After the death of Joshua, the {Israelites} inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Who will go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?"

And as the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the {Israelites}, the people {wept bitterly}.

And Joshua sent the people away, and the {Israelites} went each to their own inheritance to take possession of the land.

The {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and {they served} the Baals.

Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them and brought disaster on them, just as He had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly.

Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them.

Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ways.

These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since the Israelites had fought none of these in any of the wars with Canaan.

This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before.

And the {Israelites} lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.

The {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They forgot Yahweh their God, and they served the Baals and the Asheroth.

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.

The {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a deliverer for the {Israelites} who delivered them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

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}.

And when he arrived he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the {Israelites} went down from the hill country with him leading them.

And again the {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Ehud died.

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

And she used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the {Israelites} went up to her for judgment.

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.

The {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Midianites for seven years.

The hand of the Midianites prevailed over Israel; because of the presence of the Midianites, the {Israelites} made for themselves hiding places that [were] in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Qedemites came and attacked them.

They invaded the land and devoured its crops all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, and they took away the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Israel was very poor because of the presence of the Midianites, and the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh.

When the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh on account of the Midianites,

Yahweh sent a prophet to the {Israelites}, and he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I brought you up from Egypt; I brought you from the house of slavery.

So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents but kept the 300, who took the people’s provisions and their trumpets. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

His friend answered: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has handed the entire Midianite camp over to him.”

When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, "Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!"

Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, and cried out as they ran.

Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites.

Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you as well as your sons and your grandsons, for you delivered us from the power of Midian.”

Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

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.

And it happened, as soon as Gideon died, the {Israelites} returned and prostituted [themselves] after the Baals, and they made for themselves Baal-Berith as god.

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

When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.

And again, the {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, and the gods of the {Ammonites} and Philistines; they abandoned Yahweh and did not serve him.

They crushed and oppressed the {Israelites} in that year; for eighteen years they [crushed] all the {Israelites} who [were] beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, which [is] in Gilead.

Then the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh, saying, "We have sinned against you; we have abandoned our God and served the Baals."

And Yahweh said to the {Israelites}, "[Did I] not [deliver you] from [the] Egyptians, the Amorites, from the {Ammonites}, and from the Philistines?

And the {Israelites} said to Yahweh, "We have sinned; {do to us accordingly as you see fit}; only please deliver us this day."

And the {Ammonites} were summoned, and they camped in Gilead. And the {Israelites} gathered and camped at Mizpah.

The people, the leaders of Gilead (Israel) said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

I have not sinned against you; but you [are] the one who is doing wrong by making war against me. {Let Yahweh judge} today between the {Israelites} and the {Ammonites}."

And he defeated them [with] a very great blow, from Aroer as far as Minnith, twenty towns, up to Abel Keramim. And the {Ammonites} were subdued before the {Israelites}.

Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.

And again, the {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh gave them into the hand of [the] Philistines forty years.

Then his brothers and his father’s entire [tribal] household came down, took him, and brought him up; and they buried him in the tomb of Manoah his father, [which was] between Zorah and Eshtaol. So Samson had judged Israel for twenty years.

They said to him, "Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser and priest. Wouldn't it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man's family?"

But his master said to him, "We will not turn aside to the city of foreigners, who [are] not from the {Israelites}; we will cross over up to Gibeah."

All who saw [it] said, "Nothing like this has [ever] been since the {Israelites} went up from the land of Egypt until this day. Take note of it, consider [it], and speak [up]."

All the {Israelites} went out, from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, and they gathered as one body to Yahweh [at] Mizpah.

(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?"

Look, all you {Israelites}! {Make your decision} and advice here."

So then, hand over the men, {the perverse lot}, who [are] in Gibeah, so that we may kill them and purge [this] wickedness from Israel." But the descendants of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their relatives, the {Israelites}.

And the descendants of Benjamin were gathered from the cities to Gibeah to go out for battle against the {Israelites}.

The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, rallied 400,000 armed men, every one an experienced warrior.

Then the {Israelites} got up and went up [to] Bethel, and they inquired of God, saying, "Who will go up first for the battle against the descendants of Benjamin?" And Yahweh said, "Judah [will go] first."

And the {Israelites} got up in the morning, and they encamped against Gibeah.

And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.

But the Israelite army rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day.

The {Israelites} went up and wept before Yahweh until evening and inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Should we again draw near from the battle against the descendants of Benjamin, our relatives?" And Yahweh said, "Go up against them."

And the {Israelites} drew near to the descendants of Benjamin on the second day.

And Benjamin went out from Gibeah to meet them on the second day, and they struck down the {Israelites} again, eighteen thousand men to the ground; all of these [were] {sword-wielding}.

And all the {Israelites} and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh.

And the {Israelites} inquired of Yahweh (In those days the ark of the covenant of God [was] there,

and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it. The Israelites asked: “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop?”

The Lord answered: “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”

And the {Israelites} went up against the descendants of Benjamin on the third day, and they took up positions against Gibeah as before.

The Benjaminites attacked the army, leaving the city unguarded. They began to strike down their enemy just as they had done before. On the main roads (one leads to Bethel, the other to Gibeah) and in the field, they struck down about thirty Israelites.

And the descendants of Benjamin thought, "They [are] being defeated before us {as previously}," and the {Israelites} said, "Let us flee and lure them away from the city to the main roads."

So all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelites in ambush charged out of their places west of Geba.

And Yahweh defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and the {Israelites} destroyed on that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them {sword-wielding}.

Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated. The Israelites retreated before Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah.

The Israelites and the men hiding in ambush had arranged a signal. When the men hiding in ambush sent up a smoke signal from the city,

the Israelites counterattacked. Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; they struck down about thirty men. They said, "There's no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle."

When the Israelites turned around, the Benjaminites panicked because they could see that disaster was on their doorstep.

They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down.

The rest turned and ran toward the wilderness, heading toward the cliff of Rimmon. But the Israelites caught five thousand of them on the main roads. They stayed right on their heels all the way to Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities, the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path.

The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, "Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite."

So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.

And the {Israelites} said, "Who in the assembly has not come up from all the tribes of Israel to Yahweh?" For a solemn oath was [taken] concerning whoever did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah, saying, "He will certainly be put to death."

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

So they asked, "Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?" Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.

The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around.

The people regretted what had happened to Benjamin because the Lord had weakened the Israelite tribes.

The remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out.

But we cannot give them wives from our daughters." (For the {Israelites} swore, saying, "Cursed be [anyone] who gives a wife to Benjamin.")

So the {Israelites} dispersed from there at that time according to tribe and family; and they went out from there, each one to their own territory.