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Judges 1:14

in Judges 1

One day Acsah came to Othniel and urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you desire?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And it came to pass, when she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she alighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou?

KJV

And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?

This verse in Judges 1

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

the men of Judah marched down to fight

on Judges 1:9-15

Verses 10 to 15 repeat Joshua 15:14 to 19 almost word for word. Othniel, who takes Debir, becomes the first judge at 3:9, so the first deliverer is introduced winning a wife. Acsah alone in the chapter asks for anything, and she asks for "springs of water".

This site's exposition

urged him to ask her father for a field

Acsah urges Othniel to ask for a field, and in the next verse she makes the request herself. Her getting off the donkey draws Caleb's question before she speaks. John Gill reads the scene with Joshua 15:18, where the same exchange is told.

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 it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? See Gill on Jos 15:18.

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

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
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
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
Arid land. A man barren of anything gainful, as he contains nothing but Torah. 16 Temurah,:a.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 1:15:1, 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

15 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.

  • וַיְהִ֣יand it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • בְּבוֹאָ֗הּwhen came she

    bevoahH935 →2568 times

  • וַתְּסִיתֵ֙הוּ֙and she incited him

    vatesitehuH5496 →

  • לִשְׁא֤וֹלto ask

    lisholH7592 →171 times

  • מֵֽאֵת־from with

    meet-H854 →929 times

  • אָבִ֙יהָ֙father her

    ʾavihaH1 →1212 times

  • הַשָּׂדֶ֔הthe field

    hasadehH7704 →334 times

  • וַתִּצְנַ֖חand she went down

    vatitznachH6795 →

  • מֵעַ֣לfrom on

    mealH5921 →5755 times

  • הַחֲמ֑וֹרthe donkey

    hachamorH2543 →96 times

  • וַיֹּֽאמֶר־and he said

    vaiyomer-H559 →5305 times

  • לָ֥הּto <the> her

    lah

  • כָּלֵ֖בCaleb

    kalevH3612 →35 times

  • מַה־what?

    mah-H4100 →752 times

  • לָּֽךְ׃[is] to <the> you

    lakh

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

Where this verse is studied

About Judges

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; 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.