Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I have done.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

From there they marched against the residents of Debir (Debir was formerly named Kiriath-sepher).

Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, just as Moses had promised. Then Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak who lived there.

So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.

The servants waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor!

Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’”

When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
Issachar was with Barak.
They set out at his heels in the valley.
There was great searching of heart
among the clans of Reuben.

Why did you sit among the sheepfolds
listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks?
There was great searching of heart
among the clans of Reuben.

He collapsed, he fell, he lay down at her feet;
he collapsed, he fell at her feet;
where he collapsed, there he fell—dead.

So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it Yahweh Shalom. It is in Ophrah of the Abiezrites until today.

Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one can go with you,’ he can go. But if I say about anyone, ‘This one cannot go with you,’ he cannot go.”

When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, “Listen, I had a dream: a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down so that it collapsed.”

He went from there to Penuel and asked the same thing from them. The men of Penuel answered just as the men of Succoth had answered.

Gideon made an ephod from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then all Israel prostituted themselves with it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and lived there because of his brother Abimelech.

There was a strong tower inside the city, and all the men, women, and lords of the city fled there. They locked themselves in and went up to the roof of the tower.

When Jephthah went to his home in Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no other son or daughter besides her.

There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children.

Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there.

After some time, when he returned to get her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass.

His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do.

When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. While they were waiting quietly, they said, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”

The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.

There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted.

There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who resided within the clan of Judah.

In those days, there was no king in Israel, and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy. Up to that time no territory had been captured by them among the tribes of Israel.

So the Danites sent out five brave men from all their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to scout out the land and explore it. They told them, “Go and explore the land.”

They came to the hill country of Ephraim as far as the home of Micah and spent the night there.

The five men left and came to Laish. They saw that the people who were there were living securely, in the same way as the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. They were far from the Sidonians, having no alliance with anyone.

When you get there, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has handed it over to you. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”

From there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and arrived at Micah’s house.

The five men who had gone to scout out the land of Laish told their brothers, “Did you know that there are an ephod, household gods, and a carved image overlaid with silver in these houses? Now think about what you should do.”

So they detoured there and went to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him.

There was no one to rescue them because it was far from Sidon and they had no alliance with anyone. It was in a valley that belonged to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it.

So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image that he had made, and it was there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine.

But she was unfaithful to him and left him for her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for a period of four months.

His father-in-law, the girl’s father, detained him, and he stayed with him for three days. They ate, drank, and spent the nights there.

The man got up to go, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed and spent the night there again.

But his master replied to him, “We will not stop at a foreign city where there are no Israelites. Let’s move on to Gibeah.”

although we have both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me, your female servant, and the young man with your servant. There is nothing we lack.”

When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold.

“Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

There were 700 choice men who were left-handed among all these people; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant of God was there,

There were 18,000 men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors.

But 600 men escaped into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and stayed there four months.

So the people went to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. They wept loudly and bitterly,

The next day the people got up early, built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

For when the people were counted, no one was there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead.

The congregation sent 12,000 brave warriors there and commanded them: “Go and kill the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including women and children.

Benjamin returned at that time, and Israel gave them the women they had kept alive from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough for them.

They said, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.

They also said, “Look, there’s an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

At that time, each of the Israelites returned from there to his own tribe and family. Each returned from there to his own inheritance.

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted.