Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Judges 1:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse lists Judah's reported capture of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and their territories.
Read It With
- Judges 1:16–21
Read Judges 1:16–21 together. This verse lists Judah's reported capture of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and their territories. Kenite settlement, Judah and Simeon's further campaigns, the iron-chariot limit, Caleb's Hebron holding, and Benjamin's failure at Jerusalem form a regional sequence; verse 22 turns to Joseph.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The first campaign block complicates triumph: the LORD's presence is stated alongside military limits and unresolved populations, preparing the book's concern with partial obedience and contested land. Within that movement, lists Judah's reported capture of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and their territories.
Read Judges 1:16–21 together
Why these verses belong together: Kenite settlement, Judah and Simeon's further campaigns, the iron-chariot limit, Caleb's Hebron holding, and Benjamin's failure at Jerusalem form a regional sequence; verse 22 turns to Joseph.
Verse 16. 16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.
Verse 17. 17 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.
Verse 18. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.
Verse 19. 19 And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
Verse 20. 20 And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.
Verse 21. 21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.
What Remains True
Lists Judah's reported capture of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and their territories. Religious claims about purpose must not conceal material limits, contested outcomes, or the presence of other people.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Judges 1:18 lists Judah's reported capture of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and their territories, report partial results honestly and refuse to turn sacred history into a present-day mandate for domination or displacement.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Judges 1:16–21 — Mixed gains expose an incomplete hold on the landSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Judges 1:16–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Judges
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clause relationships, repeated terms, wordplays, and translation control.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Judg.xml, 1:16–21
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Judges with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, poetic, geographical, social, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Judges PDF, printed pp. 452-453, translation and notes on 1:16–21
Open source ↗