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

Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, scavenged under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

The watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, "Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you."

but the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor.

The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of marauders who plundered them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

Yet they did not listen to their judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not do so.

So the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

When the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, "Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room."

So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.

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

Deborah said to Barak, "Go; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn't the LORD gone out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

He said to her, "Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and inquires of you, and says, '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 to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.

So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak. They rushed into the valley at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben, there were great resolves of heart.

Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and lived by his harbors.

She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer. She struck Sisera, she pierced his head; she shattered and struck through his temple.

Through the window she looked out, and cried: Sisera's mother looked through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?

"So let all your enemies perish, LORD, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises forth in its strength." And the land had rest forty years.

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

He said to him, "O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so.

Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD; and Gideon said, "Alas, Lord GOD. Because I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face."

It happened the same night, that the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had spoken to him: and it came about, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

God did so that night, for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew all over the ground.

So he brought down the people to the water: and the LORD said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him you shall set by himself; likewise everyone who kneels down on his knees to drink."

So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

and you shall hear what they say; and afterward will your hands be strengthened to go down into the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp.

When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his friend; and he said, "Behold, I had a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent collapsed."

It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and its interpretation, that he worshiped, and he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, "Get up, for the LORD has delivered into your hand the army of Midian."

He said to them, "Look at me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so you shall do.

When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, "For the LORD and for Gideon."

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.

They blew the three hundred trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian, and capture the waters, as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and seized the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan.

Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?" They answered, "As you are, so were they; each one resembled the son of a king."

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you, and your son, and your son's son also; for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian."

So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and did not become a threat again. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

And his mother's brothers spoke of him in the ears of all the lords of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, "He is our brother."

He went to his father's house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

and you are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your brother).

When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, "Behold, there are people coming down from the tops of the mountains." Zebul said to him, "You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men."

All the people likewise cut down his branch and followed Abimelech, and put them on the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire on them; so that all the men of the Tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

A certain woman threw down an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and broke his skull.

Then he called quickly to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword, and kill me, that men not say of me, 'A woman killed him.'" So the young man thrust him through, and he died.

When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place.

The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was very distressed.

Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said to him, "You shall not inherit in our father's house; for you are the son of another woman."

It was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob;

Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Did you not hate me, and drive me out of my father's house? And why have you come to me now when you are in distress?"

The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD shall be witness between us; surely according to your word so will we do."

but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Sea of Suf, and came to Kadesh;

then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Please let me pass through your land.' But the king of Edom did not listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab; but he would not. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

The LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

So now the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them?

Won't you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever the LORD our God has driven out from before us, we will possess.

then it shall be that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering."

So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hand.

He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

It happened, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter. You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have given my word to the LORD, and I can't break it."

When I saw that you did not save me, I put my life in my own hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me?"

The Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. It was so, that when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, "Let me go over," the men of Gilead said to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No";

then they said to him, "Now say 'Shibboleth;'" and he said "Sibboleth"; for he couldn't manage to pronounce it right: then they seized him, and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time of Ephraim forty-two thousand.

The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her, "See now, you are barren, and do not bear; but you shall conceive, and bear a son.

So Manoah took the young goat and a grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, who works wonders. Then the angel did a wonderful thing as Manoah and his wife looked on.

Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

After a while he returned to take her; and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.

His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, since young men used to do so.

It happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

And it happened on the fourthth day, that they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband, that he may tell us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you called us to impoverish us? Is it not so?"

Samson's wife wept before him, and said, "You just hate me, and do not love me. You have put forth a riddle to the children of my people, and haven't told it me." And he said to her, "Behold, I haven't told it to my father or my mother, and shall I tell you?"

The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them, and took their belongings, and gave their garments to those who explained the riddle. His anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

But Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.

Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" He said to them, "As they did to me, so have I done to them."

Samson went to Gaza, and saw a prostitute there, and went in to her.

The lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, "Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."

Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson." He broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson." The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.

She said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies."

He told her all his heart, and said to her, "No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other man."

When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand.

When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, "Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand."

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson made sport.

Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.

Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of clothing, and your food. So the Levite went in.

He said to them, "Thus and so has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest."

Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were there, and how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land possessing authority that might trouble them in anyway, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone.

They came to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brothers said to them, "What do you say?"

When these went into Micah's house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

The priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went in the midst of the people.

So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the livestock and the goods before them.

When they were some distance from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.

They cried to the children of Dan. They turned their faces, and said to Micah, "What's wrong with you, that you come with such a company?"

He said, "You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what more do I have? How then do you say to me, 'What's wrong with you?'"

The children of Dan went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.