Jephthah said to them, "I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not save me out of their hand.

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.

There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and did not bear.

For it happened, when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

Then his father and his mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is the right one for me."

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.

He said to them, "Out of the eater came forth food. Out of the strong came forth sweetness." They couldn't in three days declare the riddle.

She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it happened on the seventh day, that he told her, because she pressed him hard; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

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.

Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between every two tails.

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."

They spoke to him, saying, "No; but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand; but surely we will not kill you." They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

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

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."

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.

The lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to celebrate; for they said, "Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our 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."

It happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may entertain us." They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars;

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.

There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there.

In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was looking for an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.

The children of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said to them, "Go, explore the land." They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and stayed there.

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 you go, you shall come to a secure people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no want of anything that is on the earth."

Then the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war, set forth from there.

They passed there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, "Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and an engraved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do."

They turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare.

The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.

The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

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?"

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.

There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone, and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived there.

They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel. However the name of the city was originally Laish.

It happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem Judah.

His concubine was unfaithful to him and went away from him to her father's house in Bethlehem of Judah, and was there about four months.

His father-in-law, the young lady's father, welcomed him; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank and stayed there.

The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he stayed there again.

But the man wouldn't stay that night, but he rose up and departed, and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). And there were with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was also with him.

So they passed on and went their way; and the sun set on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.

They turned that way to go in to spend the night in Gibeah. And he went in and they sat down in the street of the city; for there was no one who would take them into their house to spend the night.

Behold, there came an old man from his work out in the field at evening. Now the man was of the hill country of Ephraim, and he was residing in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.

He said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. I am going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man who will take me into his home.

Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything."

So he brought him into his house, and fed the donkeys. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

It was so, that all who saw it said, "There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel, and speak."

The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What wickedness is this that has happened among you?

Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel." But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a hair and not miss.

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

The children of Israel asked of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

All the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. And the men of Israel in ambush rushed out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba.

There came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe; but they didn't know that disaster was close upon them.

Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in its midst.

They surrounded Benjamin, and they pursued them at their resting place, and they trampled them down until opposite Gibeah toward the sunrise.

There fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor.

Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, "There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin as wife."

The people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely.

They said, "LORD God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?"

It happened on the next day that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

The children of Israel said, "Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the LORD?" For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death."

The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, "There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

They said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah?" Behold, no one came to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.

For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there.

The congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.

They said, "There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.

They said, "Behold, there is a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."

It shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us, because we didn't take wives for each man in battle, neither did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.'"

The children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off. They went and returned to their inheritance, built the cities, and lived in them.

The children of Israel departed there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

It happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

And they took for themselves wives from the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they lived there about ten years.

The LORD grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

They lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her.

where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me."

Now it is true that I am a redeeming kinsman; however there is a redeemer closer than I am.

Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, "Come over here, friend, and sit down." He turned aside, and sat down.

I thought to disclose it to you, saying, 'Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.' If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you." He said, "I will redeem it."

The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, "There is a son born to Naomi." And they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the LORD, were there.

They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.

But Hannah did not go up; for she said to her husband, "Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever. I will offer him as a Nazirite forever, all the days of his life."

And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year old bull, and one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh. And the child was young.

Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is lent to the LORD." He worshiped the LORD there.

There is no one as holy as the LORD, For there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.

The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand;

and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, "The LORD give you seed of this woman for the petition which was asked of the LORD." They went to their own home.

The LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before the LORD.

If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him?" Notwithstanding, they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD intended to kill them.

Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father's house, that there shall not be an old man in your house.

You shall see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.

The man of yours, whom I shall not cut off from my altar, shall consume your eyes, and grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age.