DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SATURDAY MARCH 11:
DAILY BIBLE READING
Judges 1-3New King James Version (NKJV)
The Continuing Conquest of Canaan
1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel
asked the Lord, saying, "Who shall be first to go up for us against the
Canaanites to fight against them?"
2 And the Lord said, "Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land
into his hand."
3 So Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me to my allotted
territory, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I will likewise go
with you to your allotted territory." And Simeon went with him. 4 Then
Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into
their hand; and they killed ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 And they found
Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him; and they defeated the
Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued
him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 And Adoni-Bezek
said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather
scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." Then they
brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
8 Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they
struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. 9 And
afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites
who dwelt in the mountains, in the South,[a] and in the lowland. 10 Then
Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. (Now the name of
Hebron was formerly Kirjath Arba.) And they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and
Talmai.
11 From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir
was formerly Kirjath Sepher.)
12 Then Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I
will give my daughter Achsah as wife." 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz,
Caleb's younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as
wife. 14 Now it happened, when she came to him, that she urged him[b] to
ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb
said to her, "What do you wish?" 15 So she said to him, "Give me a
blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of
water."
And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
16 Now the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the
City of Palms with the children of Judah into the Wilderness of Judah, which
lies in the South near Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. 17
And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they attacked the Canaanites who
inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was
called Hormah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with
its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 19 So the Lord was with Judah.
And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the
inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron. 20 And they
gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he expelled from there the
three sons of Anak. 21 But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the
Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites dwell with the children
of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
22 And the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was
with them. 23 So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. (The name
of the city was formerly Luz.) 24 And when the spies saw a man coming out
of the city, they said to him, "Please show us the entrance to the city, and
we will show you mercy." 25 So he showed them the entrance to the city, and
they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and
all his family go. 26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a
city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.
Incomplete Conquest of the Land
27 However, 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; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in
that land. 28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put
the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out.
29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; so the
Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
30 Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of
Nahalol; so the Canaanites dwelt among them, and were put under tribute.
31 Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of
Sidon, or of Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. 32 So the Asherites
dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not
drive them out.
33 Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the
inhabitants of Beth Anath; but they dwelt among the Canaanites, the
inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and
Beth Anath were put under tribute to them.
34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they
would not allow them to come down to the valley; 35 and the Amorites were
determined to dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim;[c] yet when
the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, they were put under
tribute.
36 Now the boundary of the Amorites was from the Ascent of Akrabbim, from
Sela, and upward.
Israel's Disobedience
2 Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: "I led
you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your
fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you. 2 And you
shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear
down their altars.' But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done
this? 3 Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but
they shall be thorns in your side,[d] and their gods shall be a snare to
you.'" 4 So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the
children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.
5 Then they called the name of that place Bochim;[e] and they sacrificed
there to the Lord. 6 And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children
of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.
Death of Joshua
7 So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of
the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord
which He had done for Israel. 8 Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of
the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried
him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains
of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 10 When all that generation
had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who
did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
Israel's Unfaithfulness
11 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served
the Baals; 12 and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had
brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from
among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down
to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They forsook the Lord and
served Baal and the Ashtoreths.[f] 14 And the anger of the Lord was hot
against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who
despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around,
so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they
went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord
had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly
distressed.
16 Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the
hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they would not listen to their
judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them.
They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying
the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. 18 And when the Lord
raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them
out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was
moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and
harassed them. 19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they
reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other
gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own
doings nor from their stubborn way.
20 Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, "Because
this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers,
and has not heeded My voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out before them
any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 so that through them
I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in
them as their fathers kept them, or not." 23 Therefore the Lord left those
nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into
the hand of Joshua.
The Nations Remaining in the Land
3 Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel
by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan 2 (this
was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught
to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), 3 namely, five
lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites
who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of
Hamath. 4 And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know
whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded
their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 And they took
their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons;
and they served their gods.
Othniel
7 So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot
the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.[g] 8 Therefore the
anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of
Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served
Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. 9 When the children of Israel cried out to
the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who
delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 The
Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war,
and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand;
and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim. 11 So the land had rest for
forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
Ehud
12 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So
the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had
done evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 Then he gathered to himself the
people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of
the City of Palms. 14 So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab
eighteen years.
15 But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up
a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed
man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16
Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length)
and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. 17 So he brought the
tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) 18 And when
he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had
carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back from the stone images
that were at Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king."
He said, "Keep silence!" And all who attended him went out from him.
20 So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private
chamber). Then Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." So he arose
from his seat. 21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger
from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 Even the hilt went
in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw
the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out. 23 Then Ehud went
out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and
locked them.
24 When he had gone out, Eglon's[h] servants came to look, and to their
surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, "He is
probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber." 25 So they waited
till they were embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the
upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them. And there was their
master, fallen dead on the floor.
26 But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the stone
images and escaped to Seirah. 27 And it happened, when he arrived, that he
blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel
went down with him from the mountains; and he led them. 28 Then he said to
them, "Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into
your hand." So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan
leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. 29 And at that
time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not
a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel.
And the land had rest for eighty years.
Shamgar
31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the
Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.
Footnotes:
a.Judges 1:9 Hebrew Negev, and so throughout this book
b.Judges 1:14 Septuagint and Vulgate read he urged her.
c.Judges 1:35 Spelled Shaalabbin in Joshua 19:42
d.Judges 2:3 Septuagint, Targum, and Vulgate read enemies to you.
e.Judges 2:5 Literally Weeping
f.Judges 2:13 Canaanite goddesses
g.Judges 3:7 Name or symbol for Canaanite goddesses
h.Judges 3:24 Literally his
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James VersionR. Copyright C 1982 by Thomas
Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
