3. The people of Judah went to their relatives, the Simeon tribe, and said, “Canaanites live in the land God gave us. Help us fight them, and we will help you.”Troops from Simeon came to help Judah.
4-5. Together they attacked an army of ten thousand Canaanites and Perizzites at Bezek, and the Lord helped Judah defeat them. During the battle, Judah's army found out where the king of Bezek was, and they attacked there.
6. Bezek tried to escape, but soldiers from Judah caught him. They cut off his thumbs and big toes,
7. and he said, “I've cut off the thumbs and big toes of seventy kings and made those kings crawl around under my table for scraps of food. Now God is paying me back.”The army of Judah took the king of Bezek along with them to Jerusalem, where he died.
8. They attacked Jerusalem, captured it, killed everyone who lived there, and then burnt it to the ground.
9. Judah's army fought the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, the Southern Desert, and the foothills to the west.
10. After that, they attacked the Canaanites who lived at Hebron, defeating the three clans called Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. At that time, Hebron was called Kiriath-Arba.
11. From Hebron, Judah's army went to attack Debir, which at that time was called Kiriath-Sepher.
12. Caleb told his troops, “The man who captures Kiriath-Sepher can marry my daughter Achsah.”
13. Caleb's nephew Othniel captured Kiriath-Sepher, so Caleb let him marry Achsah. Othniel was the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz.
14. Straight after the wedding, Achsah started telling Othniel that he ought to ask her father for a field. She went to see her father, and while she was getting down from her donkey, Caleb asked, “What's bothering you?”
15. She answered, “I need your help. The land you gave me is in the Southern Desert, so please give me some spring-fed ponds for a water supply.”Caleb gave her a couple of small ponds named Higher Pond and Lower Pond.
16. The people who belonged to the Kenite clan were the descendants of the father-in-law of Moses. They left Jericho with the people of Judah and settled near Arad in the Southern Desert of Judah not far from the Amalekites.
17. Judah's army helped Simeon's army attack the Canaanites who lived at Zephath. They completely destroyed the town and renamed it Hormah.
18-19. The Lord helped the army of Judah capture Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the land near those towns. They also took the hill country. But the people who lived in the valleys had iron chariots, so Judah was not able to make them leave or to take their land.
20. The tribe of Judah gave the town of Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had told them to do. Caleb defeated the three Anakim clans and took over the town.
21. The Jebusites were living in Jerusalem, and the Benjamin tribe did not defeat them or capture the town. That's why Jebusites still live in Jerusalem along with the people of Benjamin.