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Judges 1

Canaanites in Palestine.

1^* After the death of Joshua the Israelites consulted the LORD, asking, “Who shall be first among us to attack the Canaanites and to do battle with them?”

2The LORD answered: Judah shall attack: I have delivered the land into his power.^a

3Judah then said to his brother Simeon, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, and let us do battle with the Canaanites. I will likewise go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him.^b

4When Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their power, and they struck down ten thousand of them in Bezek.

5^c They came upon Adonibezek in Bezek and fought against him. When they struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites,

6Adonibezek fled. They pursued him, and when they caught him, they cut off his thumbs and big toes.

7“Seventy kings,” said Adonibezek, “used to pick up scraps under my table with their thumbs and big toes cut off. As I have done, so has God repaid me.” He was brought to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8^* The Judahites fought against Jerusalem, captured it, and put it to the sword, setting the city itself on fire.^d

9Afterward the Judahites went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the mountain region, in the Negeb, and in the foothills.^e

10Judah also marched against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron, which was formerly called Kiriath-arba, and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.^f

11They marched from there against the inhabitants of Debir, which was formerly called Kiriath-sepher.

12Caleb said, “To the man who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Achsah in marriage.”

13^g Othniel captured it, the son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz; so Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah in marriage.

14When she came to him, she induced him to ask her father for some land. Then, as she alighted from the donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?”

15She answered, “Give me a present. Since you have put me in the land of the Negeb, give me pools of water.” So Caleb gave her what she wanted, both the upper and the lower pool.

16^h The descendants of Hobab the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law,^* came up with the Judahites from the City of Palms to the wilderness of Arad, which is in the Negeb, and they settled among the Amalekites.

17ⁱ Then Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They put the city under the ban and renamed it Hormah.^{* j}

18Judah captured Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, Ekron with its territory, and Ashdod^* with its territory.^k

19The LORD was with Judah, so they gained possession of the mountain region. But they could not dispossess those who lived on the plain, because they had iron chariots.

20^l As Moses had commanded, they gave Hebron to Caleb, who then drove the three sons of Anak away from there.

21^* As for the Jebusites dwelling in Jerusalem, the Benjaminites did not dispossess them, so that the Jebusites live with the Benjaminites in Jerusalem to the present day.^m

22The house of Joseph, too, went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.

23The house of Joseph reconnoitered Bethel, which formerly was called Luz.ⁿ

24The scouts saw a man coming out of the city and said to him, “Tell us the way into the city, and we will show you mercy.”

25He showed them the way into the city, and they put the city to the sword; but they let the man and his whole clan go free.

26The man then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

27^o Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean with its towns or of Taanach with its towns. Nor did they dispossess the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, those of Ibleam and its towns, or those of Megiddo and its towns. The Canaanites continued to live in this district.

28When Israel grew stronger, they conscripted the Canaanites as laborers, but did not actually drive them out.

29^p Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, and so the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.

30^q Nor did Zebulun dispossess the inhabitants of Kitron or those of Nahalol; the Canaanites lived among them and became forced laborers.

31^r Nor did Asher dispossess the inhabitants of Acco or those of Sidon, or take possession of Mahaleb, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob.

32So the Asherites settled among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, for they had not dispossessed them.

33^s Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh or those of Beth-anath. They settled among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced laborers for them.

34The Amorites hemmed in the Danites in the mountain region, not permitting them to come down onto the plain.

35So the Amorites continued to live in Harheres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim, but as the power of the house of Joseph grew, they were conscripted as laborers.

36The territory of the Amorites extended from the Akrabbim pass, from Sela and upward.

Judges 2

Infidelities of the Israelites.

1A messenger of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land which I promised on oath to your ancestors. I said, I will never break my covenant with you,

2but you must not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you must pull down their altars.^a But you did not listen to me. Look what you have done!

3For I also said,^* I will not clear them out of your way; they will become traps for you, and their gods a snare for you.^b

4When the messenger of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud.

5They named that place Bochim,^* and they offered sacrifice there to the LORD.

6^c Then Joshua dismissed the people, and the Israelites went, each to their own heritage, to take possession of the land.

7The people served the LORD during the entire lifetime of Joshua, and of those elders who outlived Joshua and who had seen all the great work the LORD had done for Israel.

8Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten,

9and they buried him within the borders of his heritage at Timnath-heres in the mountain region of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.^d

10^* When the rest of that generation were also gathered to their ancestors, and a later generation arose that did not know the LORD or the work he had done for Israel,

11^e the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals,^*

12and abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the one who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods, the gods of the peoples around them, and bowed down to them, and provoked the LORD.

13Because they had abandoned the LORD and served Baal and the Astartes,^*

14the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel, and he delivered them into the power of plunderers who despoiled them. He sold them into the power of the enemies around them, and they were no longer able to withstand their enemies.

15Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD turned against them, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them;^f and they were in great distress.

16But the LORD raised up judges to save them from the power of their plunderers;

17but they did not listen to their judges either, for they prostituted themselves by following other gods, bowing down to them. They were quick to stray from the way their ancestors had taken, who obeyed the commandments of the LORD; but these did not.

18When the LORD raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge and save them from the power of their enemies as long as the judge lived. The LORD would change his mind when they groaned in their affliction under their oppressors.

19But when the judge died, they would again do worse than their ancestors, following other gods, serving and bowing down to them, relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn ways.^g

20^h The anger of the LORD flared up against Israel, and he said: Because this nation has transgressed my covenant, which I enjoined on their ancestors, and has not listened to me,

21I for my part will not clear away for them any more of the nations Joshua left when he died.

22ⁱ They will be made to test Israel, to see whether or not they will keep to the way of the LORD and continue in it as their ancestors did.

23Therefore the LORD allowed these nations to remain instead of expelling them immediately. He had not delivered them into the power of Joshua.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

The Corinthians and Paul.^*

26Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

27Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,^p

28and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something,

29so that no human being might boast^* before God.^q

30It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,^r

31so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”^s

1 Corinthians 2:16

When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God,^* I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.^a

2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.^b

3I came to you in weakness^* and fear and much trembling,

4and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom,^* but with a demonstration of spirit and power,^c

5so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.^d

The True Wisdom.^*

6Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away.

7Rather, we speak God’s wisdom,^* mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory,

8and which none of the rulers of this age^* knew; for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9But as it is written:

“What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,

and what has not entered the human heart,

what God has prepared for those who love him,”^e

10^f this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.

11Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.

12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.

13And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.^*

14Now the natural person^* does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually.

15The spiritual person, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment^* by anyone.

16For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?” But we have the mind of Christ.^g

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The complete Book of Joshua

THE BOOK OF JUDGES

THE BOOK OF JUDGES

The Hebrew word translated “Judges” in the English title of the book refers not to specialized judicial officers or magistrates but to leaders in general. According to the biblical narrative these judges led Israel from the end of the conquest of Canaan until the beginning of the monarchy. The period of the Judges, therefore, extended from the death of Joshua (Jos 24:29–31; cf. Jgs 1:1) until the installation of Saul as Israel’s first king by the prophet Samuel, who was also the last judge (see 1 Sm 7:15–17).

The Book of Judges begins with two introductory passages. The first (chap. 1) gives a description of the situation in Canaan after the Israelite conquest. It emphasizes the continued existence of the indigenous inhabitants of Canaan in many parts of the land because of Israel’s inability to drive them out completely. The second passage (2:1–3:6) is a thematic introduction to the period of the Judges, describing a cyclical pattern of infidelity, oppression, “crying out,” and deliverance (see note on 2:10–19).

The main part of the book (3:7–16:31) consists of a series of stories about thirteen leaders whose careers are described in greater or lesser detail. The exploits of six of these—Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson—are related at length, and all are shown to have delivered Israel from oppression or danger. They are customarily called “major judges,” whereas the other six—Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon—who appear only in brief notices, are designated “minor judges.” The thirteenth, Abimelech, is included in neither group, since his story is essentially a continuation of that of Gideon and his career is presented as deplorable, a cautionary tale of royal ambition.

The final section of the book consists of two episodes, one about the migration of the tribe of Dan (chaps. 17–18) and the other about an intertribal war directed against the tribe of Benjamin (chaps. 19–21). These stories illustrate the religious and political disorder that prevailed at the time when, as yet, “there was no king in Israel” (see note on 17:6).

The principal contribution of the Deuteronomistic historian to the Book of Judges is the thematic introduction to—and theological evaluation of—the period of the Judges in 2:1–3:6, as well as editorial comments structuring the narrative throughout, e.g., 3:7; 4:1; etc. The historian drew the stories of the judges themselves from older sources, which could have existed in written form but derive ultimately from oral tradition.

Thus the principal divisions of the book in outline are as follows:

1. The Situation in Canaan Following the Israelite Conquest (1:1–3:6)
2. Stories of the Judges (3:7–16:31)
3. Further Stories of the Tribes of Dan and Benjamin (17:1–21:25)

The book of 1 Corinthians

THE FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

Paul’s first letter to the church of Corinth provides us with a fuller insight into the life of an early Christian community of the first generation than any other book of the New Testament. Through it we can glimpse both the strengths and the weaknesses of this small group in a great city of the ancient world, men and women who had accepted the good news of Christ and were now trying to realize in their lives the implications of their baptism. Paul, who had founded the community and continued to look after it as a father, responds both to questions addressed to him and to situations of which he had been informed. In doing so, he reveals much about himself, his teaching, and the way in which he conducted his work of apostleship. Some things are puzzling because we have the correspondence only in one direction. For the person studying this letter, it seems to raise as many questions as it answers, but without it our knowledge of church life in the middle of the first century would be much poorer.

Paul established a Christian community in Corinth about the year 51, on his second missionary journey. The city, a commercial crossroads, was a melting pot full of devotees of various pagan cults and marked by a measure of moral depravity not unusual in a great seaport. The Acts of the Apostles suggests that moderate success attended Paul’s efforts among the Jews in Corinth at first, but that they soon turned against him (Acts 18:1–8). More fruitful was his year and a half spent among the Gentiles (Acts 18:11), which won to the faith many of the city’s poor and underprivileged (1 Cor 1:26). After his departure the eloquent Apollos, an Alexandrian Jewish Christian, rendered great service to the community, expounding “from the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus” (Acts 18:24–28).

While Paul was in Ephesus on his third journey (1 Cor 16:8; Acts 19:1–20), he received disquieting news about Corinth. The community there was displaying open factionalism, as certain members were identifying themselves exclusively with individual Christian leaders and interpreting Christian teaching as a superior wisdom for the initiated few (1 Cor 1:10–4:21). The community lacked the decisiveness to take appropriate action against one of its members who was living publicly in an incestuous union (1 Cor 5:1–13). Other members engaged in legal conflicts in pagan courts of law (1 Cor 6:1–11); still others may have participated in religious prostitution (1 Cor 6:12–20) or temple sacrifices (1 Cor 10:14–22).

The community’s ills were reflected in its liturgy. In the celebration of the Eucharist certain members discriminated against others, drank too freely at the agape, or fellowship meal, and denied Christian social courtesies to the poor among the membership (1 Cor 11:17–22). Charisms such as ecstatic prayer, attributed freely to the impulse of the holy Spirit, were more highly prized than works of charity (1 Cor 13:1–2, 8), and were used at times in a disorderly way (1 Cor 14:1–40). Women appeared at the assembly without the customary head-covering (1 Cor 11:3–16), and perhaps were quarreling over their right to address the assembly (1 Cor 14:34–35).

Still other problems with which Paul had to deal concerned matters of conscience discussed among the faithful members of the community: the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to idols (1 Cor 8:1–13), the use of sex in marriage (1 Cor 7:1–7), and the attitude to be taken by the unmarried toward marriage in view of the possible proximity of Christ’s second coming (1 Cor 7:25–40). There was also a doctrinal matter that called for Paul’s attention, for some members of the community, despite their belief in the resurrection of Christ, were denying the possibility of general bodily resurrection.

To treat this wide spectrum of questions, Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus about the year 56. The majority of the Corinthian Christians may well have been quite faithful. Paul writes on their behalf to guard against the threats posed to the community by the views and conduct of various minorities. He writes with confidence in the authority of his apostolic mission, and he presumes that the Corinthians, despite their deficiencies, will recognize and accept it. On the other hand, he does not hesitate to exercise his authority as his judgment dictates in each situation, even going so far as to promise a direct confrontation with recalcitrants, should the abuses he scores remain uncorrected (1 Cor 4:18–21).

The letter illustrates well the mind and character of Paul. Although he is impelled to insist on his office as founder of the community, he recognizes that he is only one servant of God among many and generously acknowledges the labors of Apollos (1 Cor 3:5–8). He provides us in this letter with many valuable examples of his method of theological reflection and exposition. He always treats the questions at issue on the level of the purity of Christian teaching and conduct. Certain passages of the letter are of the greatest importance for the understanding of early Christian teaching on the Eucharist (1 Cor 10:14–22; 11:17–34) and on the resurrection of the body (1 Cor 15:1–58).

Paul’s authorship of 1 Corinthians, apart from a few verses that some regard as later interpolations, has never been seriously questioned. Some scholars have proposed, however, that the letter as we have it contains portions of more than one original Pauline letter. We know that Paul wrote at least two other letters to Corinth (see 1 Cor 5:9; 2 Cor 2:3–4) in addition to the two that we now have; this theory holds that the additional letters are actually contained within the two canonical ones. Most commentators, however, find 1 Corinthians quite understandable as a single coherent work.

The principal divisions of the First Letter to the Corinthians are the following:

1. Address (1:1–9)
2. Disorders in the Corinthian Community (1:10–6:20)
   1. Divisions in the Church (1:10–4:21)
   2. Moral Disorders (5:1–6:20)
3. Answers to the Corinthians’ Questions (7:1–11:1)
   1. Marriage and Virginity (7:1–40)
   2. Offerings to Idols (8:1–11:1)
4. Problems in Liturgical Assemblies (11:2–14:40)
   1. Women’s Headdresses (11:3–16)
   2. The Lord’s Supper (11:17–34)
   3. Spiritual Gifts (12:1–14:40)
5. The Resurrection (15:1–58)
   1. The Resurrection of Christ (15:1–11)
   2. The Resurrection of the Dead (15:12–34)
   3. The Manner of the Resurrection (15:35–58)
6. Conclusion (16:1–24)