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Judges 1:13

in Judges 1

So Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz captured the city, and Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.

KJV

And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.

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This verse in Judges 1

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

afterward the children of Judah

on Judges 1:9-15

Verses 10 to 15 repeat Joshua 15:14 to 19 almost word for word, so the same events stand in two books, once as the record of Judah's inheritance and once as the opening of Judah's war. The man who takes Debir is Othniel, who becomes the first judge of Israel at 3:9 with the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him at 3:10, so the book's first deliverer is introduced winning a wife. Achsah is the only person in the chapter who asks for anything, and what she asks for is water, since a field in the south country without springs cannot be worked. Both old names are kept, Hebron called Kirjath-arba and Debir called Kirjath-sepher, which is how these records mark towns that were standing long before Israel came.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

They had iron chariots, and therefore it was thought not safe to attack them: but had not Israel God on their side, whose chariots are thousands of angels ( Ps. lxviii. 17 ), before whom these iron chariots would be but as stubble to the fire? Had not God expressly promised by the oracle (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. See Gill on Jos 15:17.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

IN domestic life we often meet with pictures of life in the House of God. I am sure that we are allowed to find them there, for our Savior said, "If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" God is a Father and He likens Himself to us as fathers. And we who are Believers are God's children and we are permitted to liken ourselves to our own children—and just as our children would deal with us and we would deal with them—so may we deal with God and expect God to deal with us! This little story of a daughter and her father is recorded twice in the Bible. You will find it in the 15th chapter of the Book of Joshua, as well as in this first chapter of the Book of Judges. It is not inserted twice without good reasons. I am going to use it, tonight, simply in this manner—the way in which this woman went to her father, and the way in which her father treated her. May it teach us how to go to our Father who is in Heaven—and what to expect if we go to Him in that fashion. I would hold up this good woman, Achsah, before you, tonight, as a kind of model or parable. Our parable shall be Achsah, the daughter of Caleb—she shall be the picture of the true successful pleader with our Father in Heaven. I. And the first thing that I ask you to notice is HER CONSIDERATION OF THE MATTER before she went to her father. She was newly-married and she had an estate to go with her to her husband. She naturally wished that her husband should find in that estate all that was convenient and all that might be profitable. And looking it all over, she saw what was needed. Before you pray, know what you are needing. That man, who blunders down on his knees, with nothing in his mind, will blunder up, again, and get nothing for his pains.
IN domestic life we often meet with pictures of life in the House of God. I am sure that we are allowed to find them there, for our Savior said, "If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" God is a Father and He likens Himself to us as fathers.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Coleiv's …brother. Maternally. 13 Coleiv is referred to as “the Kenizite” (Yehoshua,:6), rather than ‘son of Kenaz’. This indicates that he was not Kenaz’ biological son, but his stepson. (Sotah,:b,:a).
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 1:13:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
She cajoled him. She advised him, as in "he took counsel"; 14 Rather than ‘she tempted him’, as in Devarim,:7. one counsels a person, and directs his thinking to an alternative. This is my opinion.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 1:14:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַֽיִּלְכְּדָהּ֙and he captured it

    vaiyilkedahH3920 →121 times

  • עָתְנִיאֵ֣לOthniel

    ʾatenielH6274 →7 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • קְנַ֔זKenaz

    kenazH7073 →11 times

  • אֲחִ֥י[the] brother of

    ʾachiH251 →630 times

  • כָלֵ֖בCaleb

    khalevH3612 →35 times

  • הַקָּטֹ֣ן<the> young

    hakatonH6996 →101 times

  • מִמֶּ֑נּוּmore than him

    mimenuH4480 →1188 times

  • וַיִּתֶּן־and he gave

    vaiyiten-H5414 →2011 times

  • ל֛וֹto <the> him

    lo

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • עַכְסָ֥הAchsah

    ʾakhsahH5915 →

  • בִתּ֖וֹdaughter his

    vitoH1323 →588 times

  • לְאִשָּֽׁה׃to a wife

    leishahH802 →781 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Judges 3:9

    But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them.

    it leads to

    • Judges 3:15

      And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

    • Psalms 22:5

      They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed.

    • Judges 10:10

      Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.”

    • Judges 6:7

      Now when the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian,

    • Judges 2:16

      Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Judges

The Death of Samson, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Death of Samson, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Judges: the study guide →Read Judges 1 →

This page draws on Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2312: “Achsah's Asking—a Pattern of Prayer” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Judges 1 →