After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the Lord, “Who will be the first to fight for us against the Canaanites?”

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

They came upon Ado'ni-be'zek at Bezek, and fought against him, and defeated the Canaanites and the Per'izzites.

Ado'ni-be'zek fled; but they pursued him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

And Ado'ni-be'zek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their great toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has requited me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

And the sons of Judah fight against Jerusalem, and capture it, and smite it by the mouth of the sword, and the city they have sent into fire;

And Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was formerly Kir'iath-ar'ba); and they defeated She'shai and Ahi'man and Talmai.

The army of Judah then proceeded to attack the inhabitants of Debir, which used to be known as Kiriath-sepher.

And it will be in her coming she will stimulate him to ask from her father a field: and she will descend from off the ass; and Caleb will say to her, What to thee?

And Jehovah will be with Judah; and be will inherit the mountain because there was no driving out the inhabitants of the valley, for to them the chariot of iron.

When the men of Joseph spied out Bethel (it used to be called Luz),

And the watchers saw a man coming out of the town, and said to him, If you will make clear to us the way into the town, we will be kind to you.

And he sheweth them the entrance of the city, and they smite the city by the mouth of the sword, and the man and all his family they have sent away;

So the man traveled to the land of the Hittites and built a city that he named "Luz," and it is called by that name to this day.

And it will be when Israel was strong, and he will put the Canaanite to tribute; and driving out, they did not drive out

Zebulon did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, and the inhabitants of Nahalol; and the Canaanite will dwell in his midst, and they will be for tribute.

And the children of Dan were forced into the hill-country by the Amorites, who would not let them come down into the valley;

And the Amorite willed to dwell in mount Heres and in Ajalon, and in Shaalbim: and the hand of the house of Joseph will be heavy, and they will be for tribute

Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, *** I took you out of Egypt, guiding you into the land which I gave by an oath to your fathers; and I said, My agreement with you will never be broken by me:

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 unto you.

And it will be when the messenger of Jehovah spake these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people will lift up their voice and weep.

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Ba'als;

and forsake Jehovah, God of their fathers, who bringeth them out from the land of Egypt, and go after other gods (of the gods of the peoples who are round about them), and bow themselves to them, and provoke Jehovah,

They forsook the LORD, and served the Ba'als and the Ash'taroth.

And the wrath of Jehovah will kindle against Israel, and he will give them into the hand of plunderers, and they will plunder them; and he will sell them into the hand of their enemies from round about, and they will no more be able to stand before the face of their enemies.

Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had taken his oath it would be; and things became very hard for them.

Then the LORD raised up leaders, who delivered Israel from domination by their marauders.

and also unto their judges they have not hearkened, but have gone a-whoring after other gods, and bow themselves to them; they have turned aside with haste out of the way in which their fathers walked to obey the commands of Jehovah -- they have not done so.

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

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 unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

The Lord was furious with Israel. He said, "This nation has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors by disobeying me.

that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Jehovah to walk therein, as their fathers did keep 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;

only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, at least those who had not experienced it previously).

These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sido'nians, and the Hivites who dwelt on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Ba'al-her'mon as far as the entrance of Hamath.

And they were to prove 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.

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

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, forgetting the LORD their God, and serving the Ba'als and the Ashe'roth.

Then in his burning anger against Israel, the LORD delivered them to domination by King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. So the Israelis served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.

And the spirit of Jehovah will be upon him, and he will judge Israel, and he will go forth to war: and Jehovah will give into his hand Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Aram; and his hand will be strong upon Cushan-Rishathaim.

But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

and went to present the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon happened to be a very obese man.

And it will be as he finished to bring the gift, and he will send away the people lifting up the gift.

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

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

Ehud escaped by way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room behind him.

Now when he had gone, the king's servants came, and saw that the doors of the summer-house were locked; and they said, It may be that he is in his summer-house for a private purpose.

And Ehud escaped during their tarrying, and hath passed by the images, and is escaped to Seirath.

And it will be in his coming out, and he will clang upon the trumpet in mount Ephraim, and the sons of Israel will go down with him from the mountain, and he before them.

And Moab will be subdued in that day under the hand of Israel: and the land will rest eighty years.

After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath became judge. He delivered Israel by striking down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad.

so the LORD turned them over to domination by King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commanding officer of his army, lived in Harosheth-haggoyim.

And the sons of Israel will cry to Jehovah; for nine hundred chariots of iron to him; and he pressed the sons of Israel by force twenty years.

(And she had her seat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her to be judged.)

And I will draw out Sis'era, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.'"

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

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

"Get going!" Deborah told Barak. "Because today's the day when the LORD has dropped Sisera into your hands! Look! The LORD has already gone out ahead of you!" So Barak left Mount Tabor, followed by 10,000 men,

And Jehovah destroyeth Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the camp, by the mouth of the sword, before Barak, and Sisera cometh down from off the chariot, and fleeth on his feet.

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

And Jael came out to meet Sisera, and she said to him, "Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me and do not be afraid." So he turned aside into her tent, and she covered him {with a blanket}.

Again he said unto 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 hand of the sons of Israel, going, will go, and be hard upon Jabin, king of Canaan, till they cut off Jabin, king of Canaan.

Later that day, Deborah and Abinoam's son Barak celebrated by singing this song:

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

Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes!
I will sing to the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were not used, and travellers went by side roads.

When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. Was shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?

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

By the voice of shouters Between the places of drawing water, There they give out righteous acts of Jehovah, Righteous acts of His villages in Israel, Then ruled in the gates have the people of Jehovah.

Some came from Ephraim who had been harassed by Amalek, followed by Benjamin with your people. Some commanders came from Machir, along with some from Zebulun who carry a badge of office.

And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As was Issachar, so was Barak; Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben There were great resolves of heart.

Gilead abode beyond the Jordan: And Dan, why did he remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, And abode by his creeks.

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

Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.

Call judgment down on Meroz,' says the Lord's angelic messenger; 'Be sure to call judgment down on those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord's battle, to help in the Lord's battle against the warriors.'

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

Looking out from the window she gave a cry, the mother of Sisera was crying out through the window, Why is his carriage so long in coming? When will the noise of his wheels be sounding?

So let all thine 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.

Later on, the Israelis practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, so the LORD handed them over to the domination of Midian for seven years.

And the hand of Midian will be strong upon Israel: from the face of Midian the sons of Israel made to them clefts which are in the mountains, and caves and fastnesses.

And so it used to be, if Israel had sown, then came up Midian and Amalek and the sons of the east, yea came up against them,

For they would come up with their cattle and their tents, coming like locusts for number; both they and their camels could not be counted; so that they wasted the land as they came in.

Israel was so severely weakened by Midian that the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

And it will be when the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah on account of Midian,

And I took you out of the hands of the Egyptians and out of the hands of all who were cruel to you, and I sent them out by force from before you and gave you their land;

and I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.' But you have not given heed to my voice."

And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

And the messenger of Jehovah will be seen to him, and he will say to him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty of strength.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be 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 the Lord, turning to him, said, Go in the strength you have and be Israel's saviour from Midian: have I not sent you?

And he said to him, O Lord, how may I be the saviour of Israel? See, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

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

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

And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto 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 thou hast built an altar to Jehovah thy God on the top of this stronghold, by the arrangement, and hast taken the second bullock, and caused to ascend a burnt-offering with the wood of the shrine which thou cuttest down.'

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto 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 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 the men of the city said unto 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 Joash said unto 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 be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.