The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

She said unto him, "Give me a blessing, for thou hast given me a southward and a dry land. Give me also springs of water." And Caleb gave her springs both above and beneath.

And he showed them the way into the city, and they smote it with the edge of the sword, but let the man and all his household go free.

and yet for all that they would not hearken unto their judges: But went a whoring after strange gods and bowed themselves unto them, and turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD, and did not so.

And when the LORD raised up judges unto them, the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hands of their enemies all the days of the judge: for the LORD had compassion over their sorrowings which they had by the reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.

Yet for all that, as soon as the judge was dead they turned and did worse than their fathers in following strange gods, and in serving them, and ceased not from their inventions nor from their malicious ways.

Only, for the learning of the generation of the children of Israel, which before knew nothing of war,

and brought the present unto Eglon the king of the Moabites. As for Eglon, he was a very fat man.

so that the hilt went in also, and the fat closed upon the hilt: for he drew not the dagger out of his belly. And filthiness departed from him.

And when they had tarried till they were ashamed, for no man did the doors of the parlor open: then they took a key and opened them. And behold, their lord was fallen down dead upon the earth.

And he said unto them, "Follow me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies, the Moabites into your hands." And they descended after him and took the passages of Jordan from the Moabites, and suffered not a man to pass over.

And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; He oppressed the children of Israel with power twenty years.

and dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel, in mount Ephraim. And the children of Israel came to her for judgment.

And she answered, "I will surely go with thee, but then the praise shall not be thine in the way which thou goest, for the LORD shall deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman." And she arose and went with Barak to Kadesh.

And Sisera called for all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and for all the people that he had, from Harosheth of the gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

Then said Deborah unto Barak, "Up, for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hands: for the LORD is gone out before thee." And so Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

Howbeit, Sisera fled afoot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor, and the household of Heber the Kenite.

And Jael went out against Sisera and said unto him, "Turn in, my lord. Turn in to me and fear not." And he turned in unto her tent: and she covered him with a mantle.

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

"God chose new fashions of war, for when they had war at their gates: there was not seen, among forty thousand, either shield or spear in Israel.

From heaven came battle: for the stars, being in their course, fought against Sisera.

'Haply, they have found, and divide, the spoil. A maid, yea two maids for a piece: a spoil of divers colours for Sisera, a spoil of divers colours with broidered works, divers coloured broidered works for the neck for a prey.'

For when Israel had sown then came the Midianites, the Amalekites, and they of the east country upon them and pitched their tents against them,

for they came with their cattle and households even as grasshoppers in multitude: so that both they and also their camels were without number. And they entered the land to destroy it.

And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God, and therefore fear not the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed my voice."

And the Angel of the LORD came and sat under an oak in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the father of the Abiezrites. And his son Gideon pressed out wheat out of the ears in a press, for to flee from the Midianites.

Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the cakes. And there arose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished out of his sight.

And the LORD said unto him, peace be with thee and fear not, for thou shalt not die.

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD bade him. But because he durst not do it by day for fear of his father's household and of the men of the city, he did it by night.

And Joash said unto all that stood by him, "Will ye fight for Baal, or will ye be his defenders? He that striveth for him shall die this morning. If he be a god, let him strive with him that cast down his altar!"

And the LORD said unto Gideon, "The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel make her vaunt to my dishonour and say, 'Our own hand hath saved us.'

And they took victuals with them for the folk, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel, every man unto his tent, and kept the three hundred with him. And the host of Midian was beneath him in a valley.

And the same night the LORD said unto him, "Up, and go down unto the host, for I have delivered it into thine hand.

But if thou fear to go down, then go thou down unto the host, and Phurah thy lad,

and hearken what they say, and so shall thine hands be strong, and then thou shalt go down unto the host." Then he went down with Phurah his lad, even hard unto the men of arms that were in the host.

When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation of the same, he bowed himself to the earth and returned unto the host of Israel, and said, "Up, for the LORD hath delivered into your hands the host of the Midianites."

For Gideon had sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim saying, "Come down against the Midianites and take from them the waters both of Bethabara and also of Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and came down and took the waters, both of Bethabara and also of Jordan.

And he said unto the men of Succoth, "Give I pray you cakes of bread unto the people that follow me: for they be fainty, that I may follow after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian."

And Gideon went through them that dwell in tabernacles on the east side of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host did cast no perils.

And he said unto Jether his eldest son, "Up, and slay them." But the lad drew not his sword, for he feared, because he was yet young.

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise thou and fall upon us; for as the man is, so is his strength." And Gideon arose and slew them: and he took away the chains that were on their camels' necks.

Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, "Reign over us, both thou, thy son and thy son's son, for thou hast delivered us out of the hands of the Midianites."

Neverthelater, Gideon said unto them, "I would desire a certain request of you: even that you would give me, every man, the earrings of his prey." For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.

And Gideon had seventy sons of his body begotten, for he had many wives.

For Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, unto his mother's brethren, and communed with them and with all his mother's father's kindred, saying,

"Say, I pray you, in the ears of all the inhabiters of Shechem: whether is better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal which are seventy persons reign over you, either that one reign over you. And remember thereto, that I am your bones and your flesh."

And they went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew all his brethren, the sons of Jerubbaal, even seventy persons upon one stone. Notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal escaped, for he hid himself.

And the furze bush said unto the trees, "If it will be true that ye will anoint me king over you, then come and rest under my shadow, and ye shall see that a fire shall come out of the furze-bush and waste the cypress trees of Lebanon!'

- forasmuch as my father fought for you and adventured his life, and rid you out of the hands of the Midianites -

But, if ye have not dealt truly, then I pray God a fire may come out of Abimelech and consume the citizens of Shechem and the house of Mello. And that there come a fire out of the citizens of Shechem, and out of the house of Mello and consume Abimelech."

And Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beer and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

And the citizens of Shechem set men to lay await for him in the top of the mountains, which men robbed all that came along the way by them. And it was told Abimelech.

And Gaal the son of Ebed said, "What is Abimelech, and what is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul is his officer? Serve such as come of Hamor the father of Shechem. For what reason is it that we should serve him?

And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night. And they laid await to the city in four companies.

And all the people cut down also every man a bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them into the hold, and set the hold a fire upon them: so that all the men of the tower of Shechem were slain, upon a thousand persons what of men and women together.

Then came Abimelech unto the tower and fought against it, and went hard unto the entering of the gate, to set it on fire.

And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and had thirty cities for them, which are called the towns of Jair unto this day, and are in the land of Gilead.

Then the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against thee: for we have forsaken our own God, and have served Baalim."

And for all that, ye have forsaken me, and serve strange gods, wherefore I will help you no more.

But Gilead's wife bare him sons, which when they were come to age, thrust out of Jephthah, and said unto him, "Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house, for thou art the son of a strange woman."

And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel took away my land, when they came out of Egypt, even from Arnon unto Jabbok and from thence unto Jordan, now therefore restore those lands again with fair means."

And then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came along by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of the river of Arnon, and came not within the coasts of the Moabites: for Arnon was their utmost border.

And when he saw her, he rent his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter, thou hast made me stoop, and art one of them that trouble me. For I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and cannot go back."

And she said unto her father, "Do this much for me: let me alone two months that I may go down to the mountains and bewail my virginity with my fellows."

And it became an ordinance in Israel, year by year, that the daughters of Israel should go and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in a year.

And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, "Wherefore wentest thou to fight with the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? We will therefore burn thine house upon thee with fire."

and he had thirty sons and thirty daughters, and sent also his thirty daughters out; and took thirty others in, for his sons.

For see, thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And there may no razor or shearers come on his head: for the lad shall be an abstainer unto God, even from the time of his birth. And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines."

And he said unto me, 'Behold, thou shalt be with child and bear a son, and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the lad shall be an abstainer to God even from his birth to the day of his death.'"

And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, "Though thou make me abide, I will not eat of thy meat. And moreover, if thou wilt prepare a burnt offering, that thou must offer unto the LORD." For Manoah wist not that it was an angel of the LORD.

For when the flame came up out of the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked upon and fell flat on their faces unto the ground.

Then his father and mother said unto him, "Is there never a woman of the daughters of thy brethren, among all my people: but that thou must go and fetch a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?" And Samson said unto his father, "Give me this woman for she pleaseth me well."

And when his father was come unto the woman, Samson made there a feast, for so used the young men to do.

And when the seventh day was come, they said unto Samson's wife, "Flatter with thine husband, that he may declare us thy riddle, or else we will burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to make us beggars? Or not?"

Then Samson's wife wept unto him and said, "It cannot be but that thou hatest me and lovest me not: for thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my folk and wilt not tell me what it meaneth." And he said, "Behold, I have not told it my father, nor my mother, and should I tell it thee?"

And he set the firebrands on fire, and put them into the corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the reaped corn and also the standing, with vine and olives.

Then the Philistines asked who had done that. And it was told them that Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife and given her to one of his companions. And the Philistines came and burnt her and her father with fire.

And Samson said unto them, "Should ye do so? For I will surely be avenged of you; and then I will cease."

And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him. And the spirit of the LORD came upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire and the bands loosed from his hands.

And he was sore a thirst, and called on the LORD and said, "Thou LORD hath given this great victory, through the hand of thy servant. And now I must die for thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised."

And it was told the Gazites, that Samson was come thither. And they went about and laid a wait for him all night in the gate of the city, but were still all the night, saying, "Tarry till the morning that it be day, and then let us kill him."

Notwithstanding, she had men lying in wait with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And he brake the cords as a string of tow breaketh, when it feeleth fire. And so his strength was not known.

Then she said unto him, "How canst thou say that thou lovest me, when thine heart is not with me? For thou hast mocked me this three times, and hast not told wherein thy great strength lieth."

And he told her all his heart, and said unto her, "There never came razor nor shears upon mine head, for I have been an abstainer to God even from my mother's womb. If mine hair were cut off, my strength would go from me, and I should wax and be like all other men."

And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent for the Philistines saying, "Come up yet this once, for he hath showed me all his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came and brought the money in their hands.

And she made him sleep upon her lap, and sent for a man, and cut off the seven locks of his head and began to vex him. But his strength was gone from him.

Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together, for to offer a solemn offering unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, "Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hands."

And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, "Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, that destroyed our country and slew many of us."

And when their hearts were merry, they said, "Send for Samson and let him play before us." And they fetched Samson out of the prison house, and he played before them, and they set him between the pillars.

And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, "My Lord Jehovah think upon me, and strengthen me at this time only, O God, that I may be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes."

which said unto his mother, "The eleven hundred silverlings that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst and saidst in mine ears: Behold, the silver is with me for I took it away." Then said his mother, "Blessed be thou my son, in the LORD."

And so he restored the eleven hundred silverlings to his mother again. And his mother said, "I vowed the silver unto the LORD of mine hand for my son: to make a graven image and an image of metal. Now therefore I give it thee again."

For in those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did what thought him best.

In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of Dan sought them an inheritance to dwell in, for unto that time there fell none inheritance unto them among the tribes of Israel.

And the priest said unto them, "Go in peace, for the way which ye go is before the LORD."

Then the five men departed and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, and after the manner of the Sidonians: still, and without casting of perils, and that no man made any trouble in the land or usurped any dominion, and how they were far from the Sidonians and had no business with any nation.

And they said, "Up, and let us go unto them, for we have seen the land, that it is very good. Haste therefore and be not slothful to depart and go and conquer the land.

When ye be come, ye shall come unto a people that casteth no perils, and unto a large country: for God hath given into your hands a place wherein is no lack of anything that is in the world."

And they answered him, "Hold thy peace, and put thine hand upon thy mouth, and come with us, and be unto us a father and a priest. Whether is it better for thee to be a priest? Unto the house of one man, or to be priest unto a tribe or a kindred in Israel?"

And so the children of Dan went their ways. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house again.