After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, "Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?"

The Lord said, "The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them."

but you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You should tear down the altars where they worship.' But you have disobeyed me. Why would you do such a thing?

The most rewarded of women should be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite! She should be the most rewarded of women who live in tents.

The Lord spoke to Gideon again, "There are still too many men. Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. When I say, 'This one should go with you,' pick him to go; when I say, 'This one should not go with you,' do not take him."

The Lord said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army and I will hand Midian over to you. The rest of the men should go home."

The officials of Succoth said, "You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your army?"

He approached the men of Succoth and said, "Look what I have! Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, 'You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?'"

Gaal son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech?

Zebul said to him, "Where now are your bragging words, 'Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?' Are these not the men you insulted? Go out now and fight them!"

Manoah prayed to the Lord, "Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God to visit us again, so he can teach us how we should raise the child who will be born."

Manoah said, "Now, when your announcement comes true, how should the child be raised and what should he do?"

The Lord's messenger told Manoah, "Your wife should pay attention to everything I told her.

She should not drink anything that the grapevine produces. She must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat any food that will make her ritually unclean. She should obey everything I commanded her to do."

The Lord's messenger said to Manoah, "If I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it." (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord's messenger.)

The Lord's messenger said to him, "You should not ask me my name, because you cannot comprehend it."

But his father and mother said to him, "Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines." But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she is the right one for me."

But his master said to him, "We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. We will travel on to Gibeah."

The Israelites went up to Bethel and asked God, "Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?" The Lord said, "Judah should lead."

The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, "Should we again march out to fight the Benjaminites, our brothers?" The Lord said, "Attack them!"

Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord in those days), "Should we once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, or should we quit?" The Lord said, "Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you."

The remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out.