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16 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Achsah as a wife.” 17 When Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother,[a] captured it, Caleb[b] gave Achsah his daughter to him as a wife.

18 One time Achsah[c] came and charmed her father[d] so that she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 15:17 tn “Caleb’s brother” may refer either to Othniel or to Kenaz. If Kenaz was the brother of Caleb, Othniel is Caleb’s nephew.
  2. Joshua 15:17 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Caleb) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  3. Joshua 15:18 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Achsah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  4. Joshua 15:18 tn Heb “him.” The referent of the pronoun could be Othniel, in which case the translation would be “she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field.” This is problematic, however, for Achsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 19. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18//Judges 1:14, ” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. This incident is also recorded in Judg 1:14.