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?

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

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

And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

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

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

I also will no longer drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:

Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least those who before knew nothing thereof;

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

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

Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man does come and inquire of you, and say, Is there any man here? that you shall say, No.

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

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

And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till you come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is 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 has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in your sight, then show me a sign that you talk with me.

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

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

Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever 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.

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

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

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 the sword.

And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna with whom you did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread unto your men that are weary?

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

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

Now therefore come up by night, you and the people that are with you, and lie in wait in the field:

Then said Zebul unto him, Where is now your mouth, with which you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? is not this the people that you have despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them.

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

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

And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not you hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are you come unto me now when you are in distress?

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

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

So now the LORD God of Israel has driven out the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess it?

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

And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto 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 the Gileadites took the fords of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so that when those Ephraimites who were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, are you an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;

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

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, {} Behold now, you are barren, and bear not: but you shall conceive, and bear a son.

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

For, lo, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

But he said unto me, Behold, you shall 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 the womb to the day of his death.

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

And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of your food: and if you will offer a burnt offering, you must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.

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

Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleases me well.

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 Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if you can certainly declare it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing:

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

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

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

And he found a new jawbone of a donkey, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men with it.

And he was very thirsty, and called on the LORD, and said, you have given this great deliverance into the hand of your servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon you, Samson. And he broke the cords, as a thread of yarn is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray you, how you might be bound.

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

Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon you, Samson. And there were men lying in wait abiding in the chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.

And Delilah said unto Samson, Until now you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me how you might be bound. And he said unto her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.

And she said, The Philistines be upon you, 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 was departed from him.

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

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

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

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

When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in there, and said unto him, Who brought you here? and what are you doing in this place? and what do you have here?

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

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

When you go, you shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God has given it into your hands; a place where there is no lack of any thing that is in the earth.

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

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 lies by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt in it.

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

And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young woman's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draws toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day grows to an end, lodge here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow get you early on your way, that you may go home.

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

And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from there am I: and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receives me into his house.

Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your handmaid, and for the young man who is with your servants: there is no lack of any thing.

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

And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto 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.

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

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

And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But there was no answer. Then the man took her up upon a donkey, and the man rose up, and got himself unto his place.

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

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

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

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

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

Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush, that they should make a great flame with smoke rising up out of the city.

Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin as wife.

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

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