Then Jerubbaal (who is Gideon) and all the people that were with him, rose 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.

Now therefore, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

So he brought down the people to the water: and the LORD said to Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.

So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent of all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

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

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

And the men of Ephraim said to him, Why hast thou treated us thus, that thou calledst us not when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? and they chid with him sharply.

God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then, when he had said that, their anger towards him abated.

And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.

And he went up thence to Penuel, and spoke to them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.

And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described to him the princes of Succoth, and its elders, even seventy seven men.

And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

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

And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light persons, who followed him.

Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands:

If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you:

That the cruelty done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother who slew them, and upon the men of Shechem who aided him in the killing of his brethren.

And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him on the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech.

And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren, and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him.

And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him; is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?

And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun hath risen, thou shalt rise early, and attack the city: and behold, when he and the people that are with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.

And Abimelech rose, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies.

And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait.

And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said to him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.

Then said Zebul to him, Where is now thy mouth, with which thou saidst, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? are not these the people that thou hast despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them.

And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.

And Abimelech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and slew them.

And Abimelech ascended mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said to the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.

Then he called hastily to the young man his armor-bearer, and said to him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said to him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.

Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and they went out with him.

Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh.

And said to him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:

And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land to my place.

But, the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

And she said to him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth to the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thy enemies, even of the children of Ammon.

And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites who had escaped, said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said to him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, No;

Then said they to him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan. And there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

And after him Ibzan of Beth-lehem judged Israel.

And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years.

And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel.

Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither did he tell me his name:

And the woman made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man hath appeared to me, that came to me the other day.

And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Art thou the man that didst speak to the woman? And he said, I am.

And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do to him?

And the angel of the LORD said to him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?

But his wife said to him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Then his father and his mother said to him, Is there not a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.

Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and behold, a young lion roared against him.

And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

But if ye cannot declare it to me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said to him, propose thy riddle, that we may hear it.

And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast proposed a riddle to the children of my people, and hast not told it to me. And he said to her, Behold, I have not told it to my father nor to my mother, and shall I tell it to thee?

And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she urged him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.

And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments to them who expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat-harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

And the men of Judah said, Why have ye come up against us? And they answered, We have come to bind Samson, to do to him as he hath done to us.

And they said to him, We have come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Swear to me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.

And they spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

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

And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they encompassed him, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning when it is day we shall kill him.

And the lords of the Philistines came to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Then the lords of the Philistines brought to her seven green withs, which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

(Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber.) And she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the withs as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. (And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber.) And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.

And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

And she said to him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me in what thy great strength lieth.

And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed to death;

And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

And she said, the Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD had departed from him.

But the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.

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

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars upon which the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.

Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

And Micah said to him, Whence comest thou? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.

And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.

When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said to him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?

And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.

And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and saluted him.

And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: Is it better for thee to be a priest to the house of one man, or that thou shouldst be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?

And the children of Dan said to him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows rush upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.

And the children of Dan departed: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite dwelling on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah.

And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there four whole months.

And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

And his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they ate and drank, and lodged there.

And when the man rose to depart, his father-in-law urged him: therefore he lodged there again.

And when the man arose to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said to him, Behold now the day draweth towards evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day is coming to an end, lodge here, that thy heart may be merry; and to-morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

But the man would not tarry that night, but he arose and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him.

And his master said to him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

And he said to him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-Judah towards the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Beth-lehem-judah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth me into his house.

So he brought him into his house, and gave provender to the asses: and they washed their feet and ate and drank.