Adoni-bezek was a defeated king captured by Judah. They cut off his thumbs and big toes, and he said he had done the same to seventy kings, viewing it as payback (Judges 1:5–7). He was brought to Jerusalem, where he died (Judges 1:7).
After Joshua dies, Israel asks Yahweh which tribe should begin the fight against the Canaanites Judges 1:1. Yahweh names Judah and promises the land is being handed over. Judah then invites Simeon to join in shared campaigns across their allotted territories. This opening scene begins Judges by picking up after the ending of Joshua and showing Israel moving from unified leadership into tribal-level action. It starts with a question to Yahweh and an answer that sets the initial direction: Judah leads.
Judges 1:1–7 opens Israel’s post-Joshua period with a practical question: which tribe should begin the next phase of fighting remaining Canaanite groups. The text presents the answer as coming from Yahweh: Judah is to “go up,” and Yahweh says the land has been delivered into Judah’s “hand” (control, power).
A common mistake is to treat this as trivia. Names, places, numbers, and sequence details often carry memory, covenant identity, or narrative movement in the biblical story.
Start with Judges 1:5-7, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
5They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
7Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.