And [as for] you, do not {make a covenant} with the inhabitants of this land; break down their altars.' But you did not listen to my voice. {Why would you do such a thing}?

But when the leader died they relapsed and acted corruptly, more than their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and bowing down to them. They would not give up their deeds or their stubborn ways.

in order to test Israel whether or not they would observe the way of Yahweh, to walk in it just as their ancestors did."

in order that the generations of Israel would know war, to teach those {who had not experienced it} before):

They were [left] for testing Israel, to know [whether] they would keep the commands of Yahweh that he commanded their ancestors through the hand of Moses.

And whenever Israel sowed seed, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people of [the] east would come up against them.

They would camp against them and destroy the produce of the land {as far as} Gaza; they left no produce in Israel, or sheep, ox, or donkey.

For they, their livestock, and their tents would come up like a great number of locusts; they and their camels could not be counted; they came into the land and devoured it.

Now on that same night Yahweh said to him, "Take the bull of the cattle that belongs to your father, and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;

He said, "They [were] my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had kept them alive I would not kill you."

And Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of Jehoash his father, in Ophrah [of] the Abiezrites.

so that the violence done to the seventy brothers of Abimelech would be avenged and their blood be placed on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, {who helped} to kill his brothers.

If only this people {were in my command}! Then I would remove Abimelech, and I would have said, 'Increase your army and come out!'"

And he had thirty sons who would ride on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty towns that [are] in the land of Gilead that they called Havvoth Jair until this day.

Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let us cross through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent [messengers] to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

I saw that you would not deliver [us]; {I risked my own life}, and I crossed [over] to the {Ammonites}, and Yahweh gave them into my hand. Why have you come up to me this day to fight against me?"

But his wife said to him, "If Yahweh wanted to kill us he would not have taken from our hand the burnt offering and the grain offering, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us things such as these."

And he returned after awhile {to marry her}, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there [was] a swarm of wild honey bees in the body of the lion, and honey.

The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went [down], "What [is] sweeter than honey? What [is] stronger than a lion?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle."

After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a {young goat}. He said, "I want to go to my wife's private room." But her father would not allow him to enter.

Then behold, an old man [was] coming from his work from the field in the evening, and the man [was] from the hill country of Ephraim, and he [was] dwelling as a foreigner in Gibeah. (The people of the place [were] descendants of Benjamin.)

And the old man raised his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city, and he said, "Where are you going, and from where do you come?"

And the old man said, "Peace to you. I will take care of your needs; however, you must not spend the night in the open square."

While {they were enjoying themselves}, behold, the men of the city, {the perverse lot}, surrounded the house, pounding on the door. And they said to the old man, the owner of the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so that {we may have sex with him}."

Then the congregation sent and spoke all [this] to the descendants of Benjamin who [were] at the rock of Rimmon, and {they assured them they would not be hurt}.

And if their fathers or their brothers complain to us, we will say to them, 'Allow us to have them, because we did not capture a wife for each man in the battle, and because you did not give [them] to them, {or else} you would have been guilty.'"