And Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they [had] chariots of iron.

And the angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you to the land that I had promised to your ancestors. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you.

And the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who saw all the great work Yahweh had done for Israel.

Moreover, that entire generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them who did not know Yahweh or the work he had done for Israel.

{Whenever} they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them to harm [them], just as Yahweh warned, and just as Yahweh had sworn to them. And {they were very distressed}.

But they did not listen to their leaders, but lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned away quickly from the way that their ancestors went, who had obeyed the commandment of Yahweh; they did not do [as their ancestors].

These [are] the nations that Yahweh left, to test Israel by them ([that is, to test] all those who {had not experienced} any of the wars of Canaan,

in order that the generations of Israel would know war, to teach those {who had not experienced it} before):

When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute.

And the {Israelites} cried to Yahweh, as he [had] nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the {Israelites} {cruelly} for twenty years.

When they reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,

"In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the caravans had ceased, {the travelers}, {they kept to the byways}.

She reached out her hand to the peg, and her right hand for the workman's hammer; and she struck Sisera, crushed his head, and she shattered and pierced his temple.

So may all your enemies perish, O Yahweh, but those who love him are like the rising sun at its brightest." And the land had rest for forty years.

The angel of Yahweh came and sat under the oak that [was] at Ophrah that belonged to Jehoash [the] Abiezrite; and Gideon his son [was] threshing wheat in the winepress to hide [it] from the Midianites.

When the men of the city got up early in the morning, look, the altar of Baal and the Asherah that [was] beside it [were] cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.

Thus, on that day he was called Jerub-Baal, {which means}, "Let Baal contend against him," because he had pulled down his altar.

When Gideon came, a man [was] recounting a dream to his friend, and he said, "Behold, {I had a dream}; a round loaf of barley bread [was] tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came up to the tent, it struck it, and it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent fell."

So Gideon and the hundred men who [were] with him came to the edge of the camp [at] the beginning of the middle night-watch, when they had just finished setting up the guards, and they blew on the trumpets and smashed the jars that [were] in their hands.

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."

He said, "They [were] my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had kept them alive I would not kill you."

And Gideon said to them, "{Let me make a request of you}, that each of you give to me an ornamental ring from his plunder." (They [had] ornamental rings of gold, because they [were] Ishmaelites.)

And Midian was subdued before the {Israelites}, and they did not again lift up their head, and the land rested for forty years in the days of Gideon.

Now Gideon had seventy sons, {his own offspring}, for he had many wives.

The {Israelites} did not remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them from the hand of their enemies from all around,

And he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and he killed his brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerub-Baal survived, because he hid himself.

It was told to Abimelech that all the lords of the tower of Shechem had gathered.

But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and cracked open his skull.

And he had thirty sons who would ride on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty towns that [are] in the land of Gilead that they called Havvoth Jair until this day.

The people, the ones commanding Gilead, {said to each other}, "Who [is] the man that will begin to fight against the {Ammonites}? He will be as head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "That being so, we have now returned to you, that you may go with us {to fight} against the {Ammonites} and become for us as head of all the inhabitants of Gilead."

So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me back {to fight} against the {Ammonites}, and Yahweh gives them {over to me}, will I be your head?"

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh at Mizpah.

He had thirty sons. He gave his thirty daughters away in marriage outside [his clan] and brought in from outside thirty young women for his sons. He judged Israel for seven years.

He had forty sons and thirty grandsons that rode on seventy male donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years.

because you [will] conceive and bear a son. No razor {will touch} his head, because the boy will be a {Nazirite of God} {from birth}. And it is he who will begin to deliver Israel from [the] hand of [the] Philistines."

And the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one might tear apart a male kid goat ({he was bare-handed}). But he did not tell his father and mother what he had done.

He scraped it out into his hands, and he went on, eating [it] as he went. And he went to his father and mother and gave [some] to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the body of the lion.

And Samson's wife wept before him, and she said, "You must hate me; you do not love me. You told the riddle to {my people}, but you have not explained [it] to me." He said to her, "I have not explained [it] to my father and mother. [Why] should I explain it to you?"

The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went [down], "What [is] sweeter than honey? What [is] stronger than a lion?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle."

Samson went down to Gaza; there he saw a prostitute and {had sex with her}.

And Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told lies to me. Tell me how you can be bound." And he said to her, "If you weave seven locks of my head with warp-threads."

So {he confided everything to her}, and he said to her, "A razor {has never touched} my head, for I [am] a {Nazirite of God} {from birth}. If I am shaved my strength will leave me, and I will become weak, like everyone else.

Delilah realized that {he had confided in her}, so she sent and called the rulers of [the] Philistines, saying, "Come up one more time, for {he has confided in me}." And the rulers of [the] Philistines came up, and they brought the money {with them}.

And she put him to sleep on her lap; then she called the men and shaved off seven locks of his head. Then she began to subdue him, and his strength went away from him.

And she said to him, "[The] Philistines [are] upon you, Samson!" And he woke up from his sleep and said, "I will go out just like every other time and shake myself free," but he did not know that Yahweh had left him.

But the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved off.

The rulers of [the] Philistines had gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice. And they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand."

And the people saw him, and they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has given into our hand those who hate us, devastate our land, and have {killed many of us}."

The man Micah had for himself {a shrine}, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and {he appointed one of his sons} who became a priest for him.

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.

And the five men went and came to Laish, and they observed the people who [were] living according to the customs of [the] Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, and lacking nothing in the land, and possessing restraint. And they [were] far from [the] Sidonians and had no word with anyone.

He said, "You took away my gods that I had made, and the priest, and then you go [away]. What [is] now left for me? How can you say to me, 'What is the matter?'"

And they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and they came to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people, and {they put them to the sword} and burned the city with fire.

There was no deliverer, because it [was] far from Sidon, and {they had had no dealings with anyone}. It [was] in the valley that belonged to Beth-rehob, and they rebuilt the city and lived in it.

So they set up for themselves the carved divine image that Micah had made, all the days that the house of God [was] in Shiloh.

But the man was not willing to spend the night, and he got up and went; and he arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). [He had] with him a pair of saddled donkeys and his concubine.

But the men were not willing to listen to him, and the man seized his concubine and brought [her] out to them; and they had intercourse with her, and they abused her all night until the morning; they let her go at the approach of dawn.

(The descendants of Benjamin heard that the {Israelites} had gone up [to] Mizpah.) And the {Israelites} said, "Tell us, how did this evil act occur?"

But the troops, the men of Israel, {encouraged themselves}, and again they arranged [their] battle [lines] in the place where they had arranged themselves the first day.

The descendants of Benjamin saw that they were defeated, and the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin because they trusted the ambush that they had set against Gibeah.

The men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, saying, "None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife."

But the {Israelites} had compassion for Benjamin, their relatives, and they said, "Today one tribe is cut off from Israel.

This is the thing you will do: {you will destroy} every man and {every woman who had sex with a man}."

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had not {had sex with a man}, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan.