The Continuing Conquest of Canaan

1 After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel ^ainquired of the Lord, ^b“Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. ^cAnd I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him. 4 Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek. 5 They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

8 ^fAnd the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.

18 Judah also ^rcaptured Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 19 ^pAnd the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the ^shill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had ^tchariots of iron.