Thematic Bible: Extraordinary Judges


Thematic Bible



Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was living in the inmost parts of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he got for himself a servant-wife from Beth-lehem-judah.

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did as seemed right to him.

In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the Danites were looking for a heritage for themselves, to be their living-place; for up to that time no distribution of land had been made to them among the tribes of Israel.

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what seemed right to him.


So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah.

And Samuel was judge of Israel all the days of his life. From year to year he went in turn to Beth-el and Gilgal and Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. And his base was at Ramah, where his house was; there he was judge of Israel and there he made an altar to the Lord.


Then his brothers and his father's people came down and took him up and put his body to rest in the earth between Zorah and Eshtaol in the resting-place of Manoah his father. And he had been judge of Israel for twenty years.

So the woman gave birth to a son, and gave him the name Samson; and he became a man and the blessing of the Lord was on him.


But Gideon said to them, I will not be a ruler over you, and my son will not be a ruler over you: it is the Lord who will be ruler over you.

And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went back to his house and was living there.


But still they would not give ear to their judges, but went after other gods and gave them worship; quickly turning from the way in which their fathers had gone, keeping the orders of the Lord; but they did not do so. And whenever the Lord gave them judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and was their saviour from the hands of their haters all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved by their cries of grief because of those who were cruel to them. But whenever the judge was dead, they went back and did more evil than their fathers, going after other gods, to be their servants and their worshippers; giving up nothing of their sins and their hard-hearted ways.


And when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. And the spirit of the Lord came on him and he became judge of Israel, and went out to war, and the Lord gave up Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands and he overcame him.


And at these words about the ark of God, Eli, falling back off his seat by the side of the doorway into the town, came down on the earth so that his neck was broken and death overtook him, for he was an old man and of great weight. He had been judging Israel for forty years.


What more am I to say? For there would not be time to give the stories of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets:


And after him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, was judge of Israel.


And after him, Elon the Zebulonite was judge of Israel; and he was judge of Israel for ten years.


And after him came Shamgar, the son of Anath, who put to death six hundred Philistines with an ox-stick; and he was another saviour of Israel.


And after him, Ibzan of Beth-lehem was judge of Israel.


Now after Abimelech, Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, became the saviour of Israel; he was living in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim.


And after him came Jair the Gileadite, who was judge over Israel for twenty-two years.


Then when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the children of Israel sent an offering by him to Eglon, king of Moab.


Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a great man of war; he was the son of a loose woman, and Gilead was his father.


Now the angel of the Lord came and took his seat under the oak-tree in Ophrah, in the field of Joash the Abiezrite; and his son Gideon was crushing grain in the place where the grapes were crushed, so that the Midianites might not see it.


And whenever the Lord gave them judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and was their saviour from the hands of their haters all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved by their cries of grief because of those who were cruel to them.


Then the Lord gave them judges, as their saviours from the hands of those who were cruel to them.


And all the townsmen of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together and went and made Abimelech their king, by the oak of the pillar in Shechem.


Now Deborah, a woman prophet, the wife of Lapidoth, was judge of Israel at that time.


And after these things he gave them judges, till the time of Samuel the prophet.


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain