After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, "Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?"

When the Lord's messenger finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.

When Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory, intending to take possession of the land.

The Israelites did evil before the Lord by worshiping 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.

He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war.

The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and 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 Lord's sight. They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he raised up a deliverer for the Israelites who rescued them. His name was Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

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.

The Israelites were subject to King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.

When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment.

When he reached Seirah, he blew a trumpet in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with Ehud in the lead.

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

The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, because Sisera had nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels, and he cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

She would sit under the Date Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites would come up to her to have their disputes settled.

That day God humiliated King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites.

And the hand of the sons of Israel pressed down heavier and heavier on Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed him.

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

The Midianites overwhelmed Israel. Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would attack 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 so severely weakened by Midian that the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help because of Midian,

he sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said to them, "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I brought you up from Egypt and took you out of that place 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.

The other man said, "Without a doubt this symbolizes the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army 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.

The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites' fighting spirit was broken. The land had rest for forty years during Gideon's time.

After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god.

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

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

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 ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites that eighteenth year -- that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead.

The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord: "We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals."

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

But the Israelites said to the Lord, "We have sinned. You do to us as you see fit, but deliver us today!"

The Ammonites assembled and camped in Gilead; the Israelites gathered together and camped in 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 done you wrong, but you are doing wrong by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!'"

He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith -- twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites.

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

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord's sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for 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 should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. We will travel on to Gibeah."

Everyone who saw the sight said, "Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since the Israelites left the land of Egypt! Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!"

All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba and from the land of Gilead left their homes and assembled together before the Lord at Mizpah.

The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said, "Explain how this wicked thing happened!"

All you Israelites, make a decision here!"

Now, hand over the good-for-nothings in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness." But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers.

The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah to make war against the Israelites.

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

The Israelites went up to Bethel and asked God, "Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?" The Lord said, "Judah should lead."

The Israelites got up the next morning and moved against Gibeah.

The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day.

The Israelite army took heart and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before.

The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, "Should we again march out to fight the Benjaminites, our brothers?" The Lord said, "Attack them!"

So the Israelites marched toward the Benjaminites the next day.

The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers.

So all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel. They wept and sat there before the Lord; they did not eat anything that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace to the Lord.

The Israelites asked the Lord (for the ark of God's covenant was there in those days;

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.”

The Israelites attacked the Benjaminites the next day; they took their positions against Gibeah just as they had done 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.

Then the Benjaminites said, "They are defeated just as before." But the Israelites said, "Let's retreat and lure them away from the city into the main roads."

All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah.

The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites.

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.

The Israelites asked, "Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?" They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed.

The Israelites regretted what had happened to their brother Benjamin. They said, "Today we cut off an entire tribe 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 can't allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying, 'Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!'

Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property.