Judges 2:20-21:1 — Legacy Standard Bible

²⁰^aSo the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has trespassed against My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, ²¹^aI also will no longer dispossess before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, ²²in order to ^atest Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it as their fathers ¹did, or not.” ²³So Yahweh allowed those nations to rest, not dispossessing them quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Yahweh Tests Israel

3^aNow these are the nations which Yahweh allowed to remain, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not known any of the wars of Canaan; ²¹however, God tested them in order that the generations of the sons of Israel would know war, by learning war, ²especially those who had not known it formerly). ³These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and ^athe Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as ¹Lebo-hamath. ⁴And they were for ¹^,^atesting Israel, to know if they would ²obey the commandments of Yahweh, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ⁵^aNow the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; ⁶and ^athey took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

Yahweh Raises Up Othniel

⁷Thus the sons of Israel did ^awhat was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and ^bforgot Yahweh their God and ^cserved the Baals and the ¹Asheroth. ⁸Then the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of ¹Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for the sons of Israel to save them, ^aOthniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ¹⁰^aAnd the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to war, and Yahweh gave Cushan-rishathaim king of ¹Mesopotamia into his hand. So his hand was strong against Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹Then the land was quiet for forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹²Then the sons of Israel again ^adid what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. So ^bYahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. ¹³And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed ^athe city of the palm trees. ¹⁴So the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Yahweh Raises Up Ehud and Shamgar

¹⁵Then the sons of Israel ^acried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by his hand to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶And Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a ¹cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak. ¹⁷Then he brought the tribute near to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸And it happened when he had finished bringing the tribute near, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. ¹⁹But he himself turned back from the graven images which were at Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he said, “Keep silence.” And all who stood by him left him. ²⁰But Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹Then Ehud sent forth his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²²The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the refuse came out. ²³Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

²⁴Now he went out, and his servants came in and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, “^aHe is surely ¹relieving himself in the cool room.” ²⁵Then they waited until they were ashamed; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the ¹floor dead.

²⁶Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the graven images and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷And it happened when he had arrived, that ^ahe blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was in front of them. ²⁸Then he said to them, “Pursue them, for Yahweh has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” So they went down after him and captured ^athe fords of the Jordan opposite Moab and did not allow anyone to cross. ²⁹And they struck down at that time about 10,000 Moabites, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty years.

³¹Now after him was ^aShamgar the son of Anath. And he struck down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.

Yahweh Raises Up Deborah and Barak

4Then ^athe sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. Now Ehud had died. ²And Yahweh sold them into the hand of ^aJabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in ^bHarosheth-hagoyim. ³Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh; for he had 900 ^airon chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a ¹prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵And she used to ¹sit under the ^apalm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶Then she sent and summoned ^aBarak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you 10,000 men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun? ⁷‘And I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his ¹many troops to the river Kishon, and ^aI will give him into your hand.’” ⁸Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, ^afor Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰Then Barak called ^aZebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and 10,000 men went up ¹^,^bwith him; Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber ^athe Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the ¹oak in ^bZaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹²Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³So Sisera called together all his chariots, ^a900 iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from ^bHarosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴And Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which Yahweh has given Sisera into your hand; has not ^aYahweh gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. ¹⁵^aAnd Yahweh threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his camp into confusion with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera came down from his chariot and fled away on foot. ¹⁶But Barak pursued the chariots and all those in the camp as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the camp of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; ^anot even one remained.

¹⁷Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a ¹rug. ¹⁹^aThen he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a ¹bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. ²⁰And he said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and asks of you and says, ‘Is there a man here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” ²¹Then Jael, Heber’s wife, ^atook a tent peg and placed a hammer in her hand and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. ²²Now behold, Barak was pursuing Sisera, and Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered ¹with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³So ^aGod subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. ²⁴And the hand of the sons of Israel went forth heavier and heavier against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had cut off Jabin the king of Canaan.

The Song of Deborah and Barak

5^aThen Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

²“^aWhen ¹the leaders led in Israel,When ^bthe people volunteered,Bless Yahweh!³“Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers!^aAs for me, to Yahweh, I will sing;I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel.⁴“^aO Yahweh, when You went out from Seir,When You marched from the field of Edom,^bThe earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,Even the clouds dripped water.⁵“^aThe mountains ¹flowed at the presence of Yahweh,^bThis Sinai, at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.⁶“In the days of ^aShamgar the son of Anath,In the days of ^bJael, the paths had ceased,So travelers ¹went by ²roundabout paths.⁷“The peasantry ceased; they ceased in Israel,Until I, Deborah, arose,Until I arose, a mother in Israel.⁸“¹^,^aGod chose new leaders;Then war was in the gates.Not a shield or a spear was seenAmong forty thousand in Israel.⁹“My heart goes out to ^athe commanders of Israel,The volunteers among the people;Bless Yahweh!¹⁰“^aYou who ride on ¹white donkeys,You who sit on rich carpets,And you who travel on the road—muse aloud!¹¹“At the sound of those who divide flocks among ^athe watering places,There they shall ¹commemorate ^bthe righteous deeds of Yahweh,The righteous deeds for His ²peasantry in Israel.Then the people of Yahweh went down ^cto the gates.¹²“^aAwake, awake, Deborah;Awake, awake, ¹utter a song!Arise, Barak, and ^btake away your captives, O son of Abinoam.¹³“Then survivors came down to the mighty ones;The people of Yahweh came down to me as warriors.¹⁴“From Ephraim those whose root is ^ain Amalek came down,Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;From Machir commanders came down,And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of a scribe.¹⁵“And ¹the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;As was Issachar, so was Barak;Into the valley they rushed ^aat his ²heels;Among the divisions of ReubenThere was great persistence of the heart.¹⁶“Why did you sit among ^athe ¹sheepfolds,To hear the whistling for the flocks?Among the divisions of ReubenThere were great probings of the heart.¹⁷“^aGilead dwelt across the Jordan;And why did Dan stay in ships?Asher sat at the seashore,And dwelt by its landings.¹⁸“^aZebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.¹⁹“^aThe kings came and fought;Then fought the kings of Canaan^bAt Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;^cThey took no gain of silver.²⁰“^aThe stars fought from heaven;From their courses they fought against Sisera.²¹“The river of Kishon swept them away,The ancient river, the river Kishon.^aO my soul, march on with strength.²²“^aThen the horses’ hoofs beatFrom the dashing, the dashing of his ¹valiant steeds.²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of Yahweh,‘Utterly curse its inhabitants,^aBecause they did not come to the help of Yahweh,To the help of Yahweh against the warriors.’²⁴“^aMost blessed of women is Jael,The wife of Heber the Kenite;Most blessed is she of women in the tent.²⁵“He asked for water, and she gave him milk;In a mighty bowl she brought him curds.²⁶“She sent forth her hand for the tent peg,And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.Then she beat Sisera; she smashed his head,And she crushed and pierced his temple.²⁷“Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;Between her feet he bowed, he fell;Where he bowed, there he fell violently devastated.²⁸“Out of the window she looked and lamented,The mother of Sisera through the ¹lattice,‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?Why do the ²hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’²⁹“Her wise princesses would answer her,Indeed she repeats her words to herself,³⁰‘^aAre they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil?A maiden, two maidens for every mighty man;To Sisera a spoil of dyed work,A spoil of dyed work embroidered,Dyed work of double embroidery on the ¹neck of the spoil?’³¹“^aThus let all Your enemies perish, O Yahweh;^bBut let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.” And the land was quiet for forty years.

Midian Prevails Against Israel

6Then the sons of Israel ^adid what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; and Yahweh gave them into the hands of ^bMidian seven years. ²And the ¹power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves ^athe dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. ³And it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would go up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go up against them. ⁴So they would camp against them and ^aruin the produce of the earth ¹as far as Gaza and ^bleave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. ⁵For they would go up with their livestock and their tents; they would come in ^alike locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to make it a ruin. ⁶So Israel was brought ^avery low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh.

⁷Now it happened when the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh on account of Midian, ⁸that Yahweh sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and ^ahe said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. ⁹‘I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors and drove them out before you and gave you their land, ¹⁰and I said to you, “I am Yahweh your God; you ^ashall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not listened to My voice.”’”

Yahweh Sends Gideon to Save Israel

¹¹Then ^athe angel of Yahweh came and sat under the ¹oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the ^bAbiezrite as his son ^cGideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to ²preserve it from the Midianites. ¹²And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ¹³Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous deeds which our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But ^anow Yahweh has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴Then Yahweh turned to him and said, “^aGo in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ¹⁵^aBut he said to Him, “O Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the least in ^bManasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ¹⁶^aBut Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as one man.” ¹⁷So ¹Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your eyes, then do ^aa sign for me that it is You who speak with me. ¹⁸“Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and I bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

¹⁹So Gideon went in and ^aprepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ¹ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket ²and the broth in a pot and brought them out to him under the ³oak and presented them. ²⁰And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth.” And he did so. ²¹Then the angel of Yahweh put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and ^afire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of Yahweh went away from before his eyes. ²²^aAnd Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh, so ¹he said, “Alas, O Lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.” ²³And Yahweh said to him, “Peace to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴So Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and named it ¹Yahweh is Peace. To this day it is still ^ain Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵Now it happened on the same night that Yahweh said to him, “Take your father’s bull ¹and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the ²^,^aAsherah that is beside it, ²⁶and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take the second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” ²⁷So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as Yahweh had spoken to him; and now it happened that because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon Tears Down the Altar of Baal

²⁸Then the men of the city arose early in the morning, and behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹And they said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” ³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” ³¹But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you save him? Whoever will contend for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” ³²Therefore on that day he named him ^aJerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.

³³Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in ^athe valley of Jezreel. ³⁴But ^athe Spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon; and he ^bblew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. ³⁵And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, ^aZebulun, and Naphtali, and ^bthey came up to meet them.

The Test of the Fleece

³⁶Then Gideon said to God, “^aIf You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken, ³⁷behold, 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 I will know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken.” ³⁸And it was so. Indeed he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece. And he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. ³⁹Then Gideon said to God, “^aDo not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” ⁴⁰And God did so that night. So it was dry only on the fleece, but dew was on all the ground.

Gideon’s 300 Men

7Then ^aJerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and camped beside ¹the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of ²them by the hill of ^bMoreh in the valley.

²And Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, ^alest Israel honor themselves, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ ³“So now, ¹come, call out in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘^aWhoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’” So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained.

⁴^aThen Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And it will be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” ⁵So he brought the people down to the water. And Yahweh said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set him aside by himself, and so also everyone who kneels to drink.” ⁶Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. ⁷And Yahweh said to Gideon, “I will save you ^awith the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his place.” ⁸So ¹the 300 men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And ²Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹Now it happened the same night that Yahweh said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, ^afor I have given it into your hands. ¹⁰“But if you are afraid to go down, then both you and Purah your young man, go down to the camp, ¹¹and you will hear what they say; and ^aafterward your hands will be strengthened, that you may go down against the camp.” So he went with Purah his young man down to the ¹outskirts of the armed men that were in the camp. ¹²Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley ^aas numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ^bas numerous as the sand on the seashore. ¹³Then Gideon came, and behold, a man was recounting a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I ¹had a dream; ²a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it ³upside down so that the tent lay flat.” ¹⁴And his friend answered and said, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp ^ainto his hand.”

¹⁵Now it happened that when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for Yahweh has given the camp of Midian into your hands.” ¹⁶And he divided the 300 men into three ¹companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷Then he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, I will come to the outskirts of the camp, and it will be that just as I do so you do likewise. ¹⁸“And I and all who are with me will blow the trumpet. Then you also shall blow the trumpets all around the camp and say, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon.’”

Gideon Kills the Princes of Midian

¹⁹So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set up the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰Then the three ¹companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, and they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing and called out, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!” ²¹And each stood in his place around the camp. Then ^aall of the camp ran, and they made a loud shout and fled. ²²So they blew 300 trumpets. And ^aYahweh set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole camp. And the camp fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ^bAbel-meholah, by Tabbath. ²³And the men of Israel were summoned from ^aNaphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴Now Gideon had sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to meet Midian and ^acapture the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. ²⁵Then they captured the two princes of Midian, ^aOreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon ^bfrom across the Jordan.

Gideon Pursues Zebah and Zalmunna

8Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “^aWhat is this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they strongly contended with him. ²But he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? ³“God has given the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hands; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their ¹anger toward him subsided when he spoke this word.

⁴Then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came ^ato the Jordan and crossed over, weary yet pursuing. ⁵And he said to the men of ^aSuccoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶But the princes of Succoth said, “¹^,^aAre the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?” ⁷And Gideon said, “Thus, ^awhen Yahweh has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will ¹thrash your ²bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” ⁸So he went up from there to ¹^,^aPenuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹So he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I return safely, ^aI will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their camps with them, about 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire camp of the sons of the east; ^afor the fallen were 120,000 men who drew the sword. ¹¹And Gideon went up by the way of those who dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah and struck the camp when the camp was ¹unsuspecting. ¹²Then Zebah and Zalmunna fled. And he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw the whole camp into utter fright.

¹³Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle ¹by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴And he captured a youth from the men of Succoth and questioned him. So the youth wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵Then he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you reproached me, saying, ‘¹^,^aAre the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?’” ¹⁶Then he took the elders of the city as well as thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he ¹taught the men of Succoth a lesson. ¹⁷^aAnd he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” And they said, “They were like you, each one ¹resembling the son of a king.” ¹⁹And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you.” ²⁰So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them.” But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a youth. ²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise up yourself, and smite us; for as the man, so is his might.” ^aSo Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna and ^btook the crescent ornaments which were on their camels’ necks.

Gideon Makes an Ephod

²²Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; ^aYahweh shall rule over you.” ²⁴Yet Gideon said to them, “I would ¹make one request of you, that each of you give me ²an earring from his spoil.” (For they had gold earrings because they were ^aIshmaelites.) ²⁵And they said, “We will surely give them.” So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. ²⁶And the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels’ necks. ²⁷Then Gideon made it into ^aan ephod and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household. ²⁸So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Death and Burial of Gideon

²⁹Then ^aJerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. ³⁰Now Gideon had ^aseventy sons who ¹were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. ³¹And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he ¹named him Abimelech. ³²Then Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³Then it happened, as soon as Gideon was dead, ^athat the sons of Israel turned back and played the harlot with the Baals and made ^bBaal-berith their god. ³⁴Thus the sons of Israel ^adid not remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; ³⁵^anor did they show lovingkindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.

Abimelech Kills His Brothers

9And ^aAbimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s ¹relatives and spoke to them and to the whole family of the household of his mother’s father, saying, ²“Speak, now, in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that ^aseventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am ^byour bone and your flesh.” ³And his mother’s ¹relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem; and ²they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is ^aour ³relative.” ⁴So they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of ^aBaal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, and they followed him. ⁵Then he came to his father’s house at Ophrah and ^akilled his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, ^bseventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. ⁶Then all the lords of Shechem and all ¹Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the ²oak of the pillar which was in Shechem.

⁷Then they told Jotham, so he went and stood on the top of ^aMount Gerizim and lifted his voice and called out. Thus he said to them, “Listen to me, O lords of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸“The trees surely went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ ⁹“But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my fatness, with ¹which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁰“Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come, reign over us!’ ¹¹“But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good produce and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹²“Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come, reign over us!’ ¹³“But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my new wine, which makes God and men glad, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴“Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come, reign over us!’ ¹⁵“And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in ¹truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶“So now, if you have dealt in ¹truth and integrity and made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^aJerubbaal and his house and ²have dealt with him according to the bountiful works of his hands— ¹⁷for my father fought for you and ¹risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian; ¹⁸but you have risen against my father’s house today and have killed ^ahis sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, ^bthe son of his maidservant, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your ¹relative— ¹⁹if then you have dealt in ¹truth and integrity with Jerubbaal and his house this day, be glad in Abimelech, and let him also be glad in you. ²⁰“But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the lords of Shechem and ¹Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the lords of Shechem and from ²Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.” ²¹Then Jotham escaped and fled and went to Beer and remained there because of Abimelech his brother.

Zebul Deceives Abimelech

²²And Abimelech governed over Israel three years. ²³^aThen God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem; and the lords of Shechem ^bdealt treacherously with Abimelech, ²⁴^aso that the violence ¹done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and ^btheir blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. ²⁵And the lords of Shechem set ¹men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who might pass by them along the road; and it was told to Abimelech.

²⁶Then Gaal the son of Ebed came with his ¹relatives, and they crossed over into Shechem; and the lords of Shechem put their trust in him. ²⁷And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes of their vineyards and trod them and celebrated a ¹festival; and they came into the house of ^atheir god and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is Zebul not his ¹officer? Serve the men of ^aHamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ²⁹“¹^,^aWould, therefore, that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out.”

³⁰Then Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, and his anger burned. ³¹And he sent messengers to Abimelech ¹deceitfully, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his ²relatives have come to Shechem; and behold, they are ³stirring up the city against you. ³²“So now, arise by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. ³³“And it will be in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, that you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and behold, he and the people who are with him will come out against you, and you shall ^ado to them ¹whatever your hand finds pleasing.”

³⁴So Abimelech and all the people who were with him arose by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four ¹companies. ³⁵And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the city gate; and Abimelech and the people who were with him arose from the ambush. ³⁶Then Gaal saw the people and said to Zebul, “Behold, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.” ³⁷Yet Gaal spoke again and said, “Behold, people are coming down from ^athe ¹highest part of the land, and one ²company comes by the way of ³the soothsayers’ ⁴oak.” ³⁸Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your ¹boasting now with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Is this not the people whom you rejected? Go out now and fight with them!” ³⁹So Gaal went out before the lords of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰And Abimelech pursued him, and he fled before him; and many fell slain up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹Then Abimelech remained at Arumah, but Zebul drove out Gaal and his ¹relatives so that they could not remain in Shechem.

⁴²Now it happened the next day, that the people went out to the field, and it was told to Abimelech. ⁴³So he took ¹his people and divided them into three ²companies and lay in wait in the field; then he looked, and behold, the people were coming out from the city. So he arose against them and struck them down. ⁴⁴Then Abimelech and the ¹company who was with him rushed forward and stood in the entrance of the city gate; but the other two ²companies rushed upon all who were in the field and struck them down. ⁴⁵So Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and he captured the city and killed the people who were in it; then he ^atore the city down and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶Then all the lords of the tower of Shechem heard of it, and they entered the inner chamber of the ¹temple of ^aEl-berith. ⁴⁷And it was told to Abimelech that all the lords of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸So Abimelech went up to Mount ^aZalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took ¹an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees and lifted it and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do ²likewise.” ⁴⁹And all the people also cut down each one his branch and followed Abimelech and put them on the inner chamber and set the inner chamber on fire over those inside, so that all the men of the tower of Shechem also died, about one thousand men and women.

⁵⁰Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he camped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹But there was a strong tower in the center of the city, and all the men and women with all the lords of the city fled there and shut themselves in; and they went up on the roof of the tower. ⁵²So Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire. ⁵³But ^aa certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and she smashed his skull. ⁵⁴Then ^ahe called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and put me to death, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So ¹the young man pierced him through, and he died. ⁵⁵Then the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, so each went away to his ¹home. ⁵⁶Thus ^aGod returned the evil of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷God also returned all the evil of the men of Shechem on their own heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came ¹upon them.

Tola and Jair Judge Israel

10Then after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, ^aarose to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ²And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.

³After him, Jair the Gileadite arose and judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities ¹in the land of Gilead ^athat are called ²Havvoth-jair to this day. ⁵And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Israel Forsakes Yahweh Again

⁶Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and ^aserved the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, ^bthe gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus ^cthey forsook Yahweh and did not serve Him. ⁷So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He ^asold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. ⁸And they shattered and smashed the sons of Israel ¹that year; for eighteen years they did this to all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan ²in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. ⁹Then the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.

Israel Cries Out to Yahweh

¹⁰And the ^asons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, saying, “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.” ¹¹Then Yahweh said to the sons of Israel, “Did I not save you ^afrom the Egyptians, ^bthe Amorites, ^cthe sons of Ammon, and the Philistines? ¹²“Also the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites ^aoppressed you. And you cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hand. ¹³“Yet ^ayou have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer save you. ¹⁴“^aGo and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” ¹⁵Then the sons of Israel said to Yahweh, “We have sinned, so You, ^ado to us whatever seems good in Your eyes; only please deliver us this day.” ¹⁶^aSo they removed the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh; and ¹^,^bHe could bear the trouble of Israel no longer.

¹⁷Then the sons of Ammon were summoned, and they camped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel gathered together and camped in ^aMizpah. ¹⁸And the people, the princes of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah Delivers Israel

11Now ^aJephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot. And Gilead ¹became the father of Jephthah. ²And Gilead’s wife bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^aTob; and worthless fellows gathered themselves ¹about Jephthah, and they went out with him.

⁴Now it happened after a while that ^athe sons of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵So it happened that as the sons of Ammon fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob; ⁶and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.” ⁷Then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “^aDid you not hate me and drive me from my father’s house? So why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” ⁸And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “For this reason we have now returned to you, that you may go with us and fight with the sons of Ammon and ^abecome head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and Yahweh gives them up ¹to me, will I become your head?” ¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “^aYahweh is ¹witness between us; surely we will do ²as you have said.” ¹¹Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh at ^aMizpah.

¹²And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “What is between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³Then the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel ^atook away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the ^bJabbok and the Jordan; so now, return them peaceably.” ¹⁴But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁵and they said to him, “Thus says Jephthah, ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁶‘For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel ^awent through the wilderness to the ¹Red Sea and ^bcame to Kadesh, ¹⁷then Israel ^asent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. ^bAnd they also sent to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel remained at Kadesh. ¹⁸‘Then they went through the wilderness and ^aaround the land of Edom and the land of Moab and came to the east toward the sunrise of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they ^bdid not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹‘And Israel sent ^amessengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our place.” ²⁰‘But Sihon did not believe Israel to allow them to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel. ²¹‘Then Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they ^astruck them down; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ²²‘^aSo they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. ²³‘So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel. Are you then to possess it? ²⁴‘Do you not possess what ^aChemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever Yahweh our God has taken possession of before us, we will possess it. ²⁵‘So now are you any better than ^aBalak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ²⁶‘^aWhile Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns and in Aroer and its towns and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them for yourself within that time? ²⁷‘I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me evil by making war against me; ^amay Yahweh, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’” ²⁸But the king of the sons of Ammon did not listen to the words which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah Vows a Burnt Offering

²⁹Now ^athe Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰Then Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh and said, “If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, ³¹then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” ³²So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh gave them into his hand. ³³And he struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer ¹to the entrance of ^aMinnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

³⁴Then Jephthah came to his house at ^aMizpah. And behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him ^bwith tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵So it happened that when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me. But I have opened my mouth to vow to Yahweh, and ^aI cannot take it back.” ³⁶So she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to vow to Yahweh; ^ado to me according to what has gone out from your mouth, since Yahweh has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may ¹go to the mountains and weep because of ^amy virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸Then he said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months; and she went with her companions and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. ³⁹And it happened at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she did not know a man. Thus it became a ¹custom in Israel, ⁴⁰that the daughters of Israel went yearly to ¹commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Jephthah Fights Ephraim

12Then the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed ¹to Zaphon and ^asaid to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon, but did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you.” ²Then Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon. And I cried out to you, but you did not save me from their hand. ³“And I saw that you would not save me, so I ¹^,^atook my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and Yahweh gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim down because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, O Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” ⁵And the Gileadites ^acaptured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶then they would say to him, “Say now, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not ¹pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim.

⁷And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon Judge Israel

⁸Then Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel after him. ⁹And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he ¹gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. ¹⁰Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

¹¹Then Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel after him; and he judged Israel ten years. ¹²And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel after him. ¹⁴And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel eight years. ¹⁵Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

The Birth of Samson

13Then the sons of Israel ^aagain did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so that Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

²And there was a certain man of ^aZorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. ³^aThen the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you ¹shall be with child and give birth to a son. ⁴“So now, be careful ^anot to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. ⁵“^aFor behold, you ¹shall be with child and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a ^bNazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁶Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “^aA man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. ⁷“And he said to me, ‘Behold, you ¹shall be with child and give birth to a son, so now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, and you shall not eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸Then Manoah entreated Yahweh and said, “O Lord, please let ^athe man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may instruct us what to do for the boy who is to be born.” ⁹And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and ^athe angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, and she said to him, “Behold, ^athe man who came the other day to me has appeared to me.” ¹¹Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you ^athe man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹²So Manoah said, “Now your words will come to pass. What shall be the judgment governing the boy and his work?” ¹³So ^athe angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “^bLet the woman be careful in all that I said. ¹⁴“She should not eat anything that comes from the ^avine, nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her keep all that I commanded.”

¹⁵Then Manoah said to ^athe angel of Yahweh, “Please let us delay you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Though you delay me, ^aI will not eat your ¹food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh. ¹⁷Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “^aWhat is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?” ¹⁸But the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is ¹^,^awonderful?” ¹⁹So ^aManoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to Yahweh, and He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰Indeed, it happened when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife saw this, so they ^afell on their faces to the ground.

²¹Now the angel of Yahweh did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. ^aThen Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh. ²²So Manoah said to his wife, “^aWe will surely die, for we have seen God.” ²³But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh had desired to put us to death, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have ^ashown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

²⁴Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the ^achild grew up, and Yahweh blessed him. ²⁵And ^athe Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in ¹^,^bMahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson Takes a Philistine as His Wife

14Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. ²So he came back up and told his father and ¹mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, take her for me as a wife.” ³But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your ¹^,^arelatives, or among all ²our people, that you go to ^btake a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” ⁴However, his father and mother did not know that ^ait was of Yahweh, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

⁵Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him. ⁶^aAnd the Spirit of Yahweh ¹came upon him mightily, so that ^bhe tore it as one tears a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷So he went down and spoke to the woman; and she was right in the eyes of Samson. ⁸Then he returned later to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. ⁹So he scraped ¹the honey into his ²hands and went on, eating as he went. Then he went to his father and mother, and he gave some to them, and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.

¹⁰Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men customarily did this. ¹¹Now it happened that when they saw him, they took thirty companions to be with him. ¹²Then Samson said to them, “Let me now ^apropound a riddle to you; if you will indeed tell it to me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty ^bchanges of clothes. ¹³“But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Propound your riddle, that we may hear it.” ¹⁴So he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat,And out of the strong came something sweet.” But they could not tell the riddle in three days.

¹⁵Then it happened on the ¹fourth day that they said to Samson’s wife, “^aEntice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, ^bor we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?” ¹⁶So Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “^aYou only hate me, and you do not love me; you have propounded a riddle to the sons of my people and have not told it to me.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?” ¹⁷However she wept before him seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people. ¹⁸So 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 you had not plowed with my heifer,You would not have found out my riddle.”

¹⁹Then ^athe Spirit of Yahweh ¹came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. ²⁰But Samson’s wife was ^agiven to his companion who had been his ¹friend.

Samson Strikes Down the Philistines

15Now it happened that after a while, in the time of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife ^awith a young goat and said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him enter. ²And her father said, “I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I ^agave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please let her be yours ¹instead.” ³Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.” ⁴So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. ⁵Then he set fire to the torches and sent ¹the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. So he caused both the shocks and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and groves, to burn. ⁶Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because ¹he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and ^aburned her and her father with fire. ⁷Then Samson said to them, “If you act like this, then I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will cease.” ⁸And he struck them ¹ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

⁹Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah and spread out in Lehi. ¹⁰So the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us.” ¹¹Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know ^athat the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.” ¹²And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hand of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not ¹kill me.” ¹³So they said to ¹him, “No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not put you to death.” Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And ^athe Spirit of Yahweh ¹came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds ²dropped from his hands. ¹⁵And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he sent forth his hand and took it and struck down ^a1,000 men with it. ¹⁶Then Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey,¹Heaps upon heaps,With the jawbone of a donkeyI have struck down 1,000 men.”

¹⁷Now it happened that when he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place ¹Ramath-lehi. ¹⁸Then he became very thirsty, and he ^acalled to Yahweh and said, “You have given this great salvation by the hand of Your slave, but now ¹shall I die of thirst ²and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi and water came out of it. Then he drank, ^aand his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he named it ¹En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. ²⁰And ^ahe judged Israel twenty years in ^bthe days of the Philistines.

Samson and Delilah

16Then Samson went to ^aGaza and saw a harlot there and went in to her. ²And it was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” so they ^asurrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light; then we will kill him.” ³But Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and seized the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and brought them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

⁴Now it happened afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah. ⁵And the ^alords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “^bEntice him, and see where his great strength lies and ¹how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” ⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength is and ¹how you may be bound to afflict you.” ⁷Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” ⁸Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹Now she had men lying in wait, sitting in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the cords as a string of tinder snaps when it ¹touches fire. So his strength was still not known.

¹⁰Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me ¹how you may be bound.” ¹¹And he said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes ¹which have not been used for work, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” ¹²So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” Now the men lying in wait were sitting in the inner room. But he snapped ¹the ropes from his arms like a thread.

¹³Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me ¹how you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web ²[and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man.” ¹⁴So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his ¹hair and wove them into the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.

¹⁵Then she said to him, “^aHow can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.” ¹⁶Now it happened when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was ¹annoyed to death. ¹⁷So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a ^aNazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like every other man.”

¹⁸And Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, so she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the silver in their hands. ¹⁹Then she made him sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him. ²⁰And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that ^aYahweh had left him. ²¹Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison. ²²However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

²³Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to ^aDagon their god and to be glad; and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”

²⁴Then the people saw him and ^apraised their god, for they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hands,Even the destroyer of our country,Who has slain many of us.”

²⁵So it happened when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he ¹entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars. ²⁶Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house is established, that I may lean against them.” ²⁷Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them.

Samson’s Revenge

²⁸^aThen Samson called to Yahweh and said, “O Lord Yahweh, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once ^bbe avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house was established and supported himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. ³⁰And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he bent with his strength so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he put to death by his death were more than those whom he put to death in his life. ³¹Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down, carried him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of Manoah his father. ^aThus he had judged Israel twenty years.

Micah’s Idolatry

17Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. ²He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and spoke of it ¹in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; it was I who took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by Yahweh.” ³And he then returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly set apart the silver from my hand as holy to Yahweh for my son ^ato make a graven image and a molten image; so now I will return ¹them to you.” ⁴So he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith. And he made ¹them into a graven image and a molten image, and ²they were in the house of Micah. ⁵And the man Micah had a ¹^,^ashrine, and he made an ^bephod and ²^,^chousehold idols and ³ordained one of his sons, ^dand he became his priest. ⁶In those days ^athere was no king in Israel; ^bevery man did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷And there was a young man from ^aBethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was sojourning there. ⁸Then the man went from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to sojourn wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the ^ahill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. ⁹And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn wherever I may find a place.” ¹⁰Micah then said to him, “Remain with me and be ^aa father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹And the Levite was willing to remain with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹²So Micah ¹ordained the Levite, and the young man ^abecame his priest and ²lived in the house of Micah. ¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know that Yahweh will prosper me because I have a Levite as priest.”

Danites Seek an Inheritance

18^aIn those days there was no king of Israel; and ^bin those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day the land among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them as an inheritance. ²So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, ¹men of valor from ^aZorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it; and they said to them, “Go, search the land.” And they came to ^bthe hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³They were near the house of Micah, and they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite. So they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” ⁴And he said to them, “Thus and so has Micah done to me, and he has hired me, and ^aI have become his priest.” ⁵And they said to him, “Ask of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be successful.” ⁶So the priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going is before Yahweh.”

⁷Then the five men went forth and came to ^aLaish and saw the people who were in it living in security, after the ¹manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no ²oppressive conqueror dishonoring them for anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁸So they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What do you report?” ⁹And they said, “Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you be silent? Do not delay to go, to enter, to possess the land. ¹⁰“When you enter, you will come to a secure people and a spacious land; for God has given it into your hand, ^aa place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

¹¹Then from the family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, 600 men armed with weapons of war set out. ¹²And they went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place ¹^,^aMahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is ²west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³Then they passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

Danites Take Micah’s Idols

¹⁴And the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses ^aan ephod and ¹household idols and a graven image and a molten image? So now, know what you should do.” ¹⁵Then they turned aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. ¹⁶Now the 600 men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, were standing by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷Then the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there, and took ^athe graven image and the ephod and household idols and the molten image. And the priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. ¹⁸Now these had entered into Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod and household idols and the molten image. Then the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹And they said to him, “Be silent; ^aput your hand over your mouth and come with us and be to us ^ba father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” ²⁰And the priest’s heart was merry, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image and entered among the people.

²¹Then they turned and went away and put the little ones and the livestock and the valuables in front of them. ²²They had gone some distance from the house of Micah, and the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were summoned and then overtook the sons of Dan. ²³And they called out to the sons of Dan, who turned ¹around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you were summoned together?” ²⁴And he said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what do I have besides? So how can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” ²⁵Then the sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest men, bitter of soul, fall upon you and you ¹lose your life, with the lives of your household.” ²⁶So the sons of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

²⁷Now they took what Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him, and they came to ^aLaish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city with fire. ²⁸And there was no one to deliver them because it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone, and it was in the valley which is near ^aBeth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and lived in it. ²⁹^aAnd they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of the city formerly was Laish. ³⁰Then the sons of Dan set up for themselves ^athe graven image; and Jonathan, the son of ^bGershom, the son of ¹Moses, ^che and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the exile of the land. ³¹So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image which he had made, all the time that the ^ahouse of God was at Shiloh.

Benjamites Violate a Levite’s Concubine

19Now it happened in those days, when ^athere was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah. ²But his concubine played the harlot against him, and she went away from him to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah and was there for a period of four months. ³Then her husband arose and went after her to ^aspeak to her heart in order to bring her back, and his young man was with him as well as a pair of donkeys. So she brought him into her father’s house, and the girl’s father saw him and was glad to meet him. ⁴And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, prevailed upon him; and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there. ⁵Now it happened on the fourth day that they got up early in the morning, and he arose to go; and the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “^aSustain ¹yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward you may go.” ⁶So both of them sat down and ate and drank together; and the girl’s father said to the man, “Please be willing to spend the night, and ^alet your heart be merry.” ⁷Then the man arose to go, but his father-in-law pressed him so that he turned back and spent the night there. ⁸And on the fifth day he arose to go early in the morning, and the girl’s father said, “Please sustain ¹yourself and wait until ²afternoon”; so both of them ate. ⁹Then the man arose to go along with his concubine and young man, and his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Behold now, the day has drawn ¹to a close; please spend the night. Behold, the day is ²coming to an end; spend the night here that your heart may be merry. Then tomorrow you may arise early for your journey so that you may go to your tent.”

¹⁰But the man was not willing to spend the night, so he arose and went and came to a place before ^aJebus (that is, Jerusalem). And there were with him a pair of saddled donkeys; his concubine also was with him. ¹¹They were alongside of Jebus, and the day was almost gone. And ^athe young man said to his master, “Come, please, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” ¹²However, his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners who are not of the sons of Israel; but we will pass on by until Gibeah.” ¹³Then he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.” ¹⁴So they passed along and went their way, and the sun set on them near Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin. ¹⁵Then they turned aside there in order to enter and to spend the night in Gibeah. So ¹they entered and sat down in the open square of the city. Now no one was taking them into his house to spend the night.

¹⁶But behold, an old man was coming from his work, from the field, at evening. Now the man was from ^athe hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah, but the men of the place ^bwere Benjamites. ¹⁷And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?” ¹⁸And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. But I am now going to ¹the house of Yahweh, and no man is taking me into his house. ¹⁹“Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, ¹your maidservant, and ^athe young man who is with your servants; there is no lack of anything.” ²⁰Then the old man said, “^aPeace be to you. Only let me take care of all that you lack; however, do not spend the night in the open square.” ²¹^aSo he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys fodder, and they washed their feet and ate and drank.

²²They were making their hearts merry, and behold, ^athe men of the city, certain ¹^,^bvile fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house that we may ²know him.” ²³Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, please do not do evil. Since this man has come into my house, ^ado not commit this disgraceful act. ²⁴“^aBehold, my daughter who is a virgin, and his concubine—please let me bring them out that you may violate them and do to them whatever is good in your eyes. But do not commit such a disgraceful act against this man.” ²⁵But the men were not willing to listen to him. So the man took hold of his concubine and brought her out to them; and they knew her and abused her all night until morning, and they let her go at the ¹breaking of dawn. ²⁶¹As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until full daylight.

²⁷Then her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, and behold, the woman, his concubine, was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸And he said to her, “Get up and let us go,” ^abut there was no answer. Then he took her on the donkey; and the man arose and went to his ¹home. ²⁹Then he entered his house and took a knife and took hold of his concubine and ^acut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. ³⁰And all who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it; ^atake counsel and speak up!”

A Battle Between Israel and Benjamin

20Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to Yahweh at ^aMizpah. ²And the ¹chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 foot ²soldiers ^awho draw the sword. ³(Then the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this evil take place?” ⁴So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came with my concubine to spend the night at Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin. ⁵“Then the ^amen of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me; instead, they ^bviolated my concubine, and she died. ⁶“And I ^aseized my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance; for ^bthey have committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. ⁷“Behold, all you sons of Israel, ^agive your advice and counsel here.”

⁸Then all the people arose as one man, saying, “Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us turn aside to his house. ⁹“But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up against it by lot. ¹⁰“And we will take 10 men out of 100 throughout the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of 1,000, and 1,000 out of 10,000 in order to take up provisions for the people, that when they come to ¹Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do to them according to all the disgraceful acts that they have done in Israel.” ¹¹Thus all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united as one man.

¹²Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire ¹tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil that has taken place among you? ¹³“So now, give up the men, the ¹^,^avile fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and ^bpurge this evil from Israel.” But the sons of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel. ¹⁴Then the sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel. ¹⁵And from the cities on that day the ^asons of Benjamin were ¹numbered, 26,000 men who draw the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who were ²numbered, 700 choice men. ¹⁶Out of all these people 700 ^achoice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷And the men of Israel besides Benjamin were ¹numbered, 400,000 men who draw the sword; all these were men of war.

¹⁸Then the sons of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and ^aasked of God and said, “Who shall go up for us to begin the battle against the sons of Benjamin?” Then Yahweh said, “Judah shall begin it.”

¹⁹So the sons of Israel arose in the morning and camped against Gibeah. ²⁰And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel arranged themselves for battle against them at Gibeah. ²¹Then the sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and ^adestroyed to the ground on that day 22,000 men of Israel. ²²But the people, the men of Israel, strengthened themselves and arranged themselves for battle again in the place where they had arranged themselves the first day. ²³^aAnd the sons of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until evening and ^basked of Yahweh, saying, “Shall we again approach for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?” And Yahweh said, “Go up against him.”

²⁴Then the sons of Israel drew near to the sons of Benjamin the second day. ²⁵And Benjamin went out to meet them from Gibeah the second day and destroyed to the ground again 18,000 men of the sons of Israel; all these drew the sword. ²⁶Then ^aall the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept; thus they remained there before Yahweh and fasted that day until evening. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh. ²⁷Then the sons of Israel ^aasked of Yahweh (now the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, ²⁸and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, Aaron’s son, stood before it to minister in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?” And Yahweh said, “Go up, ^afor tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”

²⁹^aSo Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah. ³⁰And the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as at other times. ³¹^aSo the sons of Benjamin went out to meet the people and were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike ¹and slay some of the people as at other times, on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the field, about thirty men of Israel. ³²The sons of Benjamin said, “They are ¹defeated before us, as at the first.” But the sons of Israel said, “Let us flee that we may draw them away from the city to the highways.” ³³Then all the men of Israel arose from their place and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar; ^aand the men of Israel in ambush burst forth of their place, even out of Maareh-geba. ³⁴Then 10,000 choice men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle became heavy; ^abut ¹Benjamin did not know that ²calamity was ³about to reach them. ³⁵Then Yahweh ¹defeated Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, all ²who drew the sword.

³⁶So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were ¹defeated. ^aNow the men of Israel had given ²ground to Benjamin because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. ³⁷^aSo the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah. Then the men in ambush deployed and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. ³⁸Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was ^athat they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city. ³⁹So the men of Israel had turned around in the battle, and Benjamin had begun to strike ¹and slay about thirty men of Israel, ^afor they said, “Surely they are ²defeated before us, as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰But the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, and Benjamin turned ^abehind them; and behold, the whole city was going up in smoke to heaven. ⁴¹Then the men of Israel turned around again, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that ¹^,^acalamity had ²reached them. ⁴²Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel ^atoward the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of them. ⁴³^aThey surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest, and trod them down opposite Gibeah to the east toward the sunrise. ⁴⁴Thus 18,000 men of Benjamin fell; all these were valiant men. ⁴⁵¹And the rest turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^aRimmon, but they ²caught 5,000 of them on the highways and overtook them ³at Gidom and struck down 2,000 of them. ⁴⁶So all of Benjamin who fell that day were 25,000 men who drew the sword; all these were valiant men. ⁴⁷But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon four months. ⁴⁸Now the men of Israel returned to the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city with the cattle and all that they found; they also set on fire all the cities which they found.

A Tribe Is Cut Off

21Now the men of Israel ^ahad sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”