And the angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you to the land that I had promised to your ancestors. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with 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,

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):

They were [left] for testing Israel, to know [whether] they would keep the commands of Yahweh that he commanded their ancestors through the hand of Moses.

But he turned back from the sculptured stones that [were] near Gilgal, and he said, "I have {a secret message} for you, O king." And he said, "Silence!" So all those standing in his presence went out,

After he left, his servants returned. When they saw [that] the doors of the upper room [were] locked, {they thought}, "Surely he [is] {relieving himself} in the cool inner room."

And they struck Moab at that time, about ten thousand men, {all strong and able men}; no one escaped.

And Moab was subdued on that day under the hand of Israel. And the land rested eighty years.

Now at that time Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, [was] judging Israel.

And Heber the Kenite [was] separated from [the other] Kenites, [that is], from the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses. And {he was encamped} at Elon-bezaanannim, which [is] near Kedesh.

When they reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,

Sisera summoned all his chariots--all nine hundred chariots of iron--and the entire army that [was] with him from Harosheth Haggoyim to the wadi of Kishon.

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 behold, Barak [was] pursuing Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him, and she said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you [are] seeking." And he came with her and saw that Sisera was lying dead with the peg in his temple.

On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the {Israelites}.

And Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day:

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.

The angel of Yahweh came and sat under the oak that [was] at Ophrah that belonged to Jehoash [the] Abiezrite; and Gideon his son [was] threshing wheat in the winepress to hide [it] from the Midianites.

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 he said to him, "Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, {show me a sign} that you [are] speaking with me.

Then the angel of Yahweh reached out the tip of the staff that [was] in his hand, and he touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of Yahweh went {from his sight}.

And Gideon realized that he [was] the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said, "Oh, my lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face."

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;

and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold in the proper arrangement, and take a second bull and offer [it as] a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you will cut down.

When the men of the city got up early in the morning, look, the altar of Baal and the Asherah that [was] beside it [were] cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.

And the men of the city said to Jehoash, "Bring out your son so that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah that [was] beside it."

Thus, on that day he was called Jerub-Baal, {which means}, "Let Baal contend against him," because he had pulled down his altar.

Then Gideon said to God, "In order to see that you will deliver Israel by my hand, just as you have said,

I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and all of the ground [is] dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, just as you have said."

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

Then Jerub-Baal (that [is], Gideon) rose early, and all the army that [was] with him. They were camped beside the spring of Harod; the camp of Midian was north of the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

And Yahweh said to Gideon, "The troops that [are] with you [are] too many for me to give Midian into their hands; Israel will boast, saying, 'My hand has delivered me.'

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

and you will hear what they say; and afterward {you will have courage}, and you will go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men that [were] in the camp.

Now [the] Midianites, Amalekites, and all the people of [the] east [were] lying in the valley, like a great multitude of locusts; their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand that [is] on the shore of the sea.

When Gideon came, a man [was] recounting a dream to his friend, and he said, "Behold, {I had a dream}; a round loaf of barley bread [was] tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came up to the tent, it struck it, and it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent fell."

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.

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?

God has given into your hand the commanders of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?" And their {anger} against him subsided when {he said that}.

The officials of Succoth said, "Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna in your hand now, that we should give bread to your army?"

Now Zebah and Zalmunna [were] in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men remained from the entire army of the people of [the] east; those that fell [in battle were] one hundred and twenty thousand {swordsmen}.

He came to the men of Succoth, and he said, "Here [is] Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, '[Is] the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna in your hand now, that we should give food to your weary men?'"

Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Get up yourself, and strike us, for as [is] the man, so [is] his power." So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

And Gideon said to them, "{Let me make a request of you}, that each of you give to me an ornamental ring from his plunder." (They [had] ornamental rings of gold, because they [were] Ishmaelites.)

The weight of the ornamental rings of gold that he requested [was] one thousand seven hundred [shekels of] gold, apart from the crescents, pendants, and purple garments that [were] on the kings of Midian, and apart from the pendants that [were] on the necks of their camels.

nor did they show favor to the house of Jerub-Baal ([that is], Gideon) in accordance with all the good that he did for Israel.

"{Speak to} the lords of Shechem, 'What [is] better for you, that seventy men all from the sons of Jerub-Baal rule over you, or that one man rules over you?' Remember that I [am] your bone and your flesh."

All the lords of Shechem and Beth-Millo gathered, and they went and made Abimelech as king, near [the] oak of [the] pillar that [is] at Shechem.

And they told Jotham, and he went up and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and {he cried out loud} and said to them, "Listen to me, lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.

But the vine said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my wine that makes the gods and men happy, to go sway over the trees?'

so that the violence done to the seventy brothers of Abimelech would be avenged and their blood be placed on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, {who helped} to kill his brothers.

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.

Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood [at] the entrance of the city gate, and Abimelech and the army that [was] with him got up from the ambush.

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."

Then Abimelech and the divisions that [were] with him dashed out and stood [at] the entrance of the city gate, and the two divisions dashed out against all who [were] in the field, and they killed them.

Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and he captured the city and killed the people that [were] in it; then he broke down the city and sowed it [with] salt.

It was told to Abimelech that all the lords of the tower of Shechem had gathered.

So Abimelech went up Mount Zalmon, he and all his army that [were] with him, and Abimelech took the ax in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood, and he lifted it and put [it] on his shoulder. And he said to the army that [was] with him, "What you have seen me do, quickly do also."

So the whole army cut down each one branch for himself and followed Abimelech, and they put [them] against the vault and set the vault ablaze with fire on those [inside], so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.

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.

When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each one went to his home.

So God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech committed against his father by killing his seventy brothers.

And he had thirty sons who would ride on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty towns that [are] in the land of Gilead that they called Havvoth Jair until this day.

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.

The people, the ones commanding Gilead, {said to each other}, "Who [is] the man that will begin to fight against the {Ammonites}? He will be as head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

And they said to Jephthah, "Come and be our commander, so that we may make war against the {Ammonites}."

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "That being so, we have now returned to you, that you may go with us {to fight} against the {Ammonites} and become for us as head of all the inhabitants of Gilead."

And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the {Ammonites}, saying, "What [is between] you and me that you have come to me to make war against my land?"

And Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; and Israel occupied all the land of the Amorites inhabiting that land.

So then, [are] you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel, or did he ever make war against them?

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?

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

And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months so that I may go wander on the mountains and lament over my virginity, I and my companions.

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.

He had forty sons and thirty grandsons that rode on seventy male donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years.

So Manoah got up and went after his wife, and he came to the man and said to him, "[Are] you the man that spoke to the woman?" And he said, "I [am]."

And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, "Let the woman be attentive to all that I said.

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)."

And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, "What [is] your name so that when your words come [true] we may honor you?"

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 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.

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.

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."

And the Spirit of Yahweh rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men from them, and he took their belongings, and he gave festal garments to the ones that explained the riddle. {He was angry}, and he went up to his father's house.

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}."

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."

As he came up to Lehi, [the] Philistines came shouting to meet him; and the Spirit of Yahweh rushed on him, and the ropes that [were] on his arms became like flax that has burned with fire, and his bindings melted from his hands.

And it happened, when he finished speaking he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he called that place Ramath Lehi.

So God split the hollow place that [is] at Lehi, and water came out from it; and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he was revived. Thus he called its name {The Spring of Ha-Qore}, which [is] at Lehi to this day.