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

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

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

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

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;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, LORD.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The LORD said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not be afraid. You shall not die."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And all the lords of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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