Bible Strands
Judges 1:20
Just as Moses had promised, Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, who drove out the descendants of the three sons of Anak.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Judah’s military action immediately after their partial conquest of the hill country and before Benjamin’s failure in Jerusalem. The text describes the formal transfer of Hebron to Caleb as a direct fulfillment of a prior divine promise.
The words — וַ/יִּתְּנ֤וּ (va/i.yi.te.Nu) translates literally as "and they gave," marking the legal transfer of the city. וַ/יּ֣וֹרֶשׁ (va/i.Yo.resh) means "and he dispossessed," describing Caleb’s military removal of the Anakite descendants.
The thread — The promise fulfilled here is recorded in Numbers 14:24 and Deuteronomy 1:36, where Caleb receives the land for following the LORD wholeheartedly. The prior assault on Hebron is documented in Judges 1:10.
Why it lands — The text states that Judah executed the transfer and Caleb cleared the Anakites, establishing a pattern of conditional conquest. It requires the reader to recognize that territorial acquisition depends on prior divine commitment rather than military capability alone.
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 they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.
Cross-references
- Judges 1:10 Judah also marched against the Canaanites who were living in Hebron (formerly known as Kiriath-arba), and they struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
- Numbers 14:24 But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it.
- Deuteronomy 1:36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”
- Joshua 15:13 According to the LORD’s command to him, Joshua gave Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion among the sons of Judah—Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)
- Numbers 13:22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled. It had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
- Joshua 14:9 On that day Moses swore to me, saying, ‘Surely the land on which you have set foot will be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’
- Joshua 21:11 They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)