1. After the death of Joshua, the Israelites consulted Yahweh, "Who among us shall be the first to fight against the Canaanites?"

2. Yahweh answered: "The tribe of Judah shall go up first, and I will give the land into their hands."

3. So the people of Judah said to their brothers from the tribe of Simeon, "Help us conquer the part of the land that is allotted to us, and then we will conquer with you the region that is yours." So they joined forces for the war.

4. When the tribe of Judah attacked the Canaanites and the Perizzites, Yahweh gave them into their hands; in Bezek they defeated ten thousand men.

5. In Bezek they encountered the lord of Bezek and fought against him.

6. The lord of Bezek fled but they pursued him. They captured him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

7. The lord of Bezek then said, "Seventy kings whose thumbs and big toes I cut off used to pick scraps under my table, now God has done to me according to what I have done." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8. The tribe of Judah attacked the city of Jerusalem, and after killing its inhabitants they burned the city.

9. Afterwards they went down from Jerusalem to attack the Canaanites who lived in the mountains, in the Negeb and in the plains.

10. They also attacked the Canaanites who were in Hebron (Hebron was also called Kiriath-arba at that time), and they defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.

11. From there they marched against the inhabitants of Debir, a city which was also called Kiriath-sepher.

12. Then Caleb made this promise, "To the one who takes Kiriath-sepher, I will give my daughter Achsah as wife."

13. It was Othoniel who took the city; he was the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, and Caleb gave him Achsah, his daughter, as wife.

14. When Achsah came to Othoniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. She alighted from her ass, and Caleb asked her, "What do you want?"

15. She answered, "What a gift this Negeb wilderness is! Give me also springs of water." And Caleb gave her the Upper Springs and the Lower Springs.

16. The descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, also went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms to that part of the desert of Judah on the boundary of the Negeb near Arad, and they settled there with them.

17. Those from Judah and their brothers from the tribe of Simeon attacked the Canaanites who lived in Zephath, and they sacrificed Zephath in honor of Yahweh. For this reason, the city was named "Anathema."

18. Judah seized Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron with their respective territories.

19. Although they conquered the mountainous regions with the help of Yahweh, they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they fought with iron chariots.

20. Following the orders of Moses, they gave the city of Hebron to Caleb who had cast out the three sons of Anak from there.

21. But the tribe of Benjamin did not succeed in expelling the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; the Jebusites have stayed in Jerusalem until this day.

22. The people of Joseph went up against Bethel with the help of Yahweh.

23. They sent men out to spy in Bethel, formerly called Luz,

24. and they met a man coming out of the city. They said to him, "Tell us how we can enter the city, and we will not kill you."

25. He showed them the way. Then they entered and put the city to the sword, but set that man free together with his whole family.

26. The man went to the land of the Hittites where he built a city which he named Luz which is its name to this day.

27. However, the tribe of Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth-shean and Taa-nach or the inhabitants of Dor, Ibleam and Megiddo. The Canaanites persisted in dwelling in these cities and in the towns that depended on them, and they kept their lands.

28. But when the Israelites grew stronger, they exacted taxes from the Canaanites who stayed in their place.

29. Neither did the tribe of Ephraim expel the Canaanites who lived in Gezer

30. nor did the tribe of Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol. These Canaanites lived among them, but had to pay taxes to them.

31. Those of Asher did not expel the people of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik or Rehob.

32. The tribe of Asher had to live in the midst of the Canaanites who occupied their territory, for they could not drive them out from that region.

33. The same happened with the tribe of Naphtali that failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath; they had to dwell in the midst of the Canaanites who lived in that region. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath paid taxes to this tribe.

34. The Amorites did not allow the descendants of Dan to come down to the plain, so the latter had to live in the mountains.

35. The Amorites also remained in Har-heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the tribe of Joseph grew stronger, they forced the Amorites to pay taxes.

36. The territory of the Amorites extended from the slope of Akrabbim, to Sela and upward.





“Que Jesus reine sempre soberano no seu coração e o faça cada vez mais digno de seus divinos dons.” São Padre Pio de Pietrelcina