Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and they went out with him.

And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

And 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 thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.

And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

That the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth from the house of bondage;

Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.

And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, and reign over us.

And Judah went up, and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken to the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.

In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through by-ways.

But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

And Adoni-bezek said, seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their food under my table; as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou hast come against me to fight in my land?

So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent of all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

And the LORD said to the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?

(Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.)

That he told her all his heart, and said to her, There hath not come a razor upon my head; for I have been a Nazarite to God from my birth: if I be shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt on the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.

And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter for a wife.

And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher:

And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;

And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go, and draw towards mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali, and of the children of Zebulun?

And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.

And the children of the Kenite, Moses's father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm-trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.

And the children of Benjamin came forth from Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.

And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife.

The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.

But the fig-tree said to them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?

And the old man said, Peace be with thee; however, let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.

And she said to him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs.

Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Askelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.

And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said to her, What wilt thou?

And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.

And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:

And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will show thee mercy.

And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.

And the house of Joseph sent to explore Beth-el. Now the name of the city before was Luz.

And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.

Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell a hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.

And when he showed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword: but they let go the man and all his family.

And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the LORD was with them.

And I said to you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.

And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said to Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take what we possess? is it not so?

The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said to him, Arise, go down to the host; for I have delivered it into thy hand.

Then said the trees to the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.

And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land.

And Barak said to her, if thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

And 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 hath disclosed to me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought money in their hand.

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

And the angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.

And it came to pass when Israel was strong, that they subjected the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly expel them.

And the king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came out of Egypt, from Arnon even to Jabbok, and to Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.

Go and cry to the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.

And Gideon said to him, O my Lord, if the LORD is with us, why then hath all this befallen us? and where are all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to the LORD.

And I will draw to thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thy hand.

But if thou fearest to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:

And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God, and served Baalim, and the groves.

And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon:

And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel.

And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast proposed a riddle to the children of my people, and hast not told it to me. And he said to her, Behold, I have not told it to my father nor to my mother, and shall I tell it to thee?

They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honor?

And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thy hands be strengthened to go down to the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant to the outside of the armed men that were in the host.

And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Then the children of Ammon were assembled, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves, and encamped in Mizpeh.

Neither did Manasseh expel the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its towns, nor Tanach 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.

So Manoah took a kid, with a meat-offering, and offered it upon a rock to the LORD; and the angel did wonderously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old.

And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described to him the princes of Succoth, and its elders, even seventy seven men.

And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

Neither did Asher expel the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:

And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh 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.

And yet they would not hearken to their judges, but they went astray after other gods, and bowed themselves to them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.

Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

And when the LORD raised up judges for them, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: (for the LORD repented because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and burdened them.)

And Sisera collected all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles to the river of Kishon.

And he said to him, O my Lord, by what means shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: Is it better for thee to be a priest to the house of one man, or that thou shouldst be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?

And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host.

And the angel of the LORD said to him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?

And he came to the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye upbraided me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand, that we should give bread to thy men that are weary?

And Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness to the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;

And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun had risen,

And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness, and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.

And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thy honor; for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in to her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.

Then said he to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.

But Barak pursued the chariots, and the host, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

Neither did Zebulun expel the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.

Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands:

And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.

Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.

And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on seventy ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years.

My heart is towards the governors of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people: Bless ye the LORD.

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

Neither did Ephraim expel the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.

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.

(For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you from the hand of Midian:

And his fellow answered, and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.

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

But the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.

And when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

For it came to pass, when the flame ascended towards heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure.

But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon collected all his people, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

And said to him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:

Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.

Then the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken to it. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab; but he would not consent. And Israel abode in Kadesh.

And Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands,

Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.

And the vine said to them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him on the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech.

Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them: and they were greatly distressed.

Now Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent to the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts towards the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.

And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she urged him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.

And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land to my place.

And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

And the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the children of the east, lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.

And the children of Israel said to the LORD, We have sinned: do thou to us whatever seemeth good to thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day.

Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good to you: but to this man do not so vile a thing.

And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

But when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjaminite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent a present to Eglon king of Moab.

And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.

So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the LORD.

And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the LORD to anger.

Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it Jehovah-shalom: to this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.

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

But his wife said to him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters to Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim assembled, and took the waters to Beth-barah and Jordan.

And the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this folly.

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

And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.

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;

Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

And they possessed all the borders of the Amorites, from Arnon even to Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to Jordan.

But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh.

And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim.

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

And the LORD said to him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

And when Gideon had come, behold, there was a man that told a dream to his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley-bread rolled into the host of Midian, and came to a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it that the tent lay along.

And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were in it. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

And the land had rest forty years: and Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that are along by the borders of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?

But, the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:

And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country; who slew many of us.

And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.

And the men of Ephraim assembled, and went northward, and said to Jephthah, Why didst thou pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee; we will burn thy house upon thee with fire.

Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.

Then said all the trees to the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.

So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

And he gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm-trees.

So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldst thou possess it?

And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad; and he also delivered Israel.

Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep, and weary. So he died.

Howbeit, 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.

And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come to thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou comest again.

And they stood every man in his place around the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.

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

And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah: even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.

And Deborah said to Barak, Arise, for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thy hand: hath not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

And they showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to mount Tabor.

Then said they to him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan. And there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said to him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

And it was so, that all that saw it, said, There hath been no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came from the land of Egypt to this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.

Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.

But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.

And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and its interpretation, that he worshiped, and returned to the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.

Then his brethren 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 burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites who had escaped, said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said to him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, No;

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

And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.

And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said to him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.

And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan that reigned in Hazor, the captain of whose host was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

And he brought the present to Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.

And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years.

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 rose fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed from his sight.

So let all thy enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.

And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did ye not hate me, and expel me from my father's house; and why have ye come to me now when ye are in distress?

And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting in a summer-parlor, which he had for himself alone: and Ehud said, I have a message from God to thee. And he arose from his seat.

Then Jephthah collected all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.

And her lord rose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and behold, the woman his concubine had fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshhold.

And he said to him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me.

And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.

And they said to Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, The LORD be a witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.

And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

And the LORD said to him, Peace be to thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to-morrow I will deliver them into thy hand.

And after him Ibzan of Beth-lehem judged Israel.

And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:

Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh.

And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?

And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.

Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea-shore, and abode in his breaches.

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly its inhabitants; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,

And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.

And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Ajalon in the country of Zebulun.

And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera alighted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to us to complain, that we will say to them, Be favorable to them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give to them at this time, that ye should be guilty.

And she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

And he said to her, Rise, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her upon an ass, and the man rose, and went to his place.

And the men of Ephraim said to him, Why hast thou treated us thus, that thou calledst us not when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? and they chid with him sharply.

And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah out of the land of Tob:

Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor upon him, and locked them.

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years.

And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.

And Jephthah judged Israel six years: then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

Again he said to her, stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.

And the angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

Why abodest thou among the sheep-folds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt on mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath.

That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.

And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

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;)

And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.

And she said, the Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD had departed from him.

And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjaminites that day twenty and five thousand and a hundred men: all these drew the sword.

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.

And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened to my voice;

And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi.

And it came to pass when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.

And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bore the present.

Moreover, the children of Ammon passed over Jordan, to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was greatly distressed.

Thus they inclosed the Benjaminites on all sides, and chased them, and trod them down with ease over against Gibeah towards the sun-rising.

And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.

And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Though thou shouldst detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it to the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.

They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

And his mother's brethren 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.

The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Tanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.

And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried to the LORD.

And the haft also entered after the blade: and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.

And 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.

And he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, upon one stone; notwithstanding, yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: why then have ye come up to me this day, to fight against me?

Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives to death in the high places of the field.

And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

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

And Ehud escaped while they tarried; and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirath.

And the LORD said to Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand hath saved me.

And he said to them, Follow me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan towards Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.

But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Ajalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.

And Gideon said to them, I would desire a request of you, that you would give me every man the ear-rings of his prey. (For they had golden ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjaminites, because they trusted to the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.

He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.

Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they raised their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.

And he said to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.

And the children of Israel cried to the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.

And Gideon made of it an ephod, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither astray after it: which thing became a snare to Gideon, and to his house.

And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.

And ye have risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother:)

And that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side of Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

And he had thirty sons and thirty daughters whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons: and he judged Israel seven years.

Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out speedily, neither did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

For they came up with their cattle, and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.

Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.

When he had gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer-chamber.

And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

And he said to Jether his first-born, Arise, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth.

And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zereroth, and to the border of Abel-meholah, to Tabbath.

And the LORD said to Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thy hand: and let all the other people go every man to his place.

Have they not found; have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colors, a prey of divers colors of needle-work, of divers colors of needle-work on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks.

And they tarried till they were ashamed: and behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor, therefore they took a key and opened them: and behold, their lord lay dead on the earth.

Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Beth-lehem.

And Gideon had seventy sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.

And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valor: and there escaped not a man.

And he said to them, Look on me, and do likewise: and behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so shall ye do.

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said to him: and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

And build an altar to the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt-sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.

And he said to them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

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

And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.

The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.

And he said to the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread to the people that follow me: for they are faint, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.

The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the wine-press of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of Jordan.

So he brought him into his house, and gave provender to the asses: and they washed their feet and ate and drank.

Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.

And the weight of the golden ear-rings that he requested, was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; besides ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks.

And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon thrashed wheat by the wine-press, to hide it from the Midianites.

And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice and cried, and said to them, Hearken to me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken to you.

God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then, when he had said that, their anger towards him abated.

And the LORD said to Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for thee there; and it shall be, that of whom I say to thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say to thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.

Now therefore, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive-tree, Reign thou over us.

And he went up thence to Penuel, and spoke to them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.

And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou comest to Gaza; and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and repaired the cities and dwelt in them.

At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

So he brought down the people to the water: and the LORD said to Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.

And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

Then were the horse's hoofs broken by the means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones.

And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.

And the men of Israel assembled out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and struck through his temples.

Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in to her.

And Gideon said, Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.

Her wise ladies answered her, yes, she returned answer to herself.

And the Amorites forced the children of Dan to the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:

But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not expel them.

And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and cast into it every man the ear-rings of his prey.

And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand, that we should give bread to thy army?

And all the men of Shechem assembled, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.

And he was very thirsty, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die by thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel,

Neither did Naphtali expel the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries to them.

Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first to fight against them?

And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite dwelling on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah.

So they turned and departed, and put the little ones, and the cattle, and the furniture before them.

And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to depart from 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.

And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bore not.

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:

And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light persons, who followed him.

That the cruelty done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother who slew them, and upon the men of Shechem who aided him in the killing of his brethren.

Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Which is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are seventy persons, should reign over you, or that one should reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.

And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren, and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him.

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him; is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?

(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)

And would that this people were under my hand! then would I remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thy army, and come out.

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

For lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from his birth: and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

But the olive-tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments to them who expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon 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.

And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of the Midianites,

And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud was dead.

And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house on all sides, and beat at the door, and spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him.

Then it shall be, that whatever cometh out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it for a burnt-offering.

But God cleaved a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water out of it; and when he had drank, his spirit came again, and he revived. Wherefore he called the name of it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.

And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.

But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

And Gideon said to God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said,

Then Jerubbaal (who is Gideon) and all the people that were with him, rose early, and encamped beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

And Samson called to the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were collected, and overtook the children of Dan.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

And the LORD was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

And 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.

And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, to the LORD in Mizpeh.

She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe.

And they cried to the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said to Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?

And he judged Israel, in the days of the Philistines, twenty years.

And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars upon which the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.

And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye have gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say to me, What aileth thee?

But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was called after him.

And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun hath risen, thou shalt rise early, and attack the city: and behold, when he and the people that are with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.

Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat-harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for themselves an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.

And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and behold, a young lion roared against him.

And it came to pass as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went astray after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god.

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

And the children of Dan said to him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows rush upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.

And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went from thence every man to his inheritance.

And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.

Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither did he tell me his name:

And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the borders of Israel.

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was supported, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:

And Samson said to them, I will now propose a riddle to you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments:

And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there four whole months.

Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.

And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: but the name of the city was Laish at the first.

And the children of Dan departed: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; every one could sling stones to a hair-breadth, and not miss.

And the children of Israel inquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

Then all the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east were assembled, and went over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.

Now the house was full of men and women: and all the lords of the Philistines were there: and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his the hands.

But the man would not tarry that night, but he arose and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him.

But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth to them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

And he found a fresh jaw-bone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men with it.

And he said to them, Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were in it, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: Let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.

And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came to Laish, to a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.

And all the men of Israel rose out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.

And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their borders, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to explore the land, and to search it; and they said to them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.

And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening, who was also of mount Ephraim; and he dwelt in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjaminites.

Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God, whom thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born.

And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou didst curse, and speak of also in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son.

Then answered the five men that went to explore the country of Laish, and said to their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.

And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot go back.

But he said to me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from his birth to the day of his death.

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city and dwelt in it.

And Delilah said to Samson, hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with what thou mayest be bound. And he said to her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

Then his father and his mother said to him, Is there not a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.

And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they encompassed him, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning when it is day we shall kill him.

And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.

And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin.

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

That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

And he smote them from Aroer even till thou comest to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

And she said to him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth to the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thy enemies, even of the children of Ammon.

And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.

And Israel set liers in wait around Gibeah.

And they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took fire-brands, and turned tail to tail, and put a fire-brand in the midst between two tails.

And the lords of the Philistines came to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it to thee.

And he sent messengers to Abimelech privately, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed, and his brethren, are come to Shechem; and behold, they fortify the city against thee.

And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed to death;

And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.

And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me for a wife.

And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.

And the chief 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 that drew sword.

And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.

And see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.

And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.

So his father went down to the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.

But when the flame began to rise from the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them, and behold, the flame of the city ascended to heaven.

Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing:

And Joash said to all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he is a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.

And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept bitterly;

And they turned and fled towards the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them to Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.

And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city to the highways.

And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into a hold of the house of the god Berith.

And she said to him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me in what thy great strength lieth.

And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Art thou the man that didst speak to the woman? And he said, I am.

And Abimelech rose, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies.

And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that were in it, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.

And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

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

And God hearkened 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 was not with her.

Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and banish evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel:

And a certain woman cast a piece of of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and broke his skull.

How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD, that we will not give them of our daughters for wives?

And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side:

Then he called hastily to the young man his armor-bearer, and said to him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation to the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodge.

And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a way-faring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?

And when the man arose to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said to him, Behold now the day draweth towards evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day is coming to an end, lodge here, that thy heart may be merry; and to-morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman, let her beware.

And the woman made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man hath appeared to me, that came to me the other day.

And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.

Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if the dew shall be on the fleece only, and it shall be dry upon all the earth besides, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said.

And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what thy great strength lieth, and with what thou mayest be bound to afflict thee.

And Gideon said to God, Let not thy anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: Let me make trial, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe: but they knew not that evil was near them.

Yet he restored the money to his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made of it a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.

And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was called after him: and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.

And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,

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

And he took of it in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they ate: but he told them not that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.

And his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they ate and drank, and lodged there.

And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.

(Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber.) And she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the withs as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do to him?

And they came to their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said to them, What say ye?

And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? and behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

And the man departed out of the city from Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.

And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green withs, that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.

And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in to this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.

Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them.

And they went up, and encamped in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan to this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.

And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.

And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

And Samson said to them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness?

And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.

For the people were numbered, and behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.

Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably to them.

And he said to his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah.

And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he arose to depart: and the damsel's father said to his son-in-law, Comfort thy heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward depart.

And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.

And his master said to him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go, and lie in wait in the vineyards;

And it was so: for he rose early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl-full of water.

And he said to him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-Judah towards the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Beth-lehem-judah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth me into his house.

And they sat down, and ate and drank both of them together: for the damsel's father had said to the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thy heart be merry.

And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Then said Micah, Now I know that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite for my priest.

And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.

And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.

And Abimelech ascended mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said to the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.

And these went into Micah's house, and brought the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest to them, What do ye?

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, with what thou mayest be bound.

And Gaal spoke again, and said, See, there come people down by the middle of the land, and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim.

Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke to rise from the city.

Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. (And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber.) And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.

But, we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.

But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up by lot against it;

And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way in which ye go.

And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel's father said, Comfort thy heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they ate both of them.

And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house:

When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said to him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?

And Micah said to him, Whence comest thou? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?

And the five men that went to explore the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

And they spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

Neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown to Israel.

And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you?

And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren, that they should not dwell in Shechem.

Then the lords of the Philistines brought to her seven green withs, which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

And Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and came near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

And we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch provisions for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.

And the children of Israel repented for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.

And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.

Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.

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

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings, and peace-offerings.

And the men of Judah said, Why have ye come up against us? And they answered, We have come to bind Samson, to do to him as he hath done to us.

And he said to her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were used, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and saluted him.

But if ye cannot declare it to me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said to him, propose thy riddle, that we may hear it.

And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.

And the children of Israel rose in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

And when the man rose to depart, his father-in-law urged him: therefore he lodged there again.

And they passed thence to mount Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

And he said to them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

Now therefore rise by night, thou, and the people that are with thee, and lie in wait in the field:

And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait.

And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?

So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valor.

And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.

When ye go, ye shall come to a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is on the earth.

And the people repented for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it after them, and ascended to the top of the tower.

And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them: so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

But the children of Benjamin assembled out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in slaying his seventy brethren:

But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness to the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.

And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field, and looked, and behold, the people had come out of the city; and he rose up against them, and smote them.

And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that have escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.

And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said to him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.

And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place.

And they said to him, We have come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Swear to me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.

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

And Abimelech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and slew them.

Then said Zebul to him, Where is now thy mouth, with which thou saidst, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? are not these the people that thou hast despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech.

And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.

And it was told to Abimelech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were assembled.

And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.

And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor.

And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil had come upon them.