Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you.”

When the Angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.

The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.

These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since the Israelites had fought none of these in any of the wars with Canaan.

These nations included: the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.

Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them. He captured these two kings of Midian and routed the entire army.

His mother’s relatives spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the lords of Shechem, and they were favorable to Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”

If only these people were in my power, I would remove Abimelech.” So he said to Abimelech, “Gather your army and come out.”

Zebul replied, “Where is your mouthing off now? You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Aren’t these the people you despised? Now go and fight them!”

But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, He wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and He would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us now like this.”

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.”

“Come on,” he said, “let’s try to reach one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”

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