Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?" New Living Translation After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Which tribe should go first to attack the Canaanites?” English Standard Version After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” Berean Study Bible After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?” King James Bible Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? New King James Version 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?” New American Standard Bible Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the LORD, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” NASB 1995 Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the LORD, saying, "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?" NASB 1977 Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the LORD, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” Amplified Bible Now it came about after the death of Joshua, that the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob) asked the LORD, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” Christian Standard Bible After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to fight for us against the Canaanites? ” Holman Christian Standard Bible After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, "Who will be the first to fight for us against the Canaanites?" American Standard Version And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel asked of Jehovah, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? Brenton Septuagint Translation And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Chananites, to fight against them? Contemporary English Version After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Which of our tribes should attack the Canaanites first?" Douay-Rheims Bible After the death of Josue the children of Israel consulted the Lord, saying: Who shall go up before us against the Chanaanite, and shall be the leader of the war? English Revised Version And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel asked of the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? Good News Translation After Joshua's death the people of Israel asked the LORD, "Which of our tribes should be the first to go and attack the Canaanites?" GOD'S WORD® Translation After Joshua's death the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who will go first to fight the Canaanites for us?" International Standard Version Sometime after Joshua had died, the Israelis asked the LORD, "Who is to lead us against the Canaanites in our opening attack against them?" JPS Tanakh 1917 AND IT came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying: 'Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?' Literal Standard Version And it comes to pass after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel ask of YHWH, saying, “Who goes up for us to the Canaanite, at the commencement, to fight against it?” NET Bible After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?" New Heart English Bible It happened after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of the LORD, saying, "Who should go up first to fight for us against the Canaanites?" World English Bible It happened after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, "Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?" Young's Literal Translation And it cometh to pass, after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel ask at Jehovah, saying, 'Who doth go up for us unto the Canaanite, at the commencement, to fight against it?' Additional Translations ... Study Bible Conquest of Canaan Proceeds1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?” 2“Judah shall go up,” answered the LORD. “Indeed, I have delivered the land into their hands.”… Cross References Numbers 27:21 He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the LORD by the judgment of the Urim. At his command, he and all the Israelites with him--the entire congregation--will go out and come in." Judges 1:27 At that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. Judges 2:21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. Judges 3:1 These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan, Treasury of Scripture Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? Judges 1:1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? now Joshua 24:29,30 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old… asked Judges 20:18,28 And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first… Exodus 28:30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually. Numbers 27:21 And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. (1) Now.--The "now" should rather be rendered And, as in Leviticus 1:1, Numbers 1:1, Joshua 1:1, 1Samuel 1:1, 2Samuel 1:1, 2Kings 1:1. The word connects this book with the last, "as a link in the chain of books which relate in unbroken connection the sacred history of the world from the Creation to the Exile" (Bertheau). Alter the death of Joshua.--In these first words we are met by a difficulty, for there can be little reasonable doubt that most, at any rate, of the events narrated from this verse to Judges 2:5 took place before the death of Joshua, whose death and burial are accordingly mentioned in Judges 2:8-9. For (1) the whole passage (Judges 1:1 to Judges 2:5) evidently describes the first movements of the Israelites after their establishment on the western side of the Jordan. (See Joshua 18:1-3; Joshua 21:43; Joshua 22:32; Joshua 24:28.) (2) It is inconceivable that the Israelites should have remained inactive during the long life of Joshua, who attained the age of 110 years. (3) The events in Judges 1:10-36 are evidently identical with those in Joshua 12:9-24; Joshua 12:14; Joshua 12:19 (4) The angel's message (Judges 2:1-5) and the subsequent notices (6-18) are closely parallel with, and sometimes verbally the same as, those in Joshua 24:24-33. That these should be records of different and yet most closely analogous series of circumstances is all but impossible. Various ways of accounting for the difficulty have been suggested. (1) Some suppose that many events narrated or touched upon in the Book of Joshua (especially Judges 15:14-19; Judges 15:16-17, &c.) are narrated by anticipation. (2) Clericus arbitrarily supplies the words, "After the death of Joshua the Canaanites recovered strength, but in his lifetime the children of Israel." (3) Schmidt renders the verbs as pluperfects: "It came to pass after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel had consulted Jehovah," &c. (4) A more recent conjecture is that the name "Joshua" has here crept in by an error of the scribes. If we read, "After the death of Moses," all becomes clear and coherent; and if the book, in its original form, possibly began at Judges 3:7, with the words, "And it came to pass, after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord," &c., the clerical error may have been caused by the addition of prefatory matter to the book at the same time that the appendix (Judges 17-21) was added. It is in favour of the possibility of this suggestion that there are close resemblances between the style and the allusions of the preface, or perhaps we may say of the two prefaces (Judges 1:1 to Judges 2:10; Judges 2:11-23), and the style and allusions of the last five chapters: e.g., in the references to Judah, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem (Judges 1:1-21; Judges 1:19; Judges 20:18), Dan (Judges 1:34; Judges 18:1-31) and the Twelve Tribes (passim); the consultations of the Lord by Urim (Judges 1:1-2; Judges 20:26-28); the silence as to the existence of Judges; and the recurrence of various phrases, such as "set on fire," and "with the edge of the sword" (Judges 1:8; Judges 20:48), "unto this day" (Judges 1:21; Judges 19:30), "give his daughter to wife" (Judges 1:12; Judges 21:1; Judges 21:14; Judges 21:18), &c. (5) On the other hand, the conjecture can only be regarded as possible, since it is not supported by a single MS. or suggested by any ancient commentator. It is perhaps simpler to suppose that the book originally began with the words, "Now after the death of Joshua," and that this beginning was left unaltered as a general description of the book when the prefatory matter and appendix were attached to it. The children of Israel.--Mainly, it would seem, the western tribes. Asked the Lord.--The phrase is peculiar, meaning, literally, enquired in Jehovah (as we find it in the LXX.). The usual construction is "Shaal eth-Jehovah" ("asked the Lord"). This phrase (shaal be) is only found again in. Judges 20:23-27. Rabbi Tanchum (whose commentary on this book has been edited by Schnurrer and Haarbrcker) says that the phrase implies the consultation of Jehovah through the high priest by means of the Urim and Thummim. "To ask of Elohim" occurs in Judges 18:5; Judges 20:18. Similarly in Greek, "to ask God" (Xen. Mem. viii. 3) means to consult an oracle. If the narrative of this chapter be retrospective, the high priest must have been Eleazar, the son of Aaron (Joshua 14:1); if not, it must have been his son Phinehas (Joshua 24:33), as Josephus seems to imply (Jos. Antt. v. 2, ? 1). On this method of inquiring of God, in the absence of any authoritative declaration on the part of a prophet, see Numbers 27:21, Joshua 9:14. On the Urim and Thummim, which was not the jewelled "breastplate of judgment," but something which was put "in it," see Exodus 28:30. It is probably useless to inquire as to the method by which the will of God was revealed by the Urim and Thummim. The words mean "lights and perfections," or something closely resembling those conceptions. The Rabbis were themselves ignorant as to the exact nature of the Urim and Thummim, and the mode in which they were used. One favourite theory is that adopted by Milton, when he speaks of Aaron's breastplate as having been "ardent with gems oracular." It identifies the Urim with the twelve gems, and supposes that the answers of God were spelt out by a mystic light which gleamed over these gems. But not to dwell on the fact that the names of the tribes did not contain all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, this explanation is not consistent with the distinction made between the breastplate which was on the ephod, and the Urim and Thummim that were placed inside it (Exodus 28:30). Another theory supposes that the mind of the high priest was abstracted from earthly things by gazing on the gems until the will of God was revealed to him. A third regards the Urim and Thummim as cut and uncut gems, kept in the folds of the breastplate, and used almost like lots. These are but theories, and in all probability the exact truth, which has now been forgotten for thousands of years, will never be discovered. Who shall go up for us . . .?--At the solemn investiture of Joshua, as the successor of Moses, Moses is directed to "set him before Eleazar the priest," who was "to ask consent for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord: at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in" (Numbers 27:18-21). Verse 1. - After the death of Joshua. The events narrated in chs. 1. and Deuteronomy 2:1-9 all occurred before the death of Joshua, as appears by Judges 2:8, 9, and by a comparison of Joshua 14:6-15 and Joshua 15:13-20. The words, and it came to pass after the death of Joshua, must therefore be understood (if the text is incorrupt) as the heading of the whole book, just as the Book of Joshua has for its heading, "Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass." Asked the Lord. The same phrase as Judges 18:5; Judges 20:18, where it is rendered asked counsel of. So also Numbers 27:21, where a special direction is given to Joshua to make such inquiries as that mentioned in this verse before Eleazar the priest, through the judgment of Urim and Thummim (cf. 1 Samuel 23:10, 12). A still more common rendering of the Hebrew phrase in the A.V. is "to inquire of God" (see, e.g. Judges 20:27, 28; 1 Samuel 22:13, 15; 1 Samuel 23:2, 4; 1 Samuel 28:6, and many other places). Such inquiries were made(1) by Urim and Thummin, (2) by the word of the Lord through a prophet (1 Samuel 9:9), or (3) simply by prayer, (Genesis 25:22), and improperly of false gods (2 Kings 1:2, 16), of teraphim, and semi-idolatrous priests (Judges 18:5, 14). Parallel Commentaries ... Lexicon Afterאַחֲרֵי֙ (’a·ḥă·rê) Preposition Strong's Hebrew 310: The hind or following part the death מ֣וֹת (mō·wṯ) Noun - masculine singular construct Strong's Hebrew 4194: Death, the dead, their place, state, pestilence, ruin of Joshua, יְהוֹשֻׁ֔עַ (yə·hō·wō·šu·a‘) Noun - proper - masculine singular Strong's Hebrew 3091: Joshua -- 'the LORD is salvation', Moses' successor, also the name of a number of Israelites the Israelites בְּנֵ֣י (bə·nê) Noun - masculine plural construct Strong's Hebrew 1121: A son inquired וַֽיִּשְׁאֲלוּ֙ (way·yiš·’ă·lū) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural Strong's Hebrew 7592: To inquire, to request, to demand of the LORD, בַּיהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh) Preposition-b | Noun - proper - masculine singular Strong's Hebrew 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel “Who מִ֣י (mî) Interrogative Strong's Hebrew 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix will be the first בַּתְּחִלָּ֖ה (bat·tə·ḥil·lāh) Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular Strong's Hebrew 8462: A commencement, rel, original to go up יַעֲלֶה־ (ya·‘ă·leh-) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular Strong's Hebrew 5927: To ascend, in, actively and fight לְהִלָּ֥חֶם (lə·hil·lā·ḥem) Preposition-l | Verb - Nifal - Infinitive construct Strong's Hebrew 3898: To feed on, to consume, to battle for us לָּ֧נוּ (lā·nū) Preposition | first person common plural Strong's Hebrew against אֶל־ (’el-) Preposition Strong's Hebrew 413: Near, with, among, to the Canaanites?” הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֛י (hak·kə·na·‘ă·nî) Article | Noun - proper - masculine singular Strong's Hebrew 3669: Canaanite -- inhabitant of Canaan Jump to Previous Canaanite Canaanites Children Commencement Death Inquired Israel Israelites Joshua Request WarJump to Next Canaanite Canaanites Children Commencement Death Inquired Israel Israelites Joshua Request WarLinks Judges 1:1 NIVJudges 1:1 NLT Judges 1:1 ESV Judges 1:1 NASB Judges 1:1 KJV Judges 1:1 BibleApps.com Judges 1:1 Biblia Paralela Judges 1:1 Chinese Bible Judges 1:1 French Bible Judges 1:1 Clyx Quotations OT History: Judges 1:1 It happened after the death of Joshua (Jd Judg. 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