Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?

And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my allotted portion, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your allotted portion. So Simeon went with him.

And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered scraps under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

And Caleb said, He that strikes Kiriathsepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.

And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she got down from her donkey; and Caleb said unto her, What do you want?

And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for you have given me the south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Show us, we pray you, the entrance into the city, and we will show you mercy.

And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is its name until this day.

And the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall throw down their altars: but you have not obeyed my voice: why have you done this?

Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.

And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old.

And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.

Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hand of those that plundered them.

And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.

And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because this people has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;

I also will no longer drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:

That through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.

Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least those who before knew nothing thereof;

And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent tribute unto Eglon the king of Moab.

But Ehud made himself a dagger which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he did gird it under his clothes upon his right thigh.

And he brought the tribute unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.

And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people that bore the tribute.

But he himself turned back at the stone images that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret message unto you, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.

And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer chamber, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto you. And he arose out of his seat.

And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the chamber; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the floor.

And it came to pass, when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he was before them.

And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and allowed not a man to pass over.

And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all strong, and all men of valor; and there escaped not a man.

And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth of the nations.

And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time.

And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh in Naphtali, and said unto him, Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

And I will draw unto you by the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.

And Barak said unto her, If you will go with me, then I will go: but if you will not go with me, then I will not go.

And she said, I will surely go with you: nevertheless the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Now Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent as far as the oak of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand: is not the LORD gone out before you? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

And the LORD routed Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera got down from his chariot, and fled away on foot.

But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, unto Harosheth of the nations: and all the host of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

However Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a rug.

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

Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man does come and inquire of you, and say, Is there any man here? that you shall say, No.

Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and drove the peg into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the peg was in his temples.

Praise you the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

Hear, O you kings; give ear, O you princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.

LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

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

My heart is toward the rulers of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless you the LORD.

Speak, you that ride on white donkeys, you that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.

Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead your captives captive, you son of Abinoam.

Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after you, Benjamin, among your people; out of Machir came down rulers, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.

Why abode you among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.

The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, you have trodden down strength.

Curse you Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, Curse you bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,

Have they not sped? have they not divided the spoil; to every man a young woman or two; to Sisera a spoil of many colors, a spoil of many colors of needlework, of many colors of needlework on both sides, suitable for the necks of them that take the spoil?

So let all your enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when it goes forth in its might. And the land had rest forty years.

And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till you come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, who said unto them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land;

And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; 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 appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent you?

And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.

And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in your sight, then show me a sign that you talk with me.

Depart not from here, I pray you, until I come unto you, and bring forth my present, and set it before you. And he said, I will tarry until you come again.

And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.

And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto you; fear not: you shall not die.

And build an altar unto the LORD your God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the idol pole which you shall cut down.

And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.

And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will you plead for Baal? will you save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one has cast down his altar.

But the spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.

And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

And Gideon said unto God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said,

Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside it, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.

And it was so: for he rose up early the next day, and squeezed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

And Gideon said unto God, Let not your anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me test, I pray you, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, my own hand has saved me.

And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will test them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto you, This one shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whomsoever I say unto you, This one shall not go with you, the same shall not go.

So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him shall you set by himself; likewise every one that bows down upon his knees to drink.

And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand: and let all the other people go, every man unto his place.

And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get you down unto the host; for I have delivered it into your hand.

But if you fear to go down, go with Phurah your servant down to the host:

And you shall hear what they say; and afterward shall your hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host.