to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
smiteth
יַכֶּ֥הya.Keh
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Kirjath-sepher
קִרְיַתkir.yat-
H7158
Kirjath-Sannah or Kirjath-Sepher · proper noun, a place name
taketh
וּלְכָדָ֑הּu.le.kha.Dah
H3920
to catch (in a net · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
give
וְנָתַ֥תִּיve.na.Ta.ti
H5414
to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
Achsah
עַכְסָ֥ה'akh.Sah
H5915
Aksah · proper noun, a woman's name
daughter
בִתִּ֖יvi.Ti
H1323
a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
wife
לְאִשָּֽׁהle.'i.Shah
H802
a woman · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Judges 1:12-13 And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
Judges 1:6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 15:13-19
The historian seems pleased with every occasion to make mention of Caleb and to do him honour, because he had honoured God in following him fully. Observe,
I. The grant Joshua made him of the mountain of Hebron for his inheritance is here repeated (Jos 15:13), and it is said to be given him. 1. According to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua. Though Caleb, in his petition, had made out a very good title to it by promise, yet, because God had ordered Joshua to divide the land by lot, he would not in this one single instance, no, not to gratify his old friend Caleb, do otherwise, without orders from God, whose oracle, it is probable, he consulted upon this occasion. In every doubtful case i…
OTHNIEL, FOR HIS VALOR, HAS ACHSAH TO WIFE. (Jos 15:16-20)
He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher--This offer was made as an incentive to youthful bravery (see on Sa1 17:25); and the prize was won by Othniel, Caleb's younger brother (Jdg 1:13; Jdg 3:9). This was the occasion of drawing out the latent energies of him who was destined to be the first judge in Israel.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 15:16
Will I give Achsah my daughter - In ancient times fathers assumed an absolute right over their children, especially in disposing of them in marriage; and it was customary for a king or great man to promise his daughter in marriage to him who should take a city, kill an enemy, etc. So Saul promised his daughter in marriage to him who should kill Goliath, Sa1 17:25; and Caleb offers his on this occasion to him who should take Kirjath-sepher. Profane writers furnish many similar examples.
John Gill on Joshua 15:16
And Caleb said, he that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it,.... Which he ordered to be proclaimed through the army that was under his command; and which was done not so much on the account of the difficulty of taking the place, through the number of the inhabitants of it, and its fortifications, which it seems had fallen again into the hands of the Canaanites, since it was taken by Joshua; nor through inactivity, diffidence, and timorousness in himself; but that others, who were officers, and men of valour under him, might gather some laurels as well as himself; and chiefly being under a divine impulse, he ordered this declaration to be made, whereby his brother Othniel, who was to be a ju…
The Church Fathers
Moreover it is related that Caleb, having a daughter, proposed a certain condition of this kind, saying: "whoever shall be able to cut off the city of letters and to obtain it, to him I will give Ascha my daughter as wife." And when he had proposed this, "Gothoniel the son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb, took the city of letters." But this too holy Scripture has set as a question, if indeed, as we have said, nothing in these words is to be passed over idly — that "Gothoniel" is said to be the "brother of Caleb," and "Caleb" is written as "the son of Ieffone," and "Gothoniel the son of Cenez." How then will he seem to be the "brother of Caleb," who is not "the son of Ieffone," but the one is called "the son of Ieffone," while the other is "the son of Cenez," who is said "to have taken the city of letters"? Of whom it is added that he was also "the younger," and by the condition, deservedly for his virtue, "received Ascha the daughter of Caleb as wife," because he "cut off and destroyed the city of letters." But Ascha, "going out" from the house of her father, who was "given in marriage" to him by a fixed condition, sitting upon an "ass," said to her husband: "I will ask of my father a portion of a field; and she cried out from the mountain. And Caleb said to her: what is it with you? And she said to him: give me a blessing, since you have given me in marriage into the land of the south. And she received the upper Gonetla and the lower Gonetla." And Scripture concludes on these things, saying: "this is the inheritance of the tribe of Judah." You see that there is truly need of the help of God, that these things may be explained; and it is utterly impossible for any of men to discourse of these things, unless he has been illuminated through the grace of God. Therefore, then, help me with your prayers and labor together with me, that the Lord may deign to show us the light of truth in these places so obscure and hidden, so that we too may be able to open to you how these things are true and useful and divine, but, on account of the frailty of human nature, are covered over with sacraments and enveloped in mysteries.
But now "Caleb went up to" that "city of letters and said": "whoever shall cut off the city of letters and obtain it, to him I will give Ascha my daughter as wife. And Gothoniel the son of Cenez took it." Now "Gothoniel," who received the "city of letters," is interpreted as the answer of God. But he can be called the answer of God to whom God answers, that is, to whom he reveals secrets and discloses hidden things. This, then, is he who can "receive the city of letters" of the old instrument and "cut off" "the letter that kills," "the younger brother of Caleb." But I, from the Church, am "the younger brother of Caleb," who, when the letter of the law has been cut off and shaken out, seek in it the spiritual sense. And I "cut off" "the letter" when I am no longer circumcised according to the flesh, nor eat the unleavened bread according to the flesh, nor observe the passover with the Jews, nor keep the sabbath according to the letter. For it was promised to me that, if I "cut off the city of letters," I would receive the daughter of my elder brother. For I was formerly "the son of Cenez," which is interpreted as contempt. For who was contempt, as we "gentiles, alienated from the manner of life of Israel, having no hope and without God in this world"? For that former brother of mine, whose daughter I now receive for this, that I "cut off the city of letters," he was "the son of Ieffone," which is interpreted as conversion. He therefore "gives" me his "daughter," that is, the law gives to me, the younger brother, the knowledge of itself or the understanding of itself, according to what is written: "the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you and shall be given to a nation producing its fruits." Yet it must be known that the law, to which we have now given the person of Caleb, is one thing, and the letter of the old testament, which we have figuratively called "the city of letters," is another. Having received his daughter, then, I, "his younger brother," lead her out from the house of her father. And when she comes with me, sitting upon an "ass" — upon what "ass"? that one, without doubt, which "the disciples had loosed" of the Savior — she "says" to her father: "give me a blessing, father. And she received the upper Gonetla and the lower Gonetla." Which the Apostle says more plainly: "having the promise of life, both of that which now is and of that…
Dictionary and topics
Achsah — Anklet, Caleb’s only daughter (1 Chr. 2:49). She was offered in marriage to the man who would lead an attack on the city of Debir, or Kirjath-sepher. This was done by Othniel (q.v.), who accordingly…
Dagon’s house — (1 Sam. 5:2), or Beth-dagon, as elsewhere rendered (Josh. 15: 41; 19:27), was the sanctuary or temple of Dagon. The Beth-dagon of Josh. 15:41 was one of the cities of the tribe of Judah, in the…
Hazor — Enclosed; fortified. (1.) A stronghold of the Canaanites in the mountains north of Lake Merom (Josh. 11:1-5). Jabin the king with his allied tribes here encountered Joshua in a great battle. Joshua…
Joshua, Book Of — Named from Joshua the son of Nun, who is the principal character in it. The book may be regarded as consisting of three parts:
Judah, Tribe of — Judah and his three surviving sons went down with Jacob into Egypt (Gen. 46:12; Ex. 1:2). At the time of the Exodus, when we meet with the family of Judah again, they have increased to the number of…
Kirjathsepher — (city of books). (Joshua 15:15,16; Judges 1:11,12) [Debir]
Othniel — Lion of God, the first of the judges. His wife Achsah was the daughter of Caleb (Josh. 15:16, 17; Judg. 1:13). He gained her hand as a reward for his bravery in leading a successful expedition…
Achsah · General references — General references
Anakim, The · Driven from Kirjathsepher or Debir by Othniel — Driven from Kirjathsepher or Debir by Othniel
Armies Of Israel, The · Bravery and fidelity in, rewarded — Bravery and fidelity in, rewarded
Joshua 15:14-63
14. And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.
14. Expulit inde Caleb tres filios Enac, Sezadi, et Ahiman, et Thalmai qui fuerunt filii Enac.
15. And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher.
15. Ascenditque inde ad habitatores Debir, cujus nomen antea fuit Ciriath-sepher.
16. And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
16. Dixitque Caleb, qui percusserit Ciriath-sepher, et ceperit eam, dabo ei Achsa filiam meam in uxorem.
17. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he ga…
The account of the conquest of the inheritance, which Caleb asked for and received before the lots were cast for the land (Jos 14:6-15), by the extermination of the Anakites from Hebron, and the capture of the fortified town of Debir, is repeated with very slight differences in Jdg 1:10-15, in the enumeration of the different conflicts in which the separate tribes engaged after the death of Joshua, in order to secure actual possession of the inheritance which had fallen to them by lot, and is neither copied from our book by the author of the book of Judges, nor taken from Judges by the author of Joshua; but both of them have drawn it from one common source, upon which the accounts of the con…
Kiryas Seifer. Our Rabbis said, “These are the laws that were forgotten during the days of mourning for Moshe, which Osniel, son of Kenaz, rediscovered through his brilliant dialectic scholarship.16The Hebrew name for Devir was Kiryas Seifer, which means the city of the Book. The Talmud, Maseches, Temurah 16A, relates the following: Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, “When Moshe was about to leave this world, he said to Yehoshua, ‘Do you have any questions regarding the laws of the Torah? Ask me about them and I will teach them to you now.’ Yehoshua replied, ‘Rebbe! Did I leave your presence even for an hour? Did I ever travel to another place? Did you yourself not write about me in the To…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Debir · a city of books — a city of books
Kirjath-Sepher · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Othniel · as a wife — as a wife
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
