The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel; and he said, "Because this nation have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to my voice;

But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, king." The king said, "Keep silence." All who stood by him went out from him.

Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, "I have a message from God to you." He arose out of his seat.

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.

'Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil? A lady, two ladies to every man; to Sisera a spoil of dyed garments, A spoil of dyed garments embroidered, Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, for the neck of the plunderer?'

and I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell." But you have not listened to my voice.'"

The LORD looked at him, and said, "Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven't I sent you?"

He said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.

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."

Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,

behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken."

It happened the same night, that the LORD said to him, "Arise, get down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand.

The men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you done such a thing to us, not calling us when you went to fight with Midian?" And they argued with him fiercely.

He said to them, "What have I now done in comparison with you? Isn't the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

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."

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

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).

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

Then Zebul said to him, "Where is now your mouth, that you said, 'Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?' Is not this the people that you have despised? Please go out now and fight with them."

Abimelech got him up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a branch from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the people who were with him, "What you have seen me do, do quickly, and do as I have done."

The children of Israel cried to the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals."

Yet you have forsaken me, and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more.

Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress."

The children of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, this day."

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, "Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon; and you shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, "What have you to do with me, that you are come to me to fight against my land?"

I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong by making war against me. The LORD, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon."

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."

She said to him, "My father, since you have given your word to the LORD; do to me as you promised, because the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon."

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?"

She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I have commanded her she is to observe."

Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God."

But his wife said to him, "If the LORD meant to kill us, he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a grain offering from us, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would he have spoken to us now like this."

He came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, "I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as wife."

And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat. And he had nothing in his hand, but he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

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 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?" He said to them, "If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have found out my riddle."

The men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" They said, "We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us."

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 said to him, "We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not fall on me yourselves."

Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men."

He was very thirsty, and called on the LORD, and said, "You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"

Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now please tell me with which you might be bound."

Delilah said to Samson, "Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound." He said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web."

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."

Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will do good to me, seeing I have a Levite as my priest."

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

They said, "Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Will you do nothing? Do not hesitate to go and to enter in to possess the land.

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."

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?'"

As they were enjoying themselves, behold, the men of the city, some wicked men of the city surrounded the house, beating at the door. And they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may have sex with him."

I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed wickedness and disgrace in Israel.

and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get food for the people, that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do to it according to all the disgrace that they have committed in Israel."

How shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?"

Then the elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?"

Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me.

Naomi said, "Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, 'I have hope,' if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons;

Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven't I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn."

Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?"

Boaz answered her, "It has fully been shown to me, all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn't know before.

May the LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

Then she said, "Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens."

Her mother-in-law said to her, "Where have you gleaned today? And where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you." She showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz."

And Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, 'You shall stay close to my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.'"

He said, "Blessed are you by the LORD, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you didn't follow young men, whether poor or rich.

Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, "You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi.

Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day."

And Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the LORD.

Do not count your handmaid as a worthless woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my distress and my anguish."

Then Eli answered, "Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him."

It happened, when the time had come, that Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked him of the LORD."

And Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems good in your eyes. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the LORD establish his word." So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him.

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.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Even the barren has borne seven, and she who has many children languishes.

Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?'

In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end.

For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons were cursing God, and he did not restrain them.

Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be removed with sacrifice nor offering forever."

Be strong, and behave like men, O you Philistines, that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight."

About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, "Do not be afraid; for you have given birth to a son." But she did not answer, neither did she regard it.

So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. It happened, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, "They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people."

They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down, and bring it up to yourselves."

They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.

According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to you.

You shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."

But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No; but we will have a king over us,

He said to him, "See now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says surely comes to pass. Now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us concerning our journey on which we have set out."

Then Saul said to his servant, "But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone in our vessels, and there is no gift to bring to the man of God. What do we have?"

The servant answered Saul again, and said, "Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way."

They answered them, and said, "He is. Behold, he is ahead of you. Hurry now, for he has come today into the city; for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place.

As soon as you have come into the city, you shall immediately find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he comes, because he blesses the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited eat. Now therefore go up; for at this time you shall find him."

"Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel; and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked on my people, because their cry has come to me."

When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, "Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall have authority over my people."

As for your donkeys who were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them; for they have been found. And for whom does all Israel desire? Is it not for you, and for all your father's house?"

The cook took up the thigh, and that which was on it, and set it before Saul. And he said, "Behold, that which has been reserved. Set it before yourself and eat; because for the appointed time has it been kept for you, for I said, 'I have invited the people.'" So Saul ate with Samuel that day.