Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Judges 1:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse narrates pursuit, capture, and deliberate mutilation of the fleeing ruler.
Read It With
- Judges 1:1–7
Read Judges 1:1–7 together. This verse narrates pursuit, capture, and deliberate mutilation of the fleeing ruler. Joshua's death, Israel's inquiry, Judah and Simeon's joint campaign, Adoni-bezek's mutilation, and his interpretation of his fate form the opening action; verse 8 moves to Jerusalem.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The opening joins divine direction and land promise to human coalition, warfare, and morally troubling treatment of a defeated ruler, establishing that narrated victory and ethical approval are not identical categories. Within that movement, narrates pursuit, capture, and deliberate mutilation of the fleeing ruler.
Read Judges 1:1–7 together
Why these verses belong together: Joshua's death, Israel's inquiry, Judah and Simeon's joint campaign, Adoni-bezek's mutilation, and his interpretation of his fate form the opening action; verse 8 moves to Jerusalem.
Verse 1. 1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?
Verse 2. 2 And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.
Verse 3. 3 And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.
Verse 4. 4 And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.
Verse 5. 5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Verse 6. 6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
Verse 7. 7 And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
Follow the Context
- Israel asks the LORD who should begin after Joshua's death.
- Judah is named, recruits Simeon, and defeats Canaanites and Perizzites at Bezek.
- The victors cut off Adoni-bezek's thumbs and toes; he interprets it as requital and dies at Jerusalem.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs…”
In plain language: narrates pursuit, capture, and deliberate mutilation of the fleeing ruler
After Joshua's death Israel asks who should go first. Judah receives the answer, brings Simeon, defeats Bezek, and mutilates Adoni-bezek, whose claim of requital acknowledges his own history of cruelty without turning mutilation into a timeless ethic. Within that movement, this wording narrates pursuit, capture, and deliberate mutilation of the fleeing ruler.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material narrative, textual, historical, violence, vulnerable-person, land, leadership, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Judges 1:6 does not stand alone from 1:1–7. Adoni-bezek's speech does not prove that every injury is direct divine repayment. Its verse-specific role is: narrates pursuit, capture, and deliberate mutilation of the fleeing ruler.
What Remains True
Narrates pursuit, capture, and deliberate mutilation of the fleeing ruler. Divine purposes in a violent narrative do not make every victorious human action a moral model.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Judges 1:6 narrates pursuit, capture, and deliberate mutilation of the fleeing ruler, evaluate claimed justice by proportionality, protection of captives, and accountable law; refuse revenge that copies an offender's cruelty.
Teach It Back
Explain Judges 1:6's precise role in Judges 1:1–7. Include the scene's ancient covenant setting, one material uncertainty, the affected people, and one conclusion or violent imitation the context does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Judges 1:1–7 — Judah begins at BezekSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Interpreters differ over whether the narrator endorses, merely reports, or darkly mirrors the mutilation. Adoni-bezek's own requital claim is explicit; a universal moral approval is not.
The main sequence is textually stable enough for the narrative movement. Exact force, number, and the relation to Jerusalem remain literary-historical claims that archaeology cannot independently verify.
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 1:1–7, 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, 1:1–7
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 1:1–7
Open source ↗