And {the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Aram Naharaim; and the {Israelites} served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years.

And the spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and Yahweh gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into his hand, and {he prevailed over} Cushan-Rishathaim.

And again the {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. So Yahweh strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they did evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

And the {Israelites} served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

And the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite and {a left-handed man}. And the {Israelites} sent a tribute to Eglon king of Moab {through him}.

Then he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon [was] a very fat man.

But he turned back from the sculptured stones that [were] near Gilgal, and he said, "I have {a secret message} for you, O king." And he said, "Silence!" So all those standing in his presence went out,

So Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army [was] Sisera, and he [was] living in Harosheth Haggoyim.

Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because [there was] peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the {Israelites}.

And the hand of the {Israelites} {pressed harder} and harder on Jabin king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What type [were] the men whom you killed at Tabor?" And they said, "{They were like you}; each [one of them] had the appearance of the sons of the king."

All the lords of Shechem and Beth-Millo gathered, and they went and made Abimelech as king, near [the] oak of [the] pillar that [is] at Shechem.

"The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, 'Rule over us.'

And the thornbush said to the trees, 'If in good faith you [are] anointing me as king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; if not, may fire go out from the thornbush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

"So then, if you have acted in good faith and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerub-Baal and his house, and have dealt with him {according to his accomplishments}--

but today you have risen against the house of my father and killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his slave woman, a king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your relative--

And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the {Ammonites}, saying, "What [is between] you and me that you have come to me to make war against my land?"

And the king of the {Ammonites} said to Jephthah's messengers, "Because Israel took my land from [the] Arnon up to the Jabbok and the Jordan when they came up from Egypt; so then, restore it peacefully."

Once again Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the {Ammonites},

Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let us cross through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent [messengers] to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, 'Please let us cross through your land {to our country}.'

So then, [are] you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel, or did he ever make war against them?

But the king of the {Ammonites} did not listen to the message that Jephthah sent to him.

In those days there was no king in Israel, and each one did what was right in his own eyes.

In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites [was] seeking territory for itself to live in, because until that day it had not been allotted territory among the tribes of Israel.

In those days there was no king in Israel; there was a man, a Levite, who dwelled as a foreigner in the remote areas of the hill country of Ephraim. And he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

In those days there was no king in Israel; each one did what was right in his own eyes.