New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the Lord, "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?"
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Now after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel made request to the Lord, saying, Who is to go up first to make war for us against the Canaanites?
2 The Lord said, "Judah shall go up. I hereby give the land into his hand."
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And the Lord said, Judah is to go up: see, I have given the land into his hands.
3 Judah said to his brother Simeon, "Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; then I too will go with you into the territory allotted to you." So Simeon went with him.
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Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my heritage, so that we may make war against the Canaanites; and I will then go with you into your heritage. 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 ten thousand of them at Bezek.
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And Judah went up; and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands; and they overcame ten thousand of them in Bezek.
5 They came upon Adoni-bezek at Bezek, and fought against him, and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
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And they came across Adoni-zedek, and made war on him; and they overcame the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6 Adoni-bezek fled; but they pursued him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
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But Adoni-zedek went in flight; and they went after him and overtook him, and had his thumbs and his great toes cut off.
7 Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has paid me back." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
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And Adoni-zedek said, Seventy kings, whose thumbs and great toes had been cut off, got broken meat under my table: as I have done, so has God done to me in full. And they took him to Jerusalem, and he came to his end there.
8 Then the people of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it. They put it to the sword and set the city on fire.
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Then the children of Judah made an attack on Jerusalem, and took it, burning down the town after they had put its people to the sword without mercy.
9 Afterward the people of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negeb, and in the lowland.
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After that the children of Judah went down to make war on the Canaanites living in the hill-country and in the south and in the lowlands.
10 Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba); and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
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And Caleb went against the Canaanites of Hebron: (now in earlier times Hebron was named Kiriath-arba:) and he put Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai to the sword.
11 From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher).
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And from there he went up against the people of Debir. (Now the name of Debir in earlier times was Kiriath-sepher.)
12 Then Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as wife."
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And Caleb said, I will give Achsah, my daughter, as wife to the man who overcomes Kiriath-sepher and takes it.
13 And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.
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And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for his wife.
14 When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from her donkey, Caleb said to her, "What do you wish?"
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Now when she came to him, he put into her mind the idea of requesting a field from her father: and she got down from her ass; and Caleb said to her, What is it?
15 She said to him, "Give me a present; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also Gulloth-mayim." So Caleb gave her Upper Gulloth and Lower Gulloth.
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And she said to him, Give me a blessing; because you have put me in a dry south-land, now give me springs of water. So Caleb gave her the higher spring and the lower spring.
16 The descendants of Hobab the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad. Then they went and settled with the Amalekites.
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Now Hobab the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, had come up out of the town of palm-trees, with the children of Judah, into the waste land of Arad; and he went and was living among the Amalekites;
17 Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and devoted it to destruction. So the city was called Hormah.
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And Judah went with Simeon, his brother, and overcame the Canaanites living in Zephath, and put it under the curse; and he gave the town the name of Hormah.
18 Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
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Then Judah took Gaza and its limit, and Ashkelon and its limit, and Ekron and its limit.
19 The Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron.
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And the Lord was with Judah; and he took the hill-country for his heritage; but he was unable to make the people of the valley go out, for they had war-carriages of iron.
20 Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said; and he drove out from it the three sons of Anak.
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And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said; and he took the land of the three sons of Anak, driving them out from there.
21 But the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived in Jerusalem among the Benjaminites to this day.
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And the children of Judah did not make the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem go out; the Jebusites are still living with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem.
22 The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel; and the Lord was with them.
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And the family of Joseph went up against Beth-el, and the Lord was with them.
23 The house of Joseph sent out spies to Bethel (the name of the city was formerly Luz).
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So they sent men to make a search round Beth-el. (Now the name of the town in earlier times was Luz.)
24 When the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, "Show us the way into the city, and we will deal kindly with you."
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And the watchers saw a man coming out of the town, and said to him, If you will make clear to us the way into the town, we will be kind to you.
25 So he showed them the way into the city; and they put the city to the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.
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So he made clear to them the way into the town, and they put it to the sword; but they let the man and all his family get away safe.
26 So the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and named it Luz; that is its name to this day.
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And he went into the land of the Hittites, building a town there and naming it Luz: which is its name to this day.
27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; but the Canaanites continued to live in that land.
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And Manasseh did not take away the land of the people of Beth-shean and its daughter-towns, or of Taanach and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Dor and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Ibleam and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Megiddo and its daughter-towns, driving them out; but the Canaanites would go on living in that land.
28 When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not in fact drive them out.
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And whenever Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced work, without driving them out completely.
29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.
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And Ephraim did not make the Canaanites who were living in Gezer go out; but the Canaanites went on living in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.
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Zebulun did not make the people of Kitron or the people of Nahalol go out; but the Canaanites went on living among them and were put to forced work.
31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob;
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And Asher did not take the land of the people of Acco, or Zidon, or Ahlab, or Achzib, or Helbah, or Aphik, or Rehob, driving them out;
32 but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
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But the Asherites went on living among the Canaanites, the people of the land, without driving them out.
33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
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Naphtali did not take the land of the people of Beth-shemesh or of Beth-anath, driving them out; but he was living among the Canaanites in the land; however, the people of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were put to forced work.
34 The Amorites pressed the Danites back into the hill country; they did not allow them to come down to the plain.
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And the children of Dan were forced into the hill-country by the Amorites, who would not let them come down into the valley;
35 The Amorites continued to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor.
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For the Amorites would go on living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; but the children of Joseph became stronger than they, and put them to forced work.
36 The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
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And the limit of the Edomites went from the slope of Akrabbim from Sela and up.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.