Judges 1:12-19

¹²Before they attacked the city, Caleb said to them, “If one of you attacks and captures Kiriath-Sepher, I will allow him to marry my daughter.”

¹³Othniel, who was the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz, captured the city. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him, to become his wife.

¹⁴When Acsah married Othniel, she told him to ask her father to give him a field. But she decided to ask him herself. She rode to Caleb's house on her donkey, and when she got off the donkey, Caleb could see that something was troubling her. So he asked her, “What do you want?”

¹⁵She replied, “I want you to do a favor for me. You have given me some land in the southern desert, but it is very dry there. So please also give me some land that has springs of water.” So Caleb gave her some land on higher ground that had a spring, and some land on lower ground that also had a spring.

¹⁶The people of the Ken people-group who were descendants of Moses' father-in-law left Jericho, which was called ❛The City of Palm Trees❜. They went with some of the men of Judah to live with them in the southern desert area, near Arad city.

¹⁷The men of Judah and their fellow Israelis from the tribe of Simeon defeated the people of the Canaan people-group who lived in Zephath city. They completely destroyed the city and gave it a new name, Hormah, which means ❛complete destruction. ❛

¹⁸The men of Judah also captured Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron cities and all the land that is near those cities.

¹⁹Yahweh helped the men of Judah to capture the hilly area, but they could not force the people who were living in the plains to leave, because those people had better weapons —they had iron chariots.