And the LORD was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this day.

And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and did not utterly drive them out.

But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.

And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not allow them to come down to the valley:

And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall throw down their altars: but you have not obeyed my voice: why have you done this?

Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of plunderers that plundered them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.

And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because this people has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;

That through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.

Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

And the hilt also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out.

And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the chamber; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the floor.

And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and allowed not a man to pass over.

And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all strong, and all men of valor; and there escaped not a man.

And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh in Naphtali, and said unto him, Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

And Barak said unto her, If you will go with me, then I will go: but if you will not go with me, then I will not go.

And she said, I will surely go with you: nevertheless the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand: is not the LORD gone out before you? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, unto Harosheth of the nations: and all the host of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a rug.

Curse you Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, Curse you bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

Have they not sped? have they not divided the spoil; to every man a young woman or two; to Sisera a spoil of many colors, a spoil of many colors of needlework, of many colors of needlework on both sides, suitable for the necks of them that take the spoil?

And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but you have not obeyed my voice.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent you?

Depart not from here, I pray you, until I come unto you, and bring forth my present, and set it before you. And he said, I will tarry until you come again.

And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto you; fear not: you shall not die.

And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take your father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the idol pole that is by it:

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

And Gideon said unto God, Let not your anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me test, I pray you, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will test them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto you, This one shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whomsoever I say unto you, This one shall not go with you, the same shall not go.

And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get you down unto the host; for I have delivered it into your hand.

And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why have you served us thus, that you called us not, when you went to fight with the Midianites? And they did argue with him sharply.

And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison to you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not slay you.

And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth.

And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.

And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:

And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech.

And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?

Now therefore come up by night, you and the people that are with you, and lie in wait in the field:

And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid in wait against Shechem in four companies.

Then said Zebul unto him, Where is now your mouth, with which you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? is not this the people that you have despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them.

And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren, that they should not dwell in Shechem.

Then he called hastily unto the young man his armorbearer, and said unto him, Draw your sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?

And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, you shall not inherit in our father's house; for you are the son of another woman.

And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not you hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are you come unto me now when you are in distress?

And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to your words.

And said unto him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:

Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray you, pass through your land: but the king of Edom would not listen. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.

Then they went along through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.

But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his territory: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

Will you not possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.

While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are along by the borders of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did you not recover them within that time?

Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.

However the king of the children of Ammon heeded not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Why passed you over to fight against the children of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? we will burn your house upon you with fire.

And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you delivered me not out of their hands.

And when I saw that you delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: why then are you come up unto me this day, to fight against me?

Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the fords of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, {} Behold now, you are barren, and bear not: but you shall conceive, and bear a son.

Now therefore beware, I pray you, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:

Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very awesome: but I asked him not from where he was, neither told he me his name:

And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.

She may not eat of any thing that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.

And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of your food: and if you will offer a burnt offering, you must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.

But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would at this time have told us such things as these.

But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore him as he would have torn a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

And he took some of it in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told them not that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.

And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice your husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire: have you called us to take what we have? is it not so?

And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, You do but hate me, and love me not: you have put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and have not told it to me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it to my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it to you?

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

But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not allow him to go in.

And her father said, I verily thought that you had utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray you, instead of her.

Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Know you not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that you have done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

And they said unto him, We are come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that you will not fall upon me yourselves.

And they spoke unto him, saying, No; but we will bind you securely, and deliver you into their hand: but surely we will not kill you. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson has come here. And they surrounded the place, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon you, Samson. And he broke the cords, as a thread of yarn is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

And she said unto him, How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? you have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.

That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There has not come a razor upon my head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

And she said, The Philistines be upon you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD was departed from him.

In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought themselves an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.

And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are you still here? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.

And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household.

And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together: for the young woman's father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray you, and tarry all night, and let your heart be merry.

And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young woman's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draws toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day grows to an end, lodge here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow get you early on your way, that you may go home.

But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over opposite Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two donkeys saddled, his concubine also was with him.