The men of Judah attacked, and the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They killed ten thousand men at Bezek.

They met Adoni-Bezek at Bezek and fought him. They defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites.

When Adoni-Bezek ran away, they chased him and captured him. Then they cut off his thumbs and big toes.

Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up food scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them." They brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They put the sword to it and set the city on fire.

The men of Judah attacked the Canaanites living in Hebron. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba.) They killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

From there they attacked the people of Debir. (Debir used to be called Kiriath Sepher.)

and as they went she counseled him to ask of her father a field. And then she lighted off her ass, and Caleb said unto her, "What aileth thee?"

Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah, located in the Negev. They went and lived with the people of Judah.

The men of Judah went with their brothers the men of Simeon and defeated the Canaanites living in Zephath. They wiped out Zephath. So people now call the city Hormah.

The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered the hill country, but they could not conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels.

And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.

And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them.

They sent spies to Bethel (the town was formerly named Luz).

the spies spotted a man leaving the city. They said to him, "If you show us a secret entrance into the city, we will reward you."

He showed them a secret entrance into the city, and they put the city to the sword. But they let the man and his extended family leave safely.

The men of Manasseh did not conquer Beth Shan, Taanach, or their surrounding towns. Nor did they conquer the people living in Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo or their surrounding towns. The Canaanites managed to remain in those areas.

Whenever Israel was strong militarily, they forced the Canaanites to do hard labor, but they never totally conquered them.

Zebulon did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, and the inhabitants of Nahalol; and the Canaanite will dwell in his midst, and they will be for tribute.

The men of Asher did not conquer the people living in Acco or Sidon, nor did they conquer Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek, or Rehob.

The people of Asher live among the Canaanites residing in the land because they did not conquer them.

The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.

The Amorites forced the people of Dan to live in the hill country. They did not allow them to live in the coastal plain.

yet the Amorites persisted in living on Mount Heres (the mountain of the sun), in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house (descendants) of Joseph became strong and prevailed, they became forced labor.

but you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You should tear down the altars where they worship.' But you have disobeyed me. Why would you do such a thing?

At that time I also warned you, 'If you disobey, I will not drive out the Canaanites before you. They will ensnare you and their gods will lure you away.'"

They named that place Bokim and offered sacrifices to the Lord there.

The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works He had done for Israel.

And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals

They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods -- the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped them and made the Lord angry.

They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtars.

The Lord was furious with Israel and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. He turned them over to their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies' attacks.

Whenever they went out to fight, the Lord did them harm, just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. They suffered greatly.

And Jehovah will raise up judges, and they will save them from the hand of their plunderers.

But they did not obey their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord's commands, but they did not.

When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.

When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways.

In his burning anger against Israel, the LORD said, "Because the people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep, and because they haven't obeyed me,

in order to test [the loyalty of] Israel by them, whether Israel will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it, as their fathers did, or not.”

They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.

But they settled among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

They took the Canaanites' daughters as wives and gave their daughters to the Canaanites; they worshiped their gods as well.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight. They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.

The Lord was furious with Israel and turned them over to King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram-Naharaim. They were Cushan-Rishathaim's subjects for eight years.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord's sight. The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel because they had done evil in the Lord's sight.

Eglon formed alliances with the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees.

And then they cried unto the LORD. And the LORD stirred them up a saver, Ehud the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, a man that could do nothing handsomely with his right hand. And when the children of Israel sent a present by him unto Eglon the king of the Moabites,

and he himself turned back from the idols at Gilgal, and caused to say thus: "I have a secret thing to tell thee, O king." And the king commanded to keep silence, and all they that stood about him went out from him.

When Ehud had left, Eglon's servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, "He must be relieving himself in the well-ventilated inner room."

They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors. Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor!

Now Ehud had escaped while they were delaying. When he passed the carved images, he escaped to Seirah.

He said to them, "Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!" They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River opposite Moab, and did not let anyone cross.

That day they killed about ten thousand Moabites -- all strong, capable warriors; not one escaped.

After Ehud died, while the LORD was watching, the Israelis made the evil they had been practicing even worse,

Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and {they went up behind him}, ten thousand men, and Deborah went up with him.

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

So Sisera gathered his iron chariots together from Harosheth-haggoyim all 900 of them, along with all the people who were assigned to them and they assembled at the Kishon River.

Israel's power continued to overwhelm King Jabin of Canaan until they did away with him.

In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, they left the ways; They went the by-ways; they will go the winding-ways.

Warriors were scarce, they were scarce in Israel, until you arose, Deborah, until you arose as a motherly protector in Israel.

They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

Hear the sound of those who divide the sheep among the watering places; there they tell of the Lord's victorious deeds, the victorious deeds of his warriors in Israel. Then the Lord's people went down to the city gates --

"Then they that had escaped, reigned over the proudest of the people. The LORD reigneth over the strong.

They came from Ephraim, who uprooted Amalek, they follow after you, Benjamin, with your soldiers. From Makir leaders came down, from Zebulun came the ones who march carrying an officer's staff.

Issachar's leaders were with Deborah, the men of Issachar supported Barak; into the valley they were sent under Barak's command. Among the clans of Reuben there was intense heart searching.

The tribe of Gilead remained on the other side of the Jordan River. As for the tribe of Dan, why did they stay on board their ships? The tribe of Asher sat by the seashore and remained near its harbors.

Kings came, they fought; the kings of Canaan fought, at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they took no silver as plunder.

From the sky the stars fought, from their paths in the heavens they fought against Sisera.

Then they mauled the horses' legs, that their mighty coursers left prancing.

Call judgment down on Meroz,' says the Lord's angelic messenger; 'Be sure to call judgment down on those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord's battle, to help in the Lord's battle against the warriors.'

No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder -- a girl or two for each man to rape! Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth, for the neck of the plunderer!'

So, perish all thine enemies, O Yahweh, But be, they who love him, as the going forth of the sun, in his might! And the land had rest forty years.

and they oppressed Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;

They invaded the land and devoured its crops all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, and they took away the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

When they invaded with their cattle and tents, they were as thick as locusts. Neither they nor their camels could be counted. They came to devour the land.

Because Israel was deeply impoverished due to the Midianites, they cried out to the LORD.

Now it came about when they cried out to the Lord because of Midian,

Gideon said to him, "Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, 'Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian."

Then the Lord said to him, Truly, I will be with you, and you will overcome the Midianites as if they were one man.

When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar.

They said to one another, "Who did this?" They investigated the matter thoroughly and concluded that Gideon son of Joash had done it.

All the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east assembled. They crossed the Jordan River and camped in the Jezreel Valley.

He sent messengers throughout Manasseh and summoned them to follow him as well. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him.

And Jerub-Baal (he is Gideon) will rise early and all the people that is with him, and they will encamp by the fountain of Harod: and the camp of Midian was to him from the north from the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

And the Lord said to Gideon, So great is the number of your people, that if I give the Midianites into their hands they will be uplifted in pride over me and will say, I myself have been my saviour.

So they took the vessels of the people, and their horns from their hands, and he sent them away, every man to his tent, keeping only the three hundred; and the tents of Midian were lower down in the valley.

and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave and attack the camp." So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp.

Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.

Then Gideon, hearing the story of the dream and the sense in which they took it, gave worship; then he went back to the tents of Israel, and said, Up! for the Lord has given the army of Midian into your hands.

Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying.

All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. Then they yelled, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"

They stood in order all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away.

When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords throughout the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

The men of Israel were summoned together from [the tribes of] Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, "Go down and head off the Midianites. Take control of the fords of the streams all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River." When all the Ephraimites had assembled, they took control of the fords all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.

They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River.

The Ephraimites said to him, "Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us when you went to fight the Midianites!" They argued vehemently with him.

It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?" When he said this, they calmed down.