And the old men of Gilead will say to Jephthah, Therefore now we turned back to thee, and come thou with us and we will war against the sons of Ammon, and be to us for head to all dwelling in Gilead.

And Jephthah will say to the old men of Gilead, If ye turn me back to war against the sons of Ammon, and Jehovah gave them before me, shall I be to you for head?

And the old men of Gilead will say to Jephthah, Jehovah shall be hearing between us, if we did not thus to thee according to thy word.

And Jephthah will go with the old men of Gilead, and the people will set him over them for head and for chief: and Jephthah will speak all his words before Jehovah in Mizpeh.

Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.

But Sihon would not give way and let Israel go through his land; and Sihon got together all his people, and put his army in position in Jahaz, and made war on Israel.

Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.

But the king of the Ammonites would not listen to Jephthah’s message that he sent him.

And Jephthah vowed a vow unto Jehovah, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,

So he said, "Go!" He sent her away for two months. She left with her friends and cried there on the mountains because she would never marry.

that four days each year the young women of Israel would commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

And when I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hand, and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my hand; why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me?"

The descendants of Gilead seized control of the Jordan River's fords along the border of Ephraim's territory. Later on, when any fugitive from Ephraim asked them, "Let me cross over," the men from Gilead would ask him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said "No,"

they would order him, "Pronounce the word "Shibboleth' right now." If he said "Sibboleth," not being able to pronounce it correctly, they would seize him and slaughter him there at the fords of the Jordan River. During those days 42,000 descendants of Ephraim died that way.

Then the woman went to tell her husband. She said, "A man of God appeared to me. He looked like what an angel of God would look like very frightening. I didn't ask him where he had come from and he didn't tell me his name.

And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.

And the messenger of Jehovah will say to him, Wherefore this wilt thou ask for my name, and it is wonderful?

But his wife said unto 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 shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.

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 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.

Then Samson's wife wept unto him and said, "It cannot be but that thou hatest me and lovest me not: for thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my folk and wilt not tell me what it meaneth." And he said, "Behold, I have not told it my father, nor my mother, and should I tell it thee?"

And 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."

But it came to pass within a while after, 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 Delilah will say to Samson, Behold, thou deceivest me, and thou wilt speak to me lies: this time announce to me now in what thou shalt be bound.

And Delilah will say to Samson, Till now thou deceivedst me, and thou wilt speak to me lies: announce to me in what thou shalt be bound. And he will say to her, If thou shalt weave the seven braids of my head with the warp.

And she will say to him, Wilt thou say, I loved thee, and thy heart not with me? This three times thou didst deceive me, and didst not announce to me in what is thy great strength.

so he told her all his heart, and said to her - No, razor, hath come on my head, for, one separate unto God, have I been, from my birth, - if I were shaven, then would depart from me my strength, and I should become weak, and be as any other man.

And the Levite said he would make his living-place with the man, and he became to him as one of his sons.

And the man got up to go away, but his father-in-law would not let him go, so he took his rest there again for the night.

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

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.

And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites.

And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?

And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.

Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.

Instead, here's my virgin daughter and my visitor's mistress. Please let me bring them out to you. Occupy yourselves with them, and do to them whatever you would like. But don't commit such a stupid thing against this man."

But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel:

Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city.

the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about 30 men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.”

The Israelites asked, “Who of all the tribes of Israel didn’t come to the Lord with the assembly?” For a great oath had been taken that anyone who had not come to the Lord at Mizpah would certainly be put to death.

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 the old men of the assembly will say, What shall we do for those remaining for wives, for the women were destroyed from Benjamin?

And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to complain unto us, that we will say unto them, Grant them graciously unto us, because we took not for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did ye give them unto them, else would ye now be guilty.

May the Lord grant that you find rest, each one in the home of her husband.” Then she kissed them [goodbye], and they wept aloud.

But Naomi said, "Turn again my daughters: for what cause would you go with me? Think you that there be any more children in my bowels to be your husbands?

Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;

Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.

Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [goodbye], but Ruth clung to her.

When she saw that she would needs go with her, she left speaking unto her.

And Boaz will answer and say to her, Announcing, it was announced to me all that thou didst with thy mother-in-law after the death of thy husband: and thou wilt leave thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy birth, and thou wilt come to a people thou knewest not yesterday the third day.

Thou wilt, therefore, bathe thee, and anoint thee, and put thine apparel upon thee, and go down to the threshing-floor, - do not make thyself known to the man, until he have done eating and drinking.

And he will take ten men from the old men of the citv, and he will say, Sit ye down here. And they will sit down.

And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.

At this, the nearer related redeemer replied, "Then I am unable to act as related redeemer, because that would complicate my own inheritance. You act instead as the related redeemer, because I cannot do so."

(Now this used to be the customary way to finalize a transaction involving redemption in Israel: A man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party. This was a legally binding act in Israel.)

And Boaz will say to the old men and all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I bought all which was to Elimelech, and all which was to Chilion and Mahlon, from the hand of Naomi.

And all the people which are in the gate will say, and the old men, Witnesses. Jehovah will give the woman coming into thy house as Rachel and as Leah, which they two built up the house of Israel: and make thou power in Ephratah, and call a name in the house of bread.

And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.

This man would go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were the Lord’s priests.

When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions [of the sacrificial meat] to Peninnah his wife and all her sons and daughters.

But to Hannah he would give {a double portion}, because he loved Hannah, though Yahweh had closed her womb.

(Now her rival wife would provoke her severely in order to upset her because Yahweh had closed her womb.)

And so he used to do year after year; {whenever} she went up to the house of Yahweh, she would provoke her so that she would weep and would not eat.

So Elkanah her husband would say to her: "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat? And {why are you heartsick}? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no rasor come upon his head.

And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.

Thou wilt not give thy servant before a daughter of Belial, for from the abundance of my complaint and my grief I spoke even till now.

And her husband Elkanah said to her, Do whatever seems right to you, but not till you have taken him from the breast; only may the Lord do as he has said. So the woman, waiting there, gave her son milk till he was old enough to be taken from the breast.

Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a leather bottle of wine [to pour over the burnt offering for a sweet fragrance], and she brought Samuel to the Lord’s house in Shiloh, although the child was young.

Ye multiply not -- ye speak haughtily -- The old saying goeth out from your mouth, For a God of knowledge is Jehovah, And by Him actions are weighed.

And the custom of the priests with the people [was this]: When any man {brought a sacrifice}, as the meat was boiling, the servant of the priest would take a three-pronged meat fork in his hand

and would thrust it into the pan or into the kettle or into the cauldron or into the cooking pot. All that the meat fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This [is] what they used to do to all of the Israelites who came there at Shiloh.

Also, before they {offered up} the fat as a burnt offering, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest meat for roasting, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but only {raw}."

And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.

His mother would make a small robe for him, and she would bring it each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you children by this woman in place of the one she asked for which was dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would return to their own home.

Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.

But they would not follow the advice of their father; for the LORD wanted to put them to death. But the boy Samuel continued to grow both physically and in favor with the LORD and the people.

Wherefore will ye trample upon my sacrifice and upon my gifts which I commanded to my habitation? and thou wilt honor thy sons above me to fatten yourselves from the chief of all the gifts of Israel my people.

Therefore,' {declares} Yahweh the God of Israel, 'though I solemnly said that your house and the house of your ancestor would walk before me forever, but now,' {declares} Yahweh, 'far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me, I will treat with contempt!

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

And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever.

Therefore I swore to the house of Eli [that] the iniquity of the house of Eli would not be atoned for by sacrifice or by offering forever."

And the people will come to the camp, and the old men of Israel will, say, Wherefore did Jehovah smite us this day before Philisteim? We will take to us from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and it shall come into the midst of us and save us from the hand of our enemies.

Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.

And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

And his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child and near the time when she would give birth; and when she had the news that the ark of God had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, her pains came on her suddenly and she gave birth.

After they moved it, the LORD moved against the town, causing a very great panic. He struck the men of the town, from young to old with tumors of the groin.

And they said - If ye are going to send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away, empty, but ye must, surely return, to him, a guilt-offering, - then, shall ye be healed, and it shall be known to you, wherefore his hand would not turn away from you.

Then Samuel said to all Israel, If with all your hearts you would come back to the Lord, then put away all the strange gods and the Astartes from among you, and let your hearts be turned to the Lord, and be servants to him only: and he will make you safe from the hands of the Philistines.

And the sons of Israel said unto Samuel, Do not turn in silence from us, from making outcry unto Yahweh our God, - that he would save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

Every year he would go on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah and would judge Israel at all these locations.

Then he would return to Ramah, because his home was there; and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to the Lord. Cross references: 1 Samuel 7:2 : 2 Sam 6:3, 4; 1 Chr 13:5-7 end of crossrefs

And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

And all the old men of Israel will gather together and will come to Samuel to Ramah; .

And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

Nevertheless, the people would not hear the voice of Samuel, but did say, "Nay, not so: But there shall be a king over us,

(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he would say: "Come, let us go up to the seer." For the prophet of today was formerly called a seer.)