessa terra.

28Porém quando Israel tomou forças fez aos cananeus tributários, mas não o expulsou.

29Também Efraim não expulsou os cananeus que habitavam em Gezer; antes habitaram os cananeus em meio deles em Gezer.

30Também Zebulom não expulsou aos que habitavam em Quitrom e aos que habitavam em Naalol; mas os cananeus habitaram no meio dele, e lhe foram tributários.

31Também Aser não expulsou aos que habitavam em Aco, e aos que habitavam em Sidom, Alabe, Aczibe, Helba, Afeque, e em Reobe;

32em vez disso, Aser morou entre os cananeus que habitavam na terra; pois não os expulsou.

33Também Naftali não expulsou os que habitavam em Bete-Semes e os que habitavam em Bete-Anate, mas morou entre os cananeus que habitavam na terra; todavia, os moradores de Bete-Semes e os moradores de Bete-Anate foram-lhe tributários.

34Os amorreus pressionaram os filhos de Dã até as montanhas; pois não os permitiram descer ao vale.

35E os amorreus quiseram habitar no monte de Heres, em Aijalom e em Saalbim; mas a mão da tribo de José foi mais forte, e os fizeram tributários.

36E o limite dos amorreus foi desde a subida de Acrabim, desde a rocha, e daí acima.

📖 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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