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.

But the descendants of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived among the descendants of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

Manasseh did not drive out Beth-Sean and its towns, or Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the Canaanites [were] determined to live in this land.

Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in their midst in Gezer.

Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived in their midst and became [subjected] to forced labor.

Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob,

so the Asherites lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or Beth-anath, but lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.

The Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain;

And [as for] you, do not {make a covenant} with the inhabitants of this land; break down their altars.' But you did not listen to my voice. {Why would you do such a thing}?

Now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; they will {become as thorns} for you, and their gods will be a trap for you."

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.

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].

But when the leader died they relapsed and acted corruptly, more than their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and bowing down to them. They would not give up their deeds or their stubborn ways.

{So the anger of Yahweh burned} against Israel, and he said, "Because this people transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors, and have not obeyed my voice,

I will not again drive out anyone from before them from the nations that Joshua left when he died,

in order to test Israel whether or not they would observe the way of Yahweh, to walk in it just as their ancestors did."

So Yahweh left those nations; he did not drive them out at once, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

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):

And the handle also went [in] after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade because he did not draw back the sword from his stomach; and it went protruding out the back.

And they waited so long they became embarrassed because he did not open the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened [the doors], and there their lord was lying on the ground dead.

And he said to them, "Follow after me! Yahweh has given Moab your enemies into your hand." So they went down after him, and they captured the fords of the Jordan toward Moab; and they did not allow anyone to cross over.

She sent and called for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh Naphtali and said to him, "Has not Yahweh the God of Israel commanded you? 'Go, {march to} Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men from the descendants of Naphtali and Zebulun.

Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you do not go with me, I will not go."

And Deborah said to Barak, "Get up! This [is] the day that Yahweh has given Sisera into your hand. Has Yahweh not gone out before you?" So Barak went out from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

And Jael came out to meet Sisera, and she said to him, "Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me and do not be afraid." So he turned aside into her tent, and she covered him {with a blanket}.

God chose new [leaders], then war [was at the] gates; a small shield or a spear was not seen among forty thousand in Israel.

'Curse Meroz,' says the angel of Yahweh; 'curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of Yahweh, to the help of Yahweh against the mighty.'

'Are they not finding and dividing the plunder? {A bedmate or two bedmates for every man}; colorful garments for Sisera, plunder of colorful garments, beautifully finished colorful garments, on the neck of the plunderer?'

For they, their livestock, and their tents would come up like a great number of locusts; they and their camels could not be counted; they came into the land and devoured it.

And I said to you, 'I [am] Yahweh your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you [are] living.' But you have not listened to my voice."

Gideon said to him, "Excuse me, my lord. [If] Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, 'Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?' But now Yahweh has forsaken us; he has given us into the palm of Midian."

And Yahweh turned to him and said, "Go in this your strength, and you will deliver Israel from the palm of Midian. Did I not send you?"

Please, do not depart from here until I come [back] to you and bring out my gift and set it out before you." And he said, "I will stay until you return."

And Yahweh said to him, "Peace be with you. Do not fear; you will not die."

Now on that same night Yahweh said to him, "Take the bull of the cattle that belongs to your father, and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;

Gideon took ten men from his servants, and he did just as Yahweh told him; and because he was too afraid of his {father's family} and the men of the city to do [it during] the day, he did [it during] night.

And Gideon said to God, "{Do not let your anger burn} against me; let me speak once more. Please let me test once more with the fleece; let the fleece be dry, and let there be dew on the ground."

And God did so that night; only the fleece was dry, and dew was on all the ground.

And Yahweh said to Gideon, "There [are] still too many troops; bring them down to the water, and I will sift through them for you there. For whomever I say to you, 'This [one] will go with you,' he will go with you; and for all whom I say to you, 'This [one] will not go with you,' he will not go."

And that night Yahweh said to him, "Get up; go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.

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.

The men of Ephraim said to him, "What [is] this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?" And they quarreled with him severely.

And he said to them, "What I have done now in comparison with you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?

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 he said to Jether, his firstborn, "Get up, kill them." But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he [was] still a boy.

But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; Yahweh will rule over you."

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.

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

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.'

But if not, let a fire come out from Abimelech and let it devour the lords of Shechem and Beth-Millo; and let a fire come out from the lords of Shechem, and from Beth-Millo, and let it devour Abimelech."

Then Gaal son of Ebed said, "Who [is] Abimelech, and who [are we of] Shechem that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and [is not] Zebul his chief officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem. Why should we serve him?

So then, get up [by] night, you and the army that [is] with you, and lie in ambush in the field.

So Abimelech and all the army that [was] with him got up [by] night, and they lay in ambush against Shechem [in] four divisions.

And Zebul said to him, "Where then {is your boast}, [you] who said, 'Who [is] Abimelech that we should serve him?' [Is] this not the army that you rejected? Please, go out now and fight against them."

He called quickly to the young man carrying his weapons, and he said to him, "Draw your sword and kill me, so that they will not say of me, 'A woman killed him.'" So the young man stabbed him, and he died.

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.

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

Gilead's wife also bore for him sons; and the sons of [his] wife grew up and drove Jephthah away, and they said to him, "You will not inherit the house of our father because you [are] the son of another woman."

Jephthah said to the elders, "Did you not shun me and drive me out from the house of my father? Why do you come to me now when you have trouble?"

and he said to him, "Thus says Jephthah, 'Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land 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.

Then they traveled through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and Moab, and came to {the east} side of the land of Moab, and they encamped beyond [the] Arnon; and they did not go into the territory of Moab because [the] Arnon [was] the border of Moab.

But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people and then encamped at Jahaz; and he made war with Israel.

Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gave you to possess? Whoever Yahweh our God has driven out before us, we will possess it.

When Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns that [are] {along the Arnon}, for three hundred years, why did you not recover [them] at that time?

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}."

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

Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house, and behold his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She [was] his only child; he did not have a son or daughter except her.

At the end of the two months she returned to her father, and he did to her [according to] his vow; and {she did not sleep with a man}. And it became an annual custom in Israel

The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed [over] to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross [over] and make war against the {Ammonites}, and why did you not call us to go with you? We will burn down your house over you with fire."

And Jephthah said to them, "I and my people were engaged in great conflict with the {Ammonites}; I called you, but you did not deliver me from their hand.

I saw that you would not deliver [us]; {I risked my own life}, and I crossed [over] to the {Ammonites}, and Yahweh gave them into my hand. Why have you come up to me this day to fight against me?"

they said to him, "Please say Shibboleth," and [if] he said, "Sibboleth"--because he could not {pronounce it} correctly--they grabbed him and executed him at the fords of Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

There was a certain man from Zorah, from the tribe of the Danites, and his name [was] Manoah; his wife [was] infertile and did not bear children.

And an angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and he said to her, "Behold, you [are] infertile and have not borne [children], but you will conceive and bear a son.

So then, be careful and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean,

And the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance [was] like the appearance of an angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him from where he [came], and he did not tell me his name.

And he said to me, 'Look, you [will] conceive and bear a son, so then, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'"

And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and an angel of God came again to the woman; she [was] sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

She should not eat of anything that comes from the vine, or drink wine or strong drink, or eat anything unclean; she should keep all that I commanded."

The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, "If you keep me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering for Yahweh, you can offer it (for Manoah did not know that he [was] an angel of Yahweh)."

The angel of Yahweh did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, and then Manoah knew that he [was] a messenger of Yahweh.

But his wife said to him, "If Yahweh wanted to kill us he would not have taken from our hand the burnt offering and the grain offering, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us things such as these."

But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a wife among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must take a wife from [the] uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Take her for me because {she pleases me}."

His father and mother did not know that this [was] from Yahweh; he was seeking for an occasion against [the] Philistines. Now at that time [the] Philistines [were] ruling in Israel.

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."

After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a {young goat}. He said, "I want to go to my wife's private room." But her father would not allow him to enter.

Her father said, "I really thought that you hated her, so I gave her to your companion. [Is] not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please, {take her instead}."

Samson said to them, "If you want to behave like this, [I swear] I will not rest unless I have taken revenge on you."

Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines [are] ruling over us? What [is] this [that] you have done to us?" And he said to them, "Just as they did to me, so I have done to them."

They said to him, "We have come down to bind you and give you over into the hand of [the] Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves."

They said to him, "No, we will only bind you and give you into their hand; we will certainly not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes, and they brought him up from the rock.

The Gazites [were told], "Samson has come here," so they surrounded [the place] and lay in ambush for him all night at the city gate. They kept silent all night, saying, "[We will wait] until the morning light, and then we will kill him."

But Samson lay until the middle of the night; he got up in the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two door posts, tore them loose with the bar, put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill that is {in front of} Hebron.

Samson said to her, "If you tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried up, I will become weak like everyone else."