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Journey of a Passage

Judges 1:8, 21

Was Jerusalem taken?

Judges 1:8 says Judah captured and burned Jerusalem; 1:21 says Benjamin could not drive out its Jebusites. The witnesses agree on both verses. The difference is between passages, not between manuscripts.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JudgesUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Judges
Greek
  1. Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Jerusalem across the books

Joshua 15:63
Judah could not drive out the Jebusites.
Judges 1:8
Judah took and burned the city.
Judges 1:21
Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites.
2 Samuel 5:6–9
David captures the stronghold of Zion.

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Judges

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    ils la prirent… et ils incendièrent la ville (1:8); les fils de Benjamin ne purent s'emparer… des Jébuséens (1:21)

    they took it… and set the city on fire; the sons of Benjamin could not take… the Jebusites

    One Greek text via Giguet's French; Greek A and B not checked separately.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    ceperunt eam… tradentes cunctam incendio civitatem (1:8); Jebusæum… non deleverunt filii Benjamin (1:21)

    Agrees with the Hebrew.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Judges

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    וַיִּלְכְּדוּ אוֹתָהּ… וְאֶת־הָעִיר שִׁלְּחוּ בָאֵשׁ (1:8)

    they captured it… and set the city on fire

    1:21: "the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day."

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    had taken it… and set the city on fire (1:8); did not drive out the Jebusites (1:21)

    Follows the Hebrew.

What changed, and why

Common explanations: a raid without lasting occupation; the lower city burned while the stronghold held; or separate traditions preserved side by side. Nothing in the manuscripts resolves it.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe witnesses checked agree on 1:8 and 1:21. WLC, Giguet, Vulgate, KJV.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • A Land Not Yet Secured →After Joshua's death, Judah and Simeon fight in the south; Caleb takes Hebron and Achsah asks for springs. Then a long list of failures: Benjamin cannot take Jerusalem, Manasseh not Beth-shean or Megiddo, Dan is pushed into the hills. Judges begins where Joshua's sweeping summaries leave off.