Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up food scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them." They brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

And it same to pass that Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, - but did not dispossess the inhabitants of the vale, because they had, chariots of iron.

The men of Benjamin, however, did not conquer the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites live with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this very day.

The men of Manasseh did not conquer Beth Shan, Taanach, or their surrounding towns. Nor did they conquer the people living in Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo or their surrounding towns. The Canaanites managed to remain in those areas.

It happened when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

The men of Ephraim did not conquer the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.

The men of Zebulun did not conquer the people living in Kitron and Nahalol. The Canaanites lived among them and were forced to do hard labor.

The men of Asher did not conquer the people living in Acco or Sidon, nor did they conquer Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek, or Rehob.

The people of Asher live among the Canaanites residing in the land because they did not conquer them.

The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.

The Amorites forced the people of Dan to live in the hill country. They did not allow them to live in the coastal plain.

And ye shall not cut out a covenant to the inhabitants of this land.; their altars ye shall break down: and ye heard not to my voice: why did ye this?

The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

Also, all [the people of] that generation were gathered to their fathers [in death]; and another generation arose after them who did not know (recognize, understand) the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.

The Israelites did evil before the Lord by worshiping the Baals.

Yea, they forsook Yahweh, - and did service unto the Baal and unto Ashtaroth.

Whenever they went out to fight, the Lord did them harm, just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. They suffered greatly.

But they did not obey their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord's commands, but they did not.

When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.

When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways.

I did this to test Israel and to see whether they would keep the Lord’s way by walking in it, as their fathers had.”

This is why the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; he did not hand them over to Joshua.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight. They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.

When the Israelis cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up Othniel son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz, to deliver them, and he did.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord's sight. The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel because they had done evil in the Lord's sight.

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

The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud did not pull the sword out of his belly.

They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors. Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor!

He said to them, "Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!" They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River opposite Moab, and did not let anyone cross.

And they killed about ten thousand of the men of Moab at that time, all lusty, and all men of might. And there did not escape a man.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord's sight after Ehud's death.

And she will send and call for Barak, son of Abinoam, from KadeshNaphtali; and she will say to him, Did not Jehovah the God of Israel command, Go, and draw into mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulon?

Israel's power continued to overwhelm King Jabin of Canaan until they did away with him.

Now the archers did cry, where men draw water; there shall they tell of the justice of the LORD, and of the justice of his uplandish folk in Israel. And then the people of the LORD went down unto the gates.

“Why [Reuben] did you linger among the sheepfolds,
To hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.

Gilead stayed put beyond the Jordan River. As for Dan -- why did he seek temporary employment in the shipyards? Asher remained on the seacoast, he stayed by his harbors.

“But Zebulun was a people who risked their lives to the [point of] death;
Naphtali also, on the heights of the field.

“The kings came and fought;
Then the kings of Canaan fought
At Taanach by the waters of Megiddo.
Spoils of silver they did not obtain.

Then did the hooves of horses beat, from the galloping, the galloping 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.'

Through the window she looked forth and cried out, The mother of Sisera, through the lattice Why did his chariot delay to come? Why lingered the paces of his chariots?

Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did.
But may those who love Him
be like the rising of the sun in its strength.

And the land was peaceful 40 years.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight, so the Lord turned them over to Midian for seven years.

and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, - because of Midian, did the sons of Israel prepare for themselves the hollows which were in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.

I said to you: I am Yahweh your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey Me.’”

Gideon said to him, "Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, 'Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian."

And Jehovah will turn to him and say, Go in this thy strength and save Israel from the hand of Midian: did I not send thee?

God's messenger said to him, "Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, and pour out the broth." Gideon did as instructed.

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father's family and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime.

They said to one another, "Who did this?" They investigated the matter thoroughly and concluded that Gideon son of Joash had done it.

The Lord did as he asked. When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl.

That night God did as he asked. Only the fleece was dry and the ground around it was covered with dew.

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many people for Me to hand the Midianites over to you, or else Israel might brag: ‘I did it myself.’

And, messengers, did Gideon send through all the hill country of Ephraim, saying - Go down to meet Midian, and capture, before them, the waters, as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and captured the waters, as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.

The Ephraimites said to him, "Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us when you went to fight the Midianites!" They argued vehemently with him.

And he will say to them, What now did I according to you? are not the gleanings of Ephraim good above the vintage of Abi-Ezer?

It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?" When he said this, they calmed down.

Then he left there to go to Penuel and asked the same thing from them, but the men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth did.

And Gideon went through them that dwell in tabernacles on the east side of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host did cast no perils.

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

He asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?”

“They were like you,” they said. “Each resembled the son of a king.”

Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” The youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a youth.

And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey.

So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Israelites did not remain true to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them.

They did not treat the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

“Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have rewarded him appropriately for what he did—

And if in sincerity and uprightness ye did with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, rejoice ye in Abimelech, and he shall rejoice also in you.

He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal's seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them.

And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech.

And Ga'al the son of Ebed said, "Who is Abim'elech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Did not the son of Jerubba'al and Zebul his officer serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem? Why then should we serve him?

Then did Gaal yet further speak, and say - Lo! people coming down from the highest part of the land, - and one company, coming in by way of the Conjurers' Terebinth.

And Abimelech will go up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that with him; and Abimelech will take axes in his hand, and he will cut boughs of the trees, and will lift up and will put upon his shoulder, and he will say to the people which are with him, What ye saw I did, hasten, do like me.

God repaid Abimelech for the evil he did to his father by murdering his seventy half-brothers.

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.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord's sight. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtars, as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him.

They shattered and crushed the Israelites that year, and for 18 years they did the same to all the Israelites who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites in Gilead.

Then did the sons of Israel make outcry unto Yahweh, saying, - We have sinned against thee, because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals.

The Lord said to the Israelites, "Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,

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

But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me from the house of my father? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?”

And the old men of Gilead will say to Jephthah, Jehovah shall be hearing between us, if we did not thus to thee according to thy word.

and said to him, "This is what Jephthah says, 'Israel did not steal the land of Moab and the land of the Ammonites.

"Israel didn't seize the land of Moab nor the land of the Ammonites. Here's what happened: When Israel came up from Egypt, passed through the desert to the Red Sea, and arrived at Kadesh,

Then Israel sent men to the king of Edom saying, Let me now go through your land; but the king of Edom did not give ear to them. And in the same way he sent to the king of Moab, but he would not; so Israel went on living in Kadesh.

Then Israel went through the desert and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; they did not go through Moabite territory (the Arnon was Moab's border).

Then did Israel send messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, - and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land as far as my own place.

But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He assembled his whole army, camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

Then did Yahweh, God of Israel, deliver up Sihon, and all his people, into the hand of Israel, and they smote them, - so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land.

Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them?

Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time?

But the king of the Ammonites disregarded the message of Jephthah, which he sent to him.

Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house, and behold his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She [was] his only child; he did not have a son or daughter except her.

And she will say to him, My father, opening thy mouth to Jehovah, do to me acording to what came forth from thy mouth, after that Jehovah did for thee vengeance of thine enemies, of the sons of Ammon.

After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel.

The Ephraimites assembled and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why did you go and fight with the Ammonites without asking us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!"

Jephthah said to them, "My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power.

When I saw that you did not deliver me, I took my life in my hand and passed over against the sons of Ammon, and Jehovah delivered them into my hand, and why have you come up against me, to fight against me today?

And, after him, did Elon the Zebulunite judge Israel, - and he judged Israel, ten years.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord's sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.