After Joshua's death, the Israelites sought the Lord's guidance, asking, "Who will go first to fight against the Canaanites?" And the Lord replied, "Judah will go up. I have handed the land into their hands."
Judah then said to their brothers from the tribe of Simeon, "Come with us into our territory to fight, and we will later help you in yours." The Simeonites agreed, and together they went into battle. When Judah attacked, the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and ten thousand men were struck down at Bezek.
There they captured Adoni-Bezek, who fled but was pursued and caught. They cut off his thumbs and big toes. Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them." He was taken to Jerusalem, where he died.
Judah then attacked Jerusalem, captured it, struck it down, and set it ablaze. Afterward, they fought the Canaanites in the hill country, the Negev, and the western foothills. They took Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. From there, they advanced to Debir (once Kiriath Sepher).
Caleb declared, "I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to whoever captures Kiriath Sepher." Othniel, the son of Kenaz—Caleb's younger brother—took the city, and Caleb gave him Acsah. When she came to Othniel, she asked her father for a field. Dismounting from her donkey, she said, "Since you've given me land in the Negev, please also give me springs of water." And Caleb granted her both the upper and lower springs.
The descendants of Moses' father-in-law, the Kenite, went with Judah into the wilderness near Arad to live among the people there. Together, Judah and Simeon fought the Canaanites in Zephath, destroyed the city completely, and called it Hormah. Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron with their territories.
The Lord was with Judah, who conquered the hill country, but they could not drive out the people in the plains because of their iron chariots. Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had promised, and he drove out the sons of Anak.
The tribe of Benjamin, however, failed to remove the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and to this day they lived there together. The house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with them. Their spies found a man leaving the city and said, "Show us the way in, and we will spare you." The man showed them the entrance, and they destroyed the city but spared him and his family. He later went to the land of the Hittites and built a city named Luz, which still bore that name.
Yet, not all tribes succeeded fully. Manasseh did not drive out the Canaanites from Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, or Megiddo. When Israel grew stronger, they forced the Canaanites into labor but did not expel them. Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali also allowed the Canaanites to remain, though they subjected some to labor.
The Amorites forced the tribe of Dan into the hills, refusing them access to the plains. Still, when the house of Joseph gained strength, they subdued the Amorites and placed them under labor as well.
The boundary of the Amorites stretched from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.
Thus began Israel's long struggle to possess the land the Lord had promised—a land won through faith, failure, and the fight for obedience.