And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel asked of LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?

And Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.

And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [scraps] under my table. As I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

And afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the hill-country, and in the South, and in the lowland.

And Caleb said, He who smites Kiriath-sepher, and takes it, I will give to him Achsah my daughter to wife.

And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.

And it came to pass, when she came [to him], that she moved him to ask of her father a field. And she alighted from off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What would thou?

And she said to him, Give me a blessing, since thou have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.

And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there.

And the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.)

And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with thee.

And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name of it Luz, which is the name of it to this day.

And it came to pass, when Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to task work, and did not utterly drive them out.

Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol, but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became subject to task work.

And the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill-country, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley,

but the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. Yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to task work.

And the agent of LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I made you go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

And ye shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. Ye shall break down their altars. But ye have not hearkened to my voice. Why have ye 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 to you.

And it came to pass, when the agent of LORD spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

And they called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to LORD.

Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the sons of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land.

And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them that did not know LORD, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel.

And they forsook LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves down to them. And they provoked LORD t

Wherever they went out, the hand of LORD was against them for evil, as LORD had spoken, and as LORD had sworn to them. And they were exceedingly distressed.

And yet they did not hearken to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of LORD.

But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them. They did not cease from their doings, nor from their

And the anger of LORD was kindled against Israel, and he said, Because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not hearkened to my voice,

that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of LORD to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.

Now these are the nations which LORD left to prove Israel by them, (even as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan,

only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least to such as formerly knew nothing of that):

[namely], the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath.

And they were [left], to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken to the commandments of LORD, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

And when the sons of Israel cried to LORD, LORD raised up a savior to the sons of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

And the Spirit of LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to war, and LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim.

And he gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and smote Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.

But when the sons of Israel cried to LORD, LORD raised up for them a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.

And Ehud made for himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length. And he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh.

And he offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to thee, O king. And he said, Keep silence. And all who stood by him went out from him.

And Ehud came to him. And he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. And Ehud said, I have a message from God to thee. And he arose out of his seat.

And Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah.

And it came to pass, when he came, that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim. And the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he before them.

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

So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.

And the sons of Israel cried to LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he mightily oppressed the sons of Israel twenty years.

And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.

And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, [saying], Go and approach to mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the sons of Naph

And I will draw Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, to thee, to the river Kishon, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thy hand.

And Barak said to her, If thou will go with me, then I will go, but if thou will not go with me, I will not go.

And she said, I will surely go with thee. Notwithstanding, the journey that thou take shall not be for thine honor, for LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. And there went up ten thousand men at his feet, and Deborah went up with him.

And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.

And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.

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

But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles. And all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left.

However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

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

And he said to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

And he said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and inquires of thee, and says, Is there any man here? that thou shall say, No.

Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep, so he fainted and died.

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seek. And he came to her, and, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent-pin was in his temples.

So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.

Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

Hear, O ye kings. Give ear, O ye rulers. I, [even] I, will sing to LORD. I will sing praise to LORD, the God of Israel.

Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they shall rehearse the righteous acts of LORD, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. Then the people of LORD went down to the gates.

Why did thou sit among the sheepfolds, to hear the pipings for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

Zebulun was a people who jeopardized their lives to the death, and Naphtali, upon the high places of the field.

Curse ye Meroz, said the agent of LORD. Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants of it, because they did not come to the help of LORD, to the help of LORD against the mighty.

She put her hand to the tent-pin, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer. And with the hammer she smote Sisera; she struck through his head. Yea, she pierced and struck through his temples.

Through the window she looked forth, and cried--the mother of Sisera through the lattice--Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots delay?

Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,

Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil? A damsel, two damsels to every man, to Sisera a spoil of dyed garments, a spoil of dyed garments embroidered, of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the spo

And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come to Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

For they came up with their cattle and their tents. They came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without number, and they came into the land to destroy it.

And Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to LORD.

And it came to pass, when the sons of Israel cried to LORD because of Midian,

that LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel. And he said to them, Thus says LORD, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage.

And I said to you, I am LORD your God. Ye shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell, but ye have not hearkened to my voice.

And the agent of LORD came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite. And his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

And the agent of LORD appeared to him, and said to him, LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.

And Gideon said to him, Oh, my lord, if LORD is with us, then why has all this befallen us? And where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not LORD bring us up from Egypt? But now LORD has cast us of

And he said to him, Oh, LORD, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

And LORD said to him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shall smite the Midianites as one man.

And he said to him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou who talk with me.

Depart not from here, I pray thee, until I come to thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the flesh in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

And the agent of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

And Gideon saw that he was the agent of LORD. And Gideon said, Alas, O lord LORD! Inasmuch as I have seen the agent of LORD face to face.

And LORD said to him, Peace be to thee. Fear not; thou shall not die.

Then Gideon built an altar there to LORD, and called it LORD-shalom. To this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

And it came to pass the same night, that LORD said to him, Take thy father's bullock, even the second bullock seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it.

And build an altar to LORD thy God upon the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah which thou shall cut down.

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as LORD had spoken to him. And it came to pass, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.

Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it.

And Joash said to all who stood against him, Will ye contend for Baal? Or will ye save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death while [it is] morning. If he be a god, let him contend for himself because he has brok

Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him because he has broken down his altar.