Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today we begin the book of Judges,
and today's readings are Judges chapters 1 and
2. Chapter 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? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Indeed,
I have delivered the land into his hand. 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. Then Judah went up, and the Lord delivered
the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their
hand. And they killed ten thousand men at Bezek.
And they found Adonai Bezek in Bezek, and fought
against him, and they defeated the Canaanites
and the Perizzites. Then Adonai Bezek fled, and
they pursued him and caught him, and cut off
his thumbs and big toes. And Adonai 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.
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. And afterward
the children of Judah went down to fight against
the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in
the south, and in the lowland. Then Judah went
against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. Now
the name of Hebron was formerly Kirjas Arba.
And they killed Shishai, Ahiman, and Telmai.
From there they went against the inhabitants
of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kirjas
Sefer. Then Caleb said, Whoever attacks Kirjas
Sefer and takes it, to him I will give my daughter
Aksa as wife. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz,
Caleb's younger brother, took it. So he gave
him his daughter Aksa as wife. Now it happened
when she came to him that she urged him to ask
her father for a field, and she dismounted from
her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What do you
wish? 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. Now
the children of the Canaanite, 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. And Judah
went with his brother Simeon, and he attacked
the Canaanites who inhabited Sephat, and utterly
destroyed it. So the name of the city was called
Hormah. Also Judah took Gaza with its territory,
Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its
territory. So the Lord was with Judah, and he
drove out the mountaineers, but they could not
drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because
they had chariots of iron. And he gave Hebron
to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he expelled
from there the three sons of Anak. 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. And the house of Joseph also went up
against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. So
the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel.
The name of the city was formerly Luz. 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. So he showed
them the entrance to the city, and he struck
the city with the edge of the sword. But they
let the man and all his family go. And the men
went to the land of the Hittites, built a city,
and called its name Luz, which is its name to
this day. However, Manasseh did not drive out
the inhabitants of Beth -shin and its villages,
or Tanakh 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. And it
came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they
put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not
completely drive them out. Nor did Ephraim drive
out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer. So the
Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 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.
Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Akko,
or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, Aghzib,
Helba, Afik, or Rehab. So the Asherites dwelt
among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the
land, for they did not drive them out. Nor did
Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beit Shemesh,
or the inhabitants of Beit Anat, But they dwelt
among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the
land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beit Shemesh
and Beit Anath were put under tribute to them.
And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into
the mountains, for they would not allow them
to come down to the valley. And the Amorites
were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon,
and in Shabim. Yet when the strength of the house
of Joseph became greater, they were put under
tribute. Now the boundary of the Amorites was
from the ascent of Akrabim, from Sela, and upward.
Chapter 2 Then the angel of the Lord came up
from Gilgal to Bokim 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, 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?
Therefore I also said, I will not drive them
out before you, but they shall be thorns in your
side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.
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. Then
they called the name of that place Bokim, and
they sacrificed there to the Lord. And when Joshua
had dismissed the people, the children of Israel
went each to his own inheritance to possess the
land. 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. Now
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord,
died when he was 110 years old. And they buried
him within the border of his inheritance at Timnah
-Herez, in the mountains of Ephraim on the north
side of Mount Gash. 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. Then the
children of Israel did evil in the sight of the
Lord and served the Baals. 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. They forsook
the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtorethes.
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. 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. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up
judges who delivered them out of the hand of
those who plundered them. 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. 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. 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. 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, I also will no longer
drive out before them any of the nations which
Joshua left when he died, 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. Therefore the Lord left those
nations without driving them out immediately,
nor did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as
I did, and I look forward to seeing you again
tomorrow to continue on our journey. God bless
you and have a great day.