NHEBME - Judges

Chapter 1

1:1  It happened after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of the Lord, saying, "Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?"

1:2  The Lord said, "Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand."

1:3  Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot." So Simeon went with him.

1:4  Judah went up; and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they struck of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

1:5  They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

1:6  But Adoni-Bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

1:7  Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, scavenged under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

1:8  The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

1:9  Afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland.

1:10  Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba); and they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

1:11  From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher.)

1:12  Caleb said, "He who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife."

1:13  Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

1:14  It happened, when she came to him, that she got him to ask her father for a field: and she got off from her donkey; and Caleb said to her, "What would you like?"

1:15  She said to him, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land in the Negev, give me also springs of water." Then Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

1:16  The children of the Kenite, Moses' brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

1:17  Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.

1:18  Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.

1:19  The Lord was with Judah; and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

1:20  They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out there the three sons of Anak.

1:21  The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

1:22  The house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel; and the Lord was with them.

1:23  The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

1:24  The watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, "Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you."

1:25  He showed them the entrance into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family.

1:26  The man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

1:27  Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

1:28  It happened, when Israel had grown strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and did not utterly drive them out.

1:29  Ephraim didn't drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

1:30  Zebulun didn't drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.

1:31  Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob;

1:32  but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

1:33  Naphtali didn't drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labor.

1:34  The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country; for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;

1:35  but the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor.

1:36  The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

Chapter 2

2:1  The angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, "I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you:

2:2  and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not listened to my voice: why have you done this?

2:3  Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."

2:4  It happened, when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

2:5  They called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to the Lord.

2:6  Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land.

2:7  The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord that he had worked for Israel.

2:8  Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred ten years old.

2:9  They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

2:10  Also all that generation were gathered to their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who didn't know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had worked for Israel.

2:11  The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals;

2:12  and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked the Lord to anger.

2:13  They forsook the Lord, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

2:14  The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers who despoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

2:15  Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had spoken, and as the Lord had sworn to them: and they were sore distressed.

2:16  The Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled them.

2:17  Yet they did not listen to their judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not do so.

2:18  When the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it grieved the Lord because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.

2:19  But it happened, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them; they did not cease from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.

2:20  The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and he said, "Because this nation have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to my voice;

2:21  I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died;

2:22  that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers kept it, or not."

2:23  So the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

Chapter 3

3:1  Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

3:2  only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing of it:

3:3  namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.

3:4  They were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

3:5  The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites:

3:6  and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

3:7  The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

3:8  Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.

3:9  When the children of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

3:10  The Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim.

3:11  The land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

3:12  The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

3:13  He gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.

3:14  The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

3:15  But when the children of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.

3:16  Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his right thigh.

3:17  He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man.

3:18  When he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people who bore the tribute.

3:19  But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, king." The king said, "Keep silence!" All who stood by him went out from him.

3:20  Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, "I have a message from God to you." He arose out of his seat.

3:21  Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body:

3:22  and the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn't draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind.

3:23  Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.

3:24  Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, "Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room."

3:25  They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he did not open the doors of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened them, and behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

3:26  Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah.

3:27  It happened, when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he before them.

3:28  He said to them, "Follow after me; for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand." They went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and did not allow a man to pass over.

3:29  They struck of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a man.

3:30  So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The land had rest eighty years.

3:31  After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the Philistines six hundred men with an oxgoad: and he also saved Israel.

Chapter 4

4:1  The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead.

4:2  The Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

4:3  The children of Israel cried to the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

4:4  Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

4:5  She lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

4:6  She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, "Hasn't the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded, 'Go and draw to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

4:7  I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.'"

4:8  Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go."

4:9  She said, "I will surely go with you: nevertheless, the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

4:10  Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

4:11  Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.

4:12  They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor.

4:13  Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.

4:14  Deborah said to Barak, "Go; for this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn't the Lord gone out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

4:15  The Lord confused Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got off from his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

4:16  But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left.

4:17  However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

4:18  Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; do not be afraid." He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

4:19  He said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty." She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

4:20  He said to her, "Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and inquires of you, and says, 'Is there any man here?' that you shall say, 'No.'"

4:21  Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.

4:22  Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek." He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples.

4:23  So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

4:24  The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Chapter 5

5:1  Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

5:2  "Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, Lord!

5:3  "Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.

5:4  "Lord, when you went forth out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.

5:5  The mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord, even Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.

5:6  "In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways.

5:7  The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until I arose a mother in Israel.

5:8  They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

5:9  My heart is toward the leaders of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord!

5:10  "Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way.

5:11  Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they will rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. "Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.

5:12  'Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.'

5:13  "Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. The Lord came down for me against the warriors.

5:14  Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim, after you, Benjamin, among your peoples; out of Machir leaders came down, and out of Zebulun those that handle the staff of office.

5:15  And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak. They rushed into the valley at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben, there were great resolves of heart.

5:16  Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, to hear the whistling for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.

5:17  Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and lived by his harbors.

5:18  Zebulun was a people that risked their lives even to death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.

5:19  The kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder of silver.

5:20  From the sky the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera.

5:21  The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength.

5:22  Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones.

5:23  Curse Meroz, said the angel of the Lord. Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty.

5:24  Jael shall be blessed above women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

5:25  He asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought him butter in a princely bowl.

5:26  She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer. With the hammer she struck Sisera. She struck through his head. Yes, she pierced and struck through his temple.

5:27  At her feet he collapsed, he fell, he lay. At her feet he collapsed, he fell. Where he collapsed, there he fell down dead.

5:28  Through the window she looked out, and cried: Sisera's mother looked through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?

5:29  Her wise ladies answered her; indeed, she answers herself,

5:30  'Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil? A lady, two ladies to every man; to Sisera a spoil of dyed garments, A spoil of dyed garments embroidered, Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, for the neck of the plunderer?'

5:31  "So let all your enemies perish, Lord, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises forth in its strength." And the land had rest forty years.

Chapter 6

6:1  And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

6:2  And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.

6:3  And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them.

6:4  And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, as far as Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, as well as sheep, or ox, or donkey.

6:5  For they came up with their livestock and their tents; they would come in like locusts in number; both they and their camels were without number, and they came into the land to ravage it.

6:6  Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to the Lord.

6:7  It happened, when the children of Israel cried to the Lord because of Midian,

6:8  that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, and he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

6:9  and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;

6:10  and I said to you, "I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell." But you have not listened to my voice.'"

6:11  The angel of the Lord came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

6:12  The angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!"

6:13  Gideon said to him, "Oh, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, 'Didn't the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian."

6:14  The Lord looked at him, and said, "Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven't I sent you?"

6:15  He said to him, "O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

6:16  The Lord said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man."

6:17  He said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.

6:18  Please do not go away, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you." He said, "I will wait until you come back."

6:19  Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

6:20  The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so.

6:21  Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

6:22  Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, "Alas, Lord God! Because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"

6:23  The Lord said to him, "Peace be to you! Do not be afraid. You shall not die."

6:24  Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it "The Lord is Peace." To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

6:25  It happened the same night, that the Lord said to him, "Take your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;

6:26  and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down."

6:27  Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had spoken to him: and it came about, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

6:28  When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built.

6:29  They said one to another, "Who has done this thing?" When they inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing."

6:30  Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it."

6:31  Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning: if he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar."

6:32  Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar."

6:33  Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they crossed over, and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.

6:34  But the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him.

6:35  He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

6:36  Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,

6:37  behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken."

6:38  It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

6:39  Gideon said to God, "Do not let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make one more test with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew."

6:40  God did so that night, for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew all over the ground.

Chapter 7

7:1  Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

7:2  The Lord said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'

7:3  Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.' There returned of the people twenty-two thousand; but ten thousand remained.

7:4  The Lord said to Gideon, "The people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I tell you, This shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whoever I tell you, This shall not go with you, the same shall not go.

7:5  So he brought down the people to the water: and the Lord said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him you shall set by himself; likewise everyone who kneels down on his knees to drink."

7:6  The number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people kneeled down on their knees to drink water.

7:7  The Lord said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand; and let all the people go every man to his home."

7:8  So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

7:9  It happened the same night, that the Lord said to him, "Arise, get down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.

7:10  But if you fear to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp:

7:11  and you shall hear what they say; and afterward will your hands be strengthened to go down into the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp.

7:12  The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand which is on the seashore.

7:13  When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his friend; and he said, "Behold, I had a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent collapsed."

7:14  His friend answered, "This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand God has delivered Midian, and all the army."

7:15  It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and its interpretation, that he worshiped, and he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, "Get up, for the Lord has delivered into your hand the army of Midian."

7:16  He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.

7:17  He said to them, "Look at me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so you shall do.

7:18  When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, "For the Lord and for Gideon."

7:19  So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.

7:20  The three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they called out, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.'"

7:21  They each stood in his place every man around the camp; and all the army ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight.

7:22  They blew the three hundred trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

7:23  The men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian.

7:24  Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian, and capture the waters, as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and seized the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan.

7:25  They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian: and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 8

8:1  The men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you done such a thing to us, not calling us when you went to fight with Midian?" And they argued with him fiercely.

8:2  He said to them, "What have I now done in comparison with you? Isn't the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

8:3  God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger subsided toward him, when he had said that.

8:4  Gideon came to the Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted, yet pursuing.

8:5  He said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me; for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. "

8:6  The princes of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?"

8:7  Gideon said, "Therefore when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers."

8:8  He went up there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner; and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.

8:9  He spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, "When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower."

8:10  Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the children of the east; for there fell one hundred twenty thousand men who drew sword.

8:11  And Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the army, when the army was unsuspecting.

8:12  Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them, and he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the entire army.

8:13  Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres.

8:14  He caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described for him the princes of Succoth, and its elders, seventy-seven men.

8:15  He came to the men of Succoth, and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?"

8:16  He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he disciplined the men of Succoth.

8:17  He broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city.

8:18  Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?" They answered, "As you are, so were they; each one resembled the son of a king."

8:19  He said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you."

8:20  He said to Jether his firstborn, "Get up, and kill them." But the youth did not draw his sword; for he feared, because he was yet a youth.

8:21  Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise up yourself, and kill us, for a man is judged by his strength." Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on their camels' necks.

8:22  Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you, and your son, and your son's son also; for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian."

8:23  Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you."

8:24  Gideon said to them, "I would make a request of you, that you would give me every man the earrings from his plunder." (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

8:25  They answered, "We will willingly give them." They spread a garment, and every one of them threw an earring from his plunder.

8:26  The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred pieces of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks.

8:27  Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel prostituted themselves after it there; and it became a snare to Gideon, and to his house.

8:28  So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and did not become a threat again. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

8:29  Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.

8:30  Gideon had seventy sons conceived from his body; for he had many wives.

8:31  His concubine who was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

8:32  Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

8:33  It happened, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and played the prostitute after the Baals, and made Baal Berith their god.

8:34  The children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side;

8:35  neither did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown to Israel.

Chapter 9

9:1  Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

9:2  "Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, 'Is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you?' Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.'"

9:3  His mother's brothers spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, "He is our brother."

9:4  They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him.

9:5  He went to his father's house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

9:6  All the men of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.

9:7  When they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said to them, "Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you.

9:8  The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive tree, 'Reign you over us.'

9:9  "But the olive tree said to them, 'Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honor God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?'

9:10  "The trees said to the fig tree, 'Come, and reign over us.'

9:11  "But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?'

9:12  "The trees said to the vine, 'Come, and reign over us.'

9:13  "The vine said to them, 'Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?'

9:14  "Then all the trees said to the bramble, 'Come, and reign over us.'

9:15  "The bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

9:16  "Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and righteously, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands

9:17  (for my father fought for you, and adventured his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian:

9:18  and you are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother).

9:19  If you then have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice you in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you:

9:20  but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech."

9:21  And Jotham escaped and fled and went to Beer and lived there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

9:22  Abimelech was prince over Israel three years.

9:23  God sent a spirit of hostility between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:

9:24  that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

9:25  The men of Shechem set an ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them. And it was told to Abimelech.

9:26  Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers, and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their trust in him.

9:27  They went out into the field, and gathered their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and held festival, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech.

9:28  Gaal the son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn't he the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem. But why should we serve him?

9:29  Would that this people were under my hand! Then would I remove Abimelech." He said to Abimelech, "Increase your army, and come out."

9:30  When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.

9:31  He sent messengers to Abimelech craftily, saying, "Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers are come to Shechem; and behold, they constrain the city to take part against you.

9:32  Now therefore, rise up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.

9:33  And it shall be that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early, and rush on the city. And behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then do whatever you can to them."

9:34  Abimelech rose up, and all the people who were with him, by night, and they lay in wait against Shechem in four companies.

9:35  Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people who were with him, from the ambush.

9:36  When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, "Behold, there are people coming down from the tops of the mountains." Zebul said to him, "You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men."

9:37  Gaal spoke again and said, "Behold, there are people coming down by the central part of the land, and one company comes by the way of the oak of Meonenim."

9:38  Then Zebul said to him, "Where is now your mouth, that you said, 'Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?' Is not this the people that you have despised? Please go out now and fight with them."

9:39  Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

9:40  Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and there fell many wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.

9:41  Abimelech lived at Arumah: and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, that they should not dwell in Shechem.

9:42  It happened on the next day, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech.

9:43  He took the people, and divided them into three companies, and waited in ambush in the field; and he looked, and behold, the people came forth out of the city. He rose up against them, and struck them.

9:44  Abimelech, and the companies that were with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and the two companies rushed against all who were in the field, and struck them.

9:45  Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and killed the people who were in it. And he destroyed the city, and sowed it with salt.

9:46  When all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of El Berith.

9:47  It was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.

9:48  Abimelech got him up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a branch from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the people who were with him, "What you have seen me do, do quickly, and do as I have done."

9:49  All the people likewise cut down his branch and followed Abimelech, and put them on the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire on them; so that all the men of the Tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

9:50  Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.

9:51  But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women fled, and all those of the city, and shut themselves in, and got them up to the roof of the tower.

9:52  Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

9:53  A certain woman threw down an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and broke his skull.

9:54  Then he called quickly to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword, and kill me, that men not say of me, 'A woman killed him.'" So the young man thrust him through, and he died.

9:55  When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place.

9:56  Thus God requited the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in killing his seventy brothers;

9:57  and all the wickedness of the men of Shechem did God return on their heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

Chapter 10

10:1  After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.

10:2  He judged Israel twenty-three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.

10:3  After him arose Jair, the Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years.

10:4  He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

10:5  Jair died, and was buried in Kamon.

10:6  The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals, and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord, and did not serve him.

10:7  The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon.

10:8  They troubled and oppressed the children of Israel that year. Eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

10:9  The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was very distressed.

10:10  The children of Israel cried to the Lord, saying, "We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals."

10:11  The Lord said to the children of Israel, "Did I not save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?

10:12  The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand.

10:13  Yet you have forsaken me, and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more.

10:14  Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress."

10:15  The children of Israel said to the Lord, "We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, this day."

10:16  They put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the Lord; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

10:17  Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped at Mizpah.

10:18  The people, the rulers of Gilead, said to each other, "What man is he who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

Chapter 11

11:1  Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a prostitute. And Gilead became the father of Jephthah.

11:2  Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said to him, "You shall not inherit in our father's house; for you are the son of another woman."

11:3  Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and lived in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.

11:4  It happened after a while, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

11:5  It was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob;

11:6  and they said to Jephthah, "Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon."

11:7  Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Did you not hate me, and drive me out of my father's house? And why have you come to me now when you are in distress?"

11:8  The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon; and you shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

11:9  Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them before me, shall I be your head?"

11:10  The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The Lord shall be witness between us; surely according to your word so will we do."

11:11  Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.

11:12  Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, "What have you to do with me, that you are come to me to fight against my land?"

11:13  The king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore it peaceably."

11:14  Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon;

11:15  and he said to him, "Thus says Jephthah: 'Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon,

11:16  but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh;

11:17  then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Please let me pass through your land.' But the king of Edom did not listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab; but he would not. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

11:18  Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they did not come within the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

11:19  Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, "Please let us pass through your land to our land.'

11:20  But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

11:21  The Lord, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

11:22  They possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.

11:23  So now the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them?

11:24  Won't you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever the Lord our God has driven out from before us, we will possess.

11:25  And now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever fight against them?

11:26  While Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; why did you not recover them within that time?

11:27  I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong by making war against me. The Lord, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon."

11:28  However the king of the children of Ammon did not listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

11:29  Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.

11:30  Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, "If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,

11:31  then it shall be that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering."

11:32  So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hand.

11:33  He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

11:34  Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances: and she was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

11:35  It happened, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the Lord, and I can't break it."

11:36  She said to him, "My father, since you have given your word to the Lord; do to me as you promised, because the Lord has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon."

11:37  She said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and weep because of my virginity, I and my companions."

11:38  He said, "Go." He sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and wept because of her virginity on the mountains.

11:39  It happened at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to what he had vowed. And she was a virgin. It became a custom in Israel,

11:40  that the daughters of Israel went yearly four days in a year to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Chapter 12

12:1  The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, "Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house on you with fire."

12:2  Jephthah said to them, "I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not save me out of their hand.

12:3  When I saw that you did not save me, I put my life in my own hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me?"

12:4  Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, "You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, and in the midst of Manasseh."

12:5  The Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. It was so, that when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, "Let me go over," the men of Gilead said to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No";

12:6  then they said to him, "Now say 'Shibboleth;'" and he said "Sibboleth"; for he couldn't manage to pronounce it right: then they seized him, and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time of Ephraim forty-two thousand.

12:7  Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

12:8  After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

12:9  He had thirty sons; and thirty daughters he sent abroad, and thirty daughters he brought in from abroad for his sons. He judged Israel seven years.

12:10  Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem.

12:11  After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years.

12:12  Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

12:13  After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.

12:14  He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkey colts. And he judged Israel eight years.

12:15  Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Chapter 13

13:1  The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

13:2  There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and did not bear. .

13:3  The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, "See now, you are barren, and do not bear; but you shall conceive, and bear a son.

13:4  Now therefore please be careful and drink no wine nor strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing.

13:5  For behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."

13:6  Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome; and I didn't ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name,

13:7  but he said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son. And now drink no wine nor strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.'"

13:8  Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, "Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you did send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child who shall be born."

13:9  God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah, her husband, wasn't with her.

13:10  The woman ran quickly, and told her husband, and said to him, "Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me."

13:11  Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" He said, "I am."

13:12  Manoah said, "Now let your words happen. How shall the child be raised and what is he to do?"

13:13  The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful.

13:14  She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I have commanded her she is to observe."

13:15  Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "Please, stay a bit longer that we may prepare a young goat for you."

13:16  The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I won't eat of your bread. And if you prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord." For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.

13:17  Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "What is your name, that when your words come true we may honor you?"

13:18  And the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask for my name? It is incomprehensible."

13:19  So Manoah took the young goat and a grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, who works wonders. Then the angel did a wonderful thing as Manoah and his wife looked on.

13:20  For it happened, when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

13:21  But the angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord.

13:22  Manoah said to his wife, :We shall surely die, because we have seen God."

13:23  But his wife said to him, "If the Lord meant to kill us, he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a grain offering from us, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would he have spoken to us now like this."

13:24  The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

13:25  And the Spirit of the Lord began to direct him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Chapter 14

14:1  Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

14:2  He came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, "I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as wife."

14:3  Then his father and his mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is the right one for me."

14:4  But his father and his mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for he sought for an opportunity against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel.

14:5  Then Samson went down with his father and his mother to Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion roared against him.

14:6  And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat. And he had nothing in his hand, but he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

14:7  He went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.

14:8  After a while he returned to take her; and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.

14:9  He took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother, and gave to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the body of the lion.

14:10  His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, since young men used to do so.

14:11  It happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

14:12  Samson said to them, "Let me now put forth a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and figure it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.

14:13  But if you can't explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing." And they said to him, "Propose your riddle, we want to hear it."

14:14  He said to them, "Out of the eater came forth food. Out of the strong came forth sweetness." They couldn't in three days declare the riddle.

14:15  And it happened on the seventh day, that they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband, that he may tell us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you called us to impoverish us? Is it not so?"

14:16  Samson's wife wept before him, and said, "You just hate me, and do not love me. You have put forth a riddle to the children of my people, and haven't told it me." And he said to her, "Behold, I haven't told it to my father or my mother, and shall I tell you?"

14:17  She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it happened on the seventh day, that he told her, because she pressed him sore; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

14:18  The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" He said to them, "If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have found out my riddle."

14:19  The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them, and took their belongings, and gave their garments to those who explained the riddle. His anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

14:20  But Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.

Chapter 15

15:1  But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a young goat; and he said, "I will go in to my wife into the room." But her father wouldn't allow him to go in.

15:2  Her father said, "I most certainly thought that you had utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Isn't her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Please take her, instead."

15:3  Samson said to them, "This time I will be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I harm them."

15:4  Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between every two tails.

15:5  When he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the olive groves.

15:6  Then the Philistines said, "Who has done this?" They said, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to his companion." The Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

15:7  Samson said to them, "If you behave like this, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease."

15:8  He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

15:9  Then the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

15:10  The men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" They said, "We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us."

15:11  Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" He said to them, "As they did to me, so have I done to them."

15:12  They said to him, "We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not fall on me yourselves."

15:13  They spoke to him, saying, "No; but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand; but surely we will not kill you." They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

15:14  When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.

15:15  And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and reached down and took it, and struck a thousand men with it.

15:16  Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men."

15:17  It happened, when he had finished speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath Lehi.

15:18  He was very thirsty, and called on the Lord, and said, "You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"

15:19  And God split the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: therefore its name was called En Hakore, which is in Lehi, to this day.

15:20  He judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Chapter 16

16:1  Samson went to Gaza, and saw a prostitute there, and went in to her.

16:2  The Gazites were told, "Samson is here!" They surrounded him, and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city, and were quiet all night, saying, "Wait until morning light, then we will kill him."

16:3  Samson stayed in bed until midnight, and arose at midnight, and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is overlooking Hebron.

16:4  It came to pass afterward, that he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

16:5  The lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, "Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."

16:6  Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you can be bound and subdued."

16:7  Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man."

16:8  Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

16:9  Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

16:10  Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now please tell me with which you might be bound."

16:11  He said to her, "If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man."

16:12  So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.

16:13  Delilah said to Samson, "Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound." He said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web."

16:14  She fastened it with the pin, and said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.

16:15  She said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies."

16:16  It happened, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was troubled to death.

16:17  He told her all his heart, and said to her, "No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other man."

16:18  When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand.

16:19  She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

16:20  She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" He awoke out of his sleep, and said, "I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free." But he didn't know that the Lord had departed from him.

16:21  The Philistines seized him, and put out his eyes. And they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with bronze shackles, and he ground at the mill in the prison.

16:22  However the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.

16:23  The lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to celebrate; for they said, "Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand."

16:24  When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, "Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand."

16:25  It happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may entertain us." They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars;

16:26  and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, "Allow me to feel the pillars whereupon the house rests, that I may lean on them."

16:27  Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson made sport.

16:28  Samson called to the Lord, and said, "Lord God, please remember me, and please strengthen me only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes."

16:29  Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left.

16:30  Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.

16:31  Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father. He judged Israel twenty years.

Chapter 17

17:1  There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. .

17:2  He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." His mother said, "Blessed be my son of the Lord."

17:3  He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, "I most certainly dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you."

17:4  When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made of it an engraved image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah.

17:5  The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

17:6  In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

17:7  There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there.

17:8  The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he traveled.

17:9  Micah said to him, "Where did you come from?" He said to him, "I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live."

17:10  Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of clothing, and your food. So the Levite went in.

17:11  The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.

17:12  Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

17:13  Then Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will do good to me, seeing I have a Levite as my priest."

Chapter 18

18:1  In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was looking for an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.

18:2  The children of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said to them, "Go, explore the land!" They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and stayed there.

18:3  When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; and they turned in that direction, and said to him, "Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? And what is your business here?"

18:4  He said to them, "Thus and so has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest."

18:5  They said to him, "Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous."

18:6  The priest said to them, "Go in peace. The Lord will watch over you on your journey."

18:7  Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were there, and how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land possessing authority that might trouble them in anyway, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone.

18:8  They came to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brothers said to them, "What do you say?"

18:9  They said, "Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Will you do nothing? Do not hesitate to go and to enter in to possess the land.

18:10  When you go, you shall come to a secure people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no want of anything that is on the earth."

18:11  Then the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war, set forth from there.

18:12  They went up, and encamped in Kiriath Jearim, in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh Dan to this day; behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim.

18:13  They passed there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

18:14  Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, "Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and an engraved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do."

18:15  They turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare.

18:16  The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.

18:17  The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

18:18  When these went into Micah's house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

18:19  They said to him, "Hold your peace, lay your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?"

18:20  The priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went in the midst of the people.

18:21  So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the livestock and the goods before them.

18:22  When they were some distance from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.

18:23  They cried to the children of Dan. They turned their faces, and said to Micah, "What's wrong with you, that you come with such a company?"

18:24  He said, "You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what more do I have? How then do you say to me, 'What's wrong with you?'"

18:25  The children of Dan said to him, "Do not let your voice be heard among us, or angry men will attack you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household."

18:26  The children of Dan went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

18:27  They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burnt the city with fire.

18:28  There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone, and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived there.

18:29  They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However the name of the city was originally Laish.

18:30  The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image. And Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the exile from the land.

18:31  So they set up for themselves Micah's engraved image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Chapter 19

19:1  It happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem Judah.

19:2  His concubine was unfaithful to him and went away from him to her father's house in Bethlehem of Judah, and was there about four months.

19:3  Her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father's house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

19:4  His father-in-law, the young lady's father, welcomed him; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank and stayed there.

19:5  It happened on the fourth day, that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart: and the young lady's father said to his son-in-law, "Refresh yourself with a piece of bread, and after that you may go."

19:6  So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together. Then the young lady's father said to the man, "Please agree to stay the night, and enjoy yourself."

19:7  The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he stayed there again.

19:8  He arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady's father said, "Please refresh yourself and stay until the day declines." And they both ate.

19:9  When the man rose up with his concubine and his servant to leave, his father-in-law, the young lady's father, said to him, "Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay the night. Behold, the day grows to an end, stay here, and enjoy yourself; and tomorrow you can get up early for your journey so that you may go home."

19:10  But the man wouldn't stay that night, but he rose up and departed, and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). And there were with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was also with him.

19:11  When they were by Jebus, the day was almost gone, and the servant said to his master, "Please come and let us stop at this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night in it."

19:12  His master said to him, "We won't go into the city of a foreigner that is not of the children of Israel, but we will pass over to Gibeah."

19:13  He said to his servant, "Come and let us try to reach one of those places and we will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah."

19:14  So they passed on and went their way; and the sun set on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.

19:15  They turned that way to go in to spend the night in Gibeah. And he went in and they sat down in the street of the city; for there was no one who would take them into their house to spend the night.

19:16  Behold, there came an old man from his work out in the field at evening. Now the man was of the hill country of Ephraim, and he was residing in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.

19:17  He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, "Where are you going? Where did you come from?"

19:18  He said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. I am going to the house of the Lord; and there is no man who will take me into his home.

19:19  Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything."

19:20  And the old man said, "Peace be to you. I will take care of all your needs; however, do not spend the night in the square."

19:21  So he brought him into his house, and fed the donkeys. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

19:22  As they were enjoying themselves, behold, the men of the city, some wicked men of the city surrounded the house, beating at the door. And they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may have sex with him!"

19:23  The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, "No, my brothers, please do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house. Do not do this folly.

19:24  Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Ravish them and do with them what seems good to you; but do not do any such a disgraceful thing to this man."

19:25  But the men wouldn't listen to him: so the man laid hold of his concubine, and brought her out to them. And they raped her and abused her all night until the morning, and when the day began to dawn they let her go.

19:26  Then at daybreak the woman arrived and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, until daylight.

19:27  Her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

19:28  He said to her, "Get up, and let us go!" But no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place.

19:29  When he had come into his house, he took a knife, and took hold of his concubine and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.

19:30  It was so, that all who saw it said, "There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak."

Chapter 20

20:1  Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to the Lord at Mizpah.

20:2  The leaders of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword.

20:3  (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said, "Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?"

20:4  The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, "I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.

20:5  The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she is dead.

20:6  I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed wickedness and disgrace in Israel.

20:7  Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here."

20:8  All the people arose as one man, saying, "None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us return to his house.

20:9  But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot;

20:10  and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get food for the people, that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do to it according to all the disgrace that they have committed in Israel."

20:11  So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.

20:12  The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What wickedness is this that has happened among you?

20:13  Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel." But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

20:14  The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

20:15  The children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

20:16  Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a hair and not miss.

20:17  The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all these were men of war.

20:18  The children of Israel arose, and went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God; and they said, "Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?" The Lord said, "Judah first."

20:19  The children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

20:20  The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.

20:21  The children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day Twenty-two thousand men.

20:22  The people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day.

20:23  The children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening; and they asked of the Lord, saying, "Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?" The Lord said, "Go up against him."

20:24  The children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

20:25  Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

20:26  Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

20:27  The children of Israel asked of the Lord (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

20:28  and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?" The Lord said, "Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand."

20:29  Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.

20:30  The children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.

20:31  The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill some of the people, as at other times, on the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

20:32  The children of Benjamin said, "They are defeated before us, as previously." But the children of Israel said, "Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways."

20:33  All the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. And the men of Israel in ambush rushed out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba.

20:34  There came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe; but they didn't know that disaster was close upon them.

20:35  The Lord struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men: all armed with swords.

20:36  So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated; for the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin, because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah.

20:37  The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; and the ambushers drew themselves along, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

20:38  Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.

20:39  The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, "Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle."

20:40  But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke into the sky.

20:41  The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified; for they saw that disaster had come on them.

20:42  Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in its midst.

20:43  They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and overtook them opposite Gibeah toward the east.

20:44  There fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor.

20:45  They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they killed on the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck down two thousand men.

20:46  So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand swordsmen; all these were valiant fighters.

20:47  But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed in the rock of Rimmon four months.

20:48  The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the livestock, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

Chapter 21

21:1  Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, "There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin as wife."

21:2  The people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely.

21:3  They said, "Lord God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?"

21:4  It happened on the next day that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

21:5  The children of Israel said, "Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?" For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death."

21:6  The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, "There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

21:7  How shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?"

21:8  They said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?" Behold, no one came to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.

21:9  For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there.

21:10  The congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.

21:11  This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has slept with a man."

21:12  They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

21:13  The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.

21:14  Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead: and yet so they weren't enough for them.

21:15  The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.

21:16  Then the elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?"

21:17  They said, "There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.

21:18  However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.'"

21:19  They said, "Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."

21:20  They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,

21:21  and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

21:22  It shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us, because we didn't take wives for each man in battle, neither did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.'"

21:23  The children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off. They went and returned to their inheritance, built the cities, and lived in them.

21:24  The children of Israel departed there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.

21:25  In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.