Bible Strands
Judges 1:17
Then the men of Judah went with their brothers the Simeonites, attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and devoted the city to destruction. So it was called Hormah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The men of Judah and the tribe of Simeon attack the Canaanites in Zephath immediately after the Kenites relocate to the Negev, preceding Judah’s subsequent capture of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron.
The words — וַ/יַּכּ֕וּ (va/i.ya.Ku) literally means "and they attacked," recording the military strike, while the renaming of Zephath to Hormah documents the city's complete destruction.
The thread — The designation Hormah recurs in Numbers 21:3 as the location where Israel devoted Canaanites to destruction, and it appears in Joshua 19:4 as a territorial boundary marker.
Why it lands — The text records a coordinated conquest and the formal renaming of a city to mark its annihilation, requiring the reader to acknowledge the historical reality of tribal alliance and territorial acquisition without embellishment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.
Cross-references
- Numbers 21:3 And the LORD heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.
- Numbers 14:45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.
- Joshua 19:4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
- Judges 1:3 Then the men of Judah said to their brothers the Simeonites, “Come up with us to our allotted territory, and let us fight against the Canaanites. And we likewise will go with you to your territory.” So the Simeonites went with them.
- 2 Chronicles 14:10 So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.