And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.
Judah went with Simeon his brother. The course of the narrative is here resumed from Judges 1:9, and an account given of Judah returning the service of Simeon (Judges 1:3), by aiding in the prosecution of the war within the neighbouring tribes.
And they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath - or Zephatah (2 Chronicles 14:10), lying in the southern portion of Canaan.
And the name of the city was called Hormah. This name was not now given for the first time. On their early journey toward Canaan the Israelites had attempted to penetrate the mountainous region where Zephath was situated, and they were repulsed (Numbers 14:1-45); but on arriving at Kadesh they overthrew it, and called the place Hormah. On their departure from that neighborhood the native tribes resumed possession of it; and although Joshua made an effective attack upon the king (Joshua 10:40-42; Joshua 12:14), its final subjugation was not accomplished until after his death, by the confederate arms of Judah and Simeon, who, in pursuance of the Israelite vow to doom it to destruction, sank the old name Zephath in the thenceforth permanent appellation Hormah.