1 {1:1} Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that
the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go
up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?
{1:2} And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have
delivered the land into his hand. {1:3} And Judah said unto
Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we
may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go
with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. {1:4} And
Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and
the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in
Bezek ten thousand men. {1:5} And they found Adonibezek
in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew
the Canaanites and the Perizzites. {1:6} But Adoni-bezek
fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut
off his thumbs and his great toes. {1:7} And Adoni-bezek
said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and
their great toes cut off, gathered [their meat] under my
table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they
brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. {1:8} Now the
children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had
taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set
the city on fire.
{1:9} And afterward the children of Judah went down to
fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and
in the south, and in the valley. {1:10} And Judah went
against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name
of Hebron before [was] Kirjath- arba:) and they slew
Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. {1:11} And from thence
he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of
Debir before [was] Kirjath-sepher: {1:12} And Caleb said,
He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I
give Achsah my daughter to wife. {1:13} And Othniel the
son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave
him Achsah his daughter to wife. {1:14} And it came to
pass, when she came [to him,] that she moved him to ask of
her father a field: and she lighted from off [her] ass; and
Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? {1:15} And she said
unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a
south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave
her the upper springs and the nether springs.
{1:16} And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in
law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children
of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which [lieth] in the
south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.
{1:17} And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they
slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly
destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.
{1:18} Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and
Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast
thereof. {1:19} And the LORD was with Judah; and he
drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not
drive out [the inhabitants of] the valley, because they had
chariots of iron. {1:20} And they gave Hebron unto Caleb,
as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of
Anak. {1:21} And the children of Benjamin did not drive
out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites
dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this
day.
{1:22} And the house of Joseph, they also went up against
Bethel: and the LORD [was] with them. {1:23} And the
house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the
city before [was] Luz.) {1:24} And the spies saw a man
come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us,
we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew
thee mercy. {1:25} And when he shewed them the entrance
into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword;
but they let go the man and all his family. {1:26} And the
man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and
called the name thereof Luz: which [is] the name thereof
unto this day.
{1:27} Neither did Manasseh drive out [the inhabitants of]
Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor
the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of
Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and
her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
{1:28} And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that
they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive
them out.
{1:29} Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that
dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among
them.
{1:30} Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of
Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites
dwelt among them, and became tributaries.
{1:31} Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of
Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of
Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: {1:32}
But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the
inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.
{1:33} Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of
Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he
dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land:
nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of
Bethanath became tributaries unto them. {1:34} And the
Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for
they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:
{1:35} But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in
Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of
Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. {1:36}
And the coast of the Amorites [was] from the going up to
Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

2 {2:1} And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to
Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and
have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your
fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
{2:2} And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of
this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not
obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? {2:3} Wherefore
I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but
they shall be [as thorns] in your sides, and their gods shall
be a snare unto you. {2:4} And it came to pass, when the
angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children
of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
{2:5} And they called the name of that place Bochim: and
they sacrificed there unto the LORD.
{2:6} And when Joshua had let the people go, the children
of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the
land. {2:7} And the people served the LORD all the days of
Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua,
who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did
for Israel. {2:8} And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of
the LORD, died, [being] an hundred and ten years old.
{2:9} And they buried him in the border of his inheritance
in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north
side of the hill Gaash. {2:10} And also all that generation
were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another
generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet
the works which he had done for Israel.
{2:11} And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of
the LORD, and served Baalim: {2:12} And they forsook the
LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the
land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the
people that [were] round about them, and bowed themselves
unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. {2:13} And
they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
{2:14} And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel,
and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled
them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies
round about, so that they could not any longer stand before
their enemies. {2:15} Whithersoever they went out, the
hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD
had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they
were greatly distressed.
{2:16} Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which
delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
{2:17} And yet they would not hearken unto their judges,
but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed
themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way
which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments
of the LORD; [but] they did not so. {2:18} And when the
LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the
judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies
all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because
of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them
and vexed them. {2:19} And it came to pass, when the
judge was dead, [that] they returned, and corrupted
[themselves] more than their fathers, in following other
gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they
ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn
way.
{2:20} And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel;
and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my
covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not
hearkened unto my voice; {2:21} I also will not henceforth
drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua
left when he died: {2:22} That through them I may prove
Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk
therein, as their fathers did keep [it,] or not. {2:23}
Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving
them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of
Joshua.

3 {3:1} Now these [are] the nations which the LORD left,
to prove Israel by them, [even] as many [of Israel] as had
not known all the wars of Canaan; {3:2} Only that the
generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach
them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
{3:3} [Namely,] five lords of the Philistines, and all the
Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in
mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering
in of Hamath. {3:4} And they were to prove Israel by them,
to know whether they would hearken unto the
commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their
fathers by the hand of Moses.
{3:5} And the children of Israel dwelt among the
Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and
Hivites, and Jebusites: {3:6} And they took their daughters
to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and
served their gods. {3:7} And the children of Israel did evil
in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God,
and served Baalim and the groves.
{3:8} Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against
Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim
king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel
served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. {3:9} And when the
children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up
a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them,
[even] Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
{3:10} And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he
judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered
Chushan- rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand;
and his hand prevailed against Chushan- rishathaim. {3:11}
And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of
Kenaz died.
{3:12} And the children of Israel did evil again in the
sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the
king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in
the sight of the LORD. {3:13} And he gathered unto him
the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote
Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. {3:14} So the
children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen
years. {3:15} But when the children of Israel cried unto the
LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son
of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the
children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of
Moab. {3:16} But Ehud made him a dagger which had two
edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment
upon his right thigh. {3:17} And he brought the present
unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon [was] a very fat man.
{3:18} And when he had made an end to offer the present,
he sent away the people that bare the present. {3:19} But he
himself turned again from the quarries that [were] by Gilgal,
and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said,
Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.
{3:20} And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a
summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud
said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose
out of [his] seat. {3:21} And Ehud put forth his left hand,
and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into
his belly: {3:22} And the haft also went in after the blade;
and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw
the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. {3:23}
Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors
of the parlour upon him, and locked them. {3:24} When he
was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that,
behold, the doors of the parlour [were] locked, they said,
Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. {3:25}
And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he
opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a
key, and opened [them:] and, behold, their lord [was] fallen
down dead on the earth. {3:26} And Ehud escaped while
they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped
unto Seirath. {3:27} And it came to pass, when he was
come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim,
and the children of Israel went down with him from the
mount, and he before them. {3:28} And he said unto them,
Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies
the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after
him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and
suffered not a man to pass over. {3:29} And they slew of
Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all
men of valour; and there escaped not a man. {3:30} So
Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And
the land had rest fourscore years.
{3:31} And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath,
which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox
goad: and he also delivered Israel.
4 {4:1} And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight
of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. {4:2} And the LORD
sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that
reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host [was] Sisera,
which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. {4:3} And the
children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine
hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily
oppressed the children of Israel.
{4:4} And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth,
she judged Israel at that time. {4:5} And she dwelt under
the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in
mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her
for judgment. {4:6} And she sent and called Barak the son
of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him,
Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, [saying,] Go
and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten
thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children
of Zebulun? {4:7} And I will draw unto thee to the river
Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots
and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
{4:8} And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me,
then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, [then] I will
not go. {4:9} And she said, I will surely go with thee:
notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for
thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand
of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to
Kedesh.
{4:10} And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to
Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet:
and Deborah went up with him. {4:11} Now Heber the
Kenite, [which was] of the children of Hobab the father in
law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and
pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which [is] by
Kedesh. {4:12} And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son
of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. {4:13} And
Sisera gathered together all his chariots, [even] nine
hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that [were] with
him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of
Kishon. {4:14} And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this
[is] the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into
thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak
went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after
him. {4:15} And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all [his]
chariots, and all [his] host, with the edge of the sword
before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off [his] chariot,
and fled away on his feet. {4:16} But Barak pursued after
the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the
Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the
sword; [and] there was not a man left. {4:17} Howbeit
Sisera fled away on his feet 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.
{4:18} And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto
him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he
had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a
mantle. {4:19} And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a
little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a
bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. {4:20}
Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it
shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and
say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No. {4:21}
Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an
hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote
the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for
he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. {4:22} And,
behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him,
and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man
whom thou seekest. And when he came into her [tent,]
behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail [was] in his temples.
{4:23} So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of
Canaan before the children of Israel. {4:24} And the hand
of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against
Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin
king of Canaan.

5 {5:1} Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam
on that day, saying, {5:2} Praise ye the LORD for the
avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered
themselves. {5:3} Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes;
I, [even] I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing [praise] to
the LORD God of Israel. {5:4} LORD, when thou wentest
out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom,
the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also
dropped water. {5:5} The mountains melted from before the
LORD, [even] that Sinai from before the LORD God of
Israel. {5:6} In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the
days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the
travelers walked through byways. {5:7} [The inhabitants of]
the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I
Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. {5:8} They
chose new gods; then [was] war in the gates: was there a
shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? {5:9}
My heart [is] toward the governors of Israel, that offered
themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.
{5:10} Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in
judgment, and walk by the way. {5:11} [They that are
delivered] from the noise of archers in the places of drawing
water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the
LORD, [even] the righteous acts [toward the inhabitants] of
his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go
down to the gates. {5:12} Awake, awake, Deborah: awake,
awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity
captive, thou son of Abinoam. {5:13} Then he made him
that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the
people: the LORD made me have dominion over the
mighty. {5:14} Out of Ephraim [was there] a root of them
against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people;
out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun
they that handle the pen of the writer. {5:15} And the
princes of Issachar [were] with Deborah; even Issachar, and
also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the
divisions of Reuben [there were] great thoughts of heart.
{5:16} Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the
bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben [there
were] great searchings of heart. {5:17} Gilead abode
beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher
continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.
{5:18} Zebulun and Naphtali [were] a people [that]
jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the
field. {5:19} The kings came [and] fought, then fought the
kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they
took no gain of money. {5:20} They fought from heaven;
the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. {5:21} The
river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the
river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.
{5:22} Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of
the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. {5:23}
Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye
bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the
help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the
mighty. {5:24} Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of
Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in
the tent. {5:25} He asked water, [and] she gave [him] milk;
she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. {5:26} She put her
hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s
hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote
off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his
temples. {5:27} At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down:
at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell
down dead. {5:28} The mother of Sisera looked out at a
window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot
[so] long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?
{5:29} Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned
answer to herself, {5:30} Have they not sped? have they
[not] divided the prey; to every man a damsel [or] two; to
Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of
needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides,
[meet] for the necks of [them that take] the spoil? {5:31} So
let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but [let] them that
love him [be] as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.
And the land had rest forty years.

6 {6:1} And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the
LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of
Midian seven years. {6:2} And the hand of Midian
prevailed against Israel: [and] because of the Midianites the
children of Israel made them the dens which [are] in the
mountains, and caves, and strong holds. {6:3} And [so] it
was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up,
and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they
came up against them; {6:4} And they encamped against
them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come
unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep,
nor ox, nor ass. {6:5} For they came up with their cattle and
their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude;
[for] both they and their camels were without number: and
they entered into the land to destroy it. {6:6} And Israel was
greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the
children of Israel cried unto the LORD.
{6:7} And it came to pass, when the children of Israel
cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, {6:8} That
the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which
said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I
brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of
the house of bondage; {6:9} And I delivered you out of the
hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that
oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and
gave you their land; {6:10} And I said unto you, I [am] the
LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in
whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.
{6:11} And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat
under an oak which [was] in Ophrah, that [pertained] unto
Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by
the winepress, to hide [it] from the Midianites. {6:12} And
the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto
him, The LORD [is] with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
{6:13} And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the
LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and
where [be] all his miracles which our fathers told us of,
saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now
the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands
of the Midianites. {6:14} And the LORD looked upon him,
and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel
from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
{6:15} And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall
I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I
[am] the least in my father’s house. {6:16} And the LORD
said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt
smite the Midianites as one man. {6:17} And he said unto
him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a
sign that thou talkest with me. {6:18} Depart not hence, I
pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my
present, and set [it] before thee. And he said, I will tarry
until thou come again.
{6:19} And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and
unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a
basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought [it] out
unto him under the oak, and presented [it.] {6:20} And the
angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the
unleavened cakes, and lay [them] upon this rock, and pour
out the broth. And he did so.
{6:21} Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of
the staff that [was] in his hand, and touched the flesh and
the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock,
and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the
angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. {6:22} And
when Gideon perceived that he [was] an angel of the
LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have
seen an angel of the LORD face to face. {6:23} And the
LORD said unto him, Peace [be] unto thee; fear not: thou
shalt not die. {6:24} Then Gideon built an altar there unto
the LORD, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is
yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.
{6:25} And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD
said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the
second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar
of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that [is]
by it: {6:26} And build an altar unto the LORD thy God
upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the
second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of
the grove which thou shalt cut down. {6:27} Then Gideon
took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said
unto him: and [so] it was, because he feared his father’s
household, and the men of the city, that he could not do [it]
by day, that he did [it] by night.
{6:28} And when the men of the city arose early in the
morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the
grove was cut down that [was] by it, and the second bullock
was offered upon the altar [that was] built. {6:29} And they
said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when
they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash
hath done this thing. {6:30} Then the men of the city said
unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he
hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut
down the grove that [was] by it. {6:31} And Joash said unto
all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye
save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death
whilst [it is yet] morning: if he [be] a god, let him plead for
himself, because [one] hath cast down his altar. {6:32}
Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let
Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his
altar.
{6:33} Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the
children of the east were gathered together, and went over,
and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. {6:34} But the Spirit of
the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and
Abi-ezer was gathered after him. {6:35} And he sent
messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was
gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and
unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet
them.
{6:36} And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel
by mine hand, as thou hast said, {6:37} Behold, I will put a
fleece of wool in the floor; [and] if the dew be on the fleece
only, and [it be] dry upon all the earth [beside,] then shall I
know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast
said. {6:38} And it was so: for he rose up early on the
morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew
out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. {6:39} And Gideon
said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I
will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this
once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece,
and upon all the ground let there be dew. {6:40} And God
did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and
there was dew on all the ground.

7 {7:1} Then Jerubbaal, who [is] Gideon, and all the people
that [were] with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the
well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the
north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. {7:2}
And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that [are] with
thee [are] too many for me to give the Midianites into their
hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine
own hand hath saved me. {7:3} Now therefore go to,
proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever [is]
fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from
mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and
two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. {7:4} And
the LORD said unto Gideon, The people [are] yet [too]
many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them
for thee there: and it shall be, [that] of whom I say unto
thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee;
and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with
thee, the same shall not go. {7:5} So he brought down the
people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon,
Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a
dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every
one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. {7:6} And
the number of them that lapped, [putting] their hand to their
mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the
people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. {7:7}
And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men
that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into
thine hand: and let all the [other] people go every man unto
his place. {7:8} So the people took victuals in their hand,
and their trumpets: and he sent all [the rest of] Israel every
man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men:
and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
{7:9} And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD
said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have
delivered it into thine hand. {7:10} But if thou fear to go
down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:
{7:11} And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward
shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host.
Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside
of the armed men that [were] in the host. {7:12} And the
Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the
east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude;
and their camels [were] without number, as the sand by the
sea side for multitude. {7:13} And when Gideon was come,
behold, [there was] a man that told a dream unto his fellow,
and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of
barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came
unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that
the tent lay along. {7:14} And his fellow answered and said,
This [is] nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of
Joash, a man of Israel: [for] into his hand hath God
delivered Midian, and all the host.
{7:15} And it was [so,] when Gideon heard the telling of
the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he
worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said,
Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host
of Midian. {7:16} And he divided the three hundred men
[into] three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s
hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
{7:17} And he said unto them, Look on me, and do
likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the
camp, it shall be [that,] as I do, so shall ye do. {7:18} When
I blow with a trumpet, I and all that [are] with me, then
blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and
say, [The sword] of the LORD, and of Gideon.
{7:19} So Gideon, and the hundred men that [were] with
him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of
the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and
they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that [were] in
their hands. {7:20} And the three companies blew the
trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their
left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow
[withal:] and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of
Gideon. {7:21} And they stood every man in his place
round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and
fled. {7:22} And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and
the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even
throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in
Zererath, [and] to the border of Abel-meholah, unto
Tabbath. {7:23} And the men of Israel gathered themselves
together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all
Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.
{7:24} And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount
Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and
take before them the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan.
Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together,
and took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. {7:25}
And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and
Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb
they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian,
and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the
other side Jordan.

8 {8:1} And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast
thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou
wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide
with him sharply. {8:2} And he said unto them, What have I
done now in comparison of you? [Is] not the gleaning of the
grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi-ezer?
{8:3} God hath delivered into your hands the princes of
Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in
comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward
him, when he had said that.
{8:4} And Gideon came to Jordan, [and] passed over, he,
and the three hundred men that [were] with him, faint, yet
pursuing [them.] {8:5} And he said unto the men of
Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people
that follow me; for they [be] faint, and I am pursuing after
Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.
{8:6} And the princes of Succoth said, [Are] the hands of
Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should
give bread unto thine army? {8:7} And Gideon said,
Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and
Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with
the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
{8:8} And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto
them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the
men of Succoth had answered [him.] {8:9} And he spake
also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in
peace, I will break down this tower.
{8:10} Now Zebah and Zalmunna [were] in Karkor, and
their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand [men,] all that
were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there
fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.
{8:11} And Gideon went up by the way of them that
dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote
the host: for the host was secure. {8:12} And when Zebah
and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two
kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all
the host.
{8:13} And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle
before the sun [was up, ]{8:14} And caught a young man of
the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described
unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof,
[even] threescore and seventeen men. {8:15} And he came
unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and
Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, [Are] the
hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we
should give bread unto thy men [that are] weary? {8:16}
And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the
wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of
Succoth. {8:17} And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and
slew the men of the city.
{8:18} Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What
manner of men [were they] whom ye slew at Tabor? And
they answered, As thou [art,] so [were] they; each one
resembled the children of a king. {8:19} And he said, They
[were] my brethren, [even] the sons of my mother: [as] the
LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay
you. {8:20} And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, [and]
slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared,
because he [was] yet a youth. {8:21} Then Zebah and
Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man
[is, so is] his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah
and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that [were] on
their camels’ necks.
{8:22} Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule
thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also:
for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. {8:23}
And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither
shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.
{8:24} And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a
request of you, that ye would give me every man the
earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because
they [were] Ishmaelites.) {8:25} And they answered, We
will willingly give [them.] And they spread a garment, and
did cast therein every man the earrings of his spoil. {8:26}
And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was
a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold; beside
ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that [was] on the
kings of Midian, and beside the chains that [were] about
their camels’ necks. {8:27} And Gideon made an ephod
thereof, and put it in his city, [even] in Ophrah: and all
Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a
snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
{8:28} Thus was Midian subdued before the children of
Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the
country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
{8:29} And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in
his own house. {8:30} And Gideon had threescore and ten
sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives. {8:31}
And his concubine that [was] in Shechem, she also bare him
a son, whose name he called Abimelech.
{8:32} And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old
age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in
Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites. {8:33} And it came to pass, as
soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned
again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith
their god. {8:34} And the children of Israel
remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered
them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:
{8:35} Neither shewed they kindness to the house of
Jerubbaal, [namely,] Gideon, according to all the goodness
which he had shewed unto Israel.

9 {9:1} And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to
Shechem unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with
them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s
father, saying, {9:2} Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the
men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all
the sons of Jerubbaal, [which are] threescore and ten
persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you?
remember also that I [am] your bone and your flesh. {9:3}
And his mother’s brethren spake of him in the ears of all the
men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to
follow Abimelech; for they said, He [is] our brother. {9:4}
And they gave him threescore and ten [pieces] of silver out
of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired
vain and light persons, which followed him. {9:5} And he
went unto his father’s house at Ophrah, and slew his
brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, [being] threescore and ten
persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the
youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself. {9:6}
And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the
house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the
plain of the pillar that [was] in Shechem.
{9:7} And when they told [it] to Jotham, he went and
stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice,
and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of
Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. {9:8} The trees
went forth [on a time] to anoint a king over them; and they
said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. {9:9} But the
olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness,
wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be
promoted over the trees? {9:10} And the trees said to the fig
tree, Come thou, [and] reign over us. {9:11} But the fig tree
said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my
good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? {9:12}
Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, [and] reign
over us. {9:13} And the vine said unto them, Should I leave
my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be
promoted over the trees? {9:14} Then said all the trees unto
the bramble, Come thou, [and] reign over us. {9:15} And
the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king
over you, [then] come [and] put your trust in my shadow:
and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the
cedars of Lebanon. {9:16} Now therefore, if ye have done
truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king,
and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and
have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands;
{9:17} (For my father fought for you, and adventured his
life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: {9:18}
And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and
have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one
stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his
maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he [is]
your brother;) {9:19} If ye then have dealt truly and
sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, [then]
rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you:
{9:20} But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and
devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let
fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house
of Millo, and devour Abimelech. {9:21} And Jotham ran
away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear
of Abimelech his brother.
{9:22} When Abimelech had reigned three years over
Israel, {9:23} Then God sent an evil spirit between
Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of
Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech: {9:24} That
the cruelty [done] to the threescore and ten sons of
Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon
Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the
men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his
brethren. {9:25} And the men of Shechem set liers in wait
for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that
came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech.
{9:26} And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren,
and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put
their confidence in him. {9:27} And they went out into the
fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode [the grapes,]
and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and
did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech. {9:28} And Gaal
the son of Ebed said, Who [is] Abimelech, and who [is]
Shechem, that we should serve him? [is] not [he] the son of
Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor
the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?
{9:29} And would to God this people were under my hand!
then would I remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech,
Increase thine army, and come out.
{9:30} And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the
words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.
{9:31} And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privily,
saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be
come to Shechem; and, behold, they fortify the city against
thee. {9:32} Now therefore up by night, thou and the people
that [is] with thee, and lie in wait in the field: {9:33} And it
shall be, [that] in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou
shalt rise early, and set upon the city: and, behold, [when]
he and the people that [is] with him come out against thee,
then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.
{9:34} And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that
[were] with him, by night, and they laid wait against
Shechem in four companies. {9:35} And Gaal the son of
Ebed went out, and stood in the entering of the gate of the
city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people that [were]
with him, from lying in wait. {9:36} And when Gaal saw
the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people
down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said unto
him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as [if they
were] men. {9:37} And Gaal spake again and said, See
there come people down by the middle of the land, and
another company come along by the plain of Meonenim.
{9:38} Then said Zebul unto him, Where [is] now thy
mouth, wherewith thou saidst, Who [is] Abimelech, that we
should serve him? [is] not this the people that thou hast
despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them. {9:39}
And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought
with Abimelech. {9:40} And Abimelech chased him, and he
fled before him, and many were overthrown [and] wounded,
[even] unto the entering of the gate. {9:41} And Abimelech
dwelt at Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his
brethren, that they should not dwell in Shechem. {9:42}
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people went out
into the field; and they told Abimelech. {9:43} And he took
the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid
wait in the field, and looked, and, behold, the people [were]
come forth out of the city; and he rose up against them, and
smote them. {9:44} And Abimelech, and the company that
[was] with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entering of
the gate of the city: and the two [other] companies ran upon
all [the people] that [were] in the fields, and slew them.
{9:45} And Abimelech fought against the city all that day;
and he took the city, and slew the people that [was] therein,
and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.
{9:46} And when all the men of the tower of Shechem
heard [that,] they entered into an hold of the house of the
god Berith. {9:47} And it was told Abimelech, that all the
men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.
{9:48} And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and
all the people that [were] with him; and Abimelech took an
axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and
took it, and laid [it] on his shoulder, and said unto the
people that [were] with him, What ye have seen me do,
make haste, [and] do as I [have done.] {9:49} And all the
people likewise cut down every man his bough, and
followed Abimelech, and put [them] to the hold, and set the
hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of
Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.
{9:50} Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped
against Thebez, and took it. {9:51} But there was a strong
tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and
women, and all they of the city, and shut [it] to them, and
gat them up to the top of the tower. {9:52} And Abimelech
came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard
unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire. {9:53} And a
certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s
head, and all to brake his skull. {9:54} Then he called
hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto
him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me,
A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through,
and he died. {9:55} And when the men of Israel saw that
Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his
place.
{9:56} Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech,
which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren:
{9:57} And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God
render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of
Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

10 {10:1} And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel
Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar;
and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. {10:2} And he
judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was
buried in Shamir.
{10:3} And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged
Israel twenty and two years. {10:4} And he had thirty sons
that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which
are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which [are] in the land
of Gilead. {10:5} And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.
{10:6} And the children of Israel did evil again in the
sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and
the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of
Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods
of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not
him. {10:7} And the anger of the LORD was hot against
Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines,
and into the hands of the children of Ammon. {10:8} And
that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel:
eighteen years, all the children of Israel that [were] on the
other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which [is] in
Gilead. {10:9} Moreover the children of Ammon passed
over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against
Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel
was sore distressed.
{10:10} And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD,
saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have
forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. {10:11} And the
LORD said unto the children of Israel, [Did] not [I deliver
you] from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the
children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? {10:12} The
Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did
oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of
their hand. {10:13} Yet ye have forsaken me, and served
other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. {10:14}
Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them
deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
{10:15} And the children of Israel said unto the LORD,
We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good
unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. {10:16}
And they put away the strange gods from among them, and
served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery
of Israel. {10:17} Then the children of Ammon were
gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the
children of Israel assembled themselves together, and
encamped in Mizpeh. {10:18} And the people [and] princes
of Gilead said one to another, What man [is he] that will
begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be
head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

11 {11:1} Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of
valour, and he [was] the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat
Jephthah. {11:2} And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his
wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said
unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for
thou [art] the son of a strange woman. {11:3} Then
Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of
Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and
went out with him.
{11:4} And it came to pass in process of time, that the
children of Ammon made war against Israel. {11:5} And it
was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against
Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the
land of Tob: {11:6} And they said unto Jephthah, Come,
and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of
Ammon. {11:7} And Jephthah said unto the elders of
Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s
house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in
distress? {11:8} And the elders of Gilead said unto
Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou
mayest go with us, and fight against the children of
Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
{11:9} And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye
bring me home again to fight against the children of
Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be
your head? {11:10} And the elders of Gilead said unto
Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so
according to thy words. {11:11} Then Jephthah went with
the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and
captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before
the LORD in Mizpeh.
{11:12} And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of
the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with
me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
{11:13} And the king of the children of Ammon answered
unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away
my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even
unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those
[lands] again peaceably. {11:14} And Jephthah sent
messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon:
{11:15} And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took
not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of
Ammon: {11:16} But when Israel came up from Egypt, and
walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came
to Kadesh; {11:17} Then Israel sent messengers unto the
king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy
land: but the king of Edom would not hearken [thereto.]
And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he
would not [consent:] and Israel abode in Kadesh. {11:18}
Then they went along through the wilderness, and
compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and
came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on
the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of
Moab: for Arnon [was] the border of Moab. {11:19} And
Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the
king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we
pray thee, through thy land into my place. {11:20} But
Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon
gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and
fought against Israel. {11:21} And the LORD God of Israel
delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel,
and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the
Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. {11:22} And they
possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even
unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
{11:23} So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed
the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest
thou possess it? {11:24} Wilt not thou possess that which
Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever
the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will
we possess. {11:25} And now [art] thou any thing better
than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever
strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,
{11:26} While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and
in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that [be] along
by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore
did ye not recover [them] within that time? {11:27}
Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me
wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this
day between the children of Israel and the children of
Ammon. {11:28} Howbeit the king of the children of
Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he
sent him.
{11:29} Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon
Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and
passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead
he passed over [unto] the children of Ammon. {11:30} And
Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou
shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine
hands, {11:31} Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh
forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in
peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the
LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
{11:32} So Jephthah passed over unto the children of
Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered
them into his hands. {11:33} And he smote them from
Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, [even] twenty cities,
and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great
slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued
before the children of Israel.
{11:34} And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house,
and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with
timbrels and with dances: and she [was his] only child;
beside her he had neither son nor daughter. {11:35} And it
came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and
said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low,
and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened
my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. {11:36}
And she said unto him, My father, [if] thou hast opened thy
mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which
hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD
hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, [even] of
the children of Ammon. {11:37} And she said unto her
father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two
months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains,
and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. {11:38} And he
said, Go. And he sent her away [for] two months: and she
went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon
the mountains. {11:39} And it came to pass at the end of
two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with
her [according] to his vow which he had vowed: and she
knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, {11:40} [That]
the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of
Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

12 {12:1} And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves
together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah,
Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children
of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will
burn thine house upon thee with fire. {12:2} And Jephthah
said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the
children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me
not out of their hands. {12:3} And when I saw that ye
delivered [me] not, I put my life in my hands, and passed
over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD
delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come
up unto me this day, to fight against me? {12:4} Then
Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and
fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote
Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites [are] fugitives of
Ephraim among the Ephraimites, [and] among the
Manassites. {12:5} And the Gileadites took the passages of
Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was [so,] that when
those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over;
that the men of Gilead said unto him, [Art] thou an
Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; {12:6} Then said they unto
him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he
could not frame to pronounce [it] right. Then they took him,
and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that
time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. {12:7} And
Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the
Gileadite, and was buried in [one of] the cities of Gilead.
{12:8} And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
{12:9} And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, [whom]
he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for
his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. {12:10} Then
died Ibzan, and was buried at Bethlehem.
{12:11} And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel;
and he judged Israel ten years. {12:12} And Elon the
Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of
Zebulun.
{12:13} And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a
Pirathonite, judged Israel. {12:14} And he had forty sons
and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass
colts: and he judged Israel eight years. {12:15} And Abdon
the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in
Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the
Amalekites.

13 {13:1} And the children of Israel did evil again in the
sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the
hand of the Philistines forty years.
{13:2} And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the
family of the Danites, whose name [was] Manoah; and his
wife [was] barren, and bare not. {13:3} And the angel of the
LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold
now, thou [art] barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt
conceive, and bear a son. {13:4} Now therefore beware, I
pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not
any unclean [thing:] {13:5} For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and
bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the
child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he
shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
{13:6} Then the woman came and told her husband,
saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance
[was] like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible:
but I asked him not whence he [was,] neither told he me his
name: {13:7} But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt
conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong
drink, neither eat any unclean [thing:] for the child shall be
a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
{13:8} Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my
Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again
unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that
shall be born. {13:9} And God hearkened to the voice of
Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman
as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband [was] not
with her. {13:10} And the woman made haste, and ran, and
shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man
hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the [other] day.
{13:11} And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and
came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that
spakest unto the woman? And he said, I [am.] {13:12} And
Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall
we order the child, and [how] shall we do unto him?
{13:13} And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of
all that I said unto the woman let her beware. {13:14} She
may not eat of any [thing] that cometh of the vine, neither
let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean
[thing:] all that I commanded her let her observe.
{13:15} And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I
pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready
a kid for thee. {13:16} And the angel of the LORD said
unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy
bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must
offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he [was]
an angel of the LORD. {13:17} And Manoah said unto the
angel of the LORD, What [is] thy name, that when thy
sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? {13:18} And
the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus
after my name, seeing it is secret? {13:19} So Manoah took
a kid with a meat offering, and offered [it] upon a rock unto
the LORD: and [the angel] did wonderously; and Manoah
and his wife looked on. {13:20} For it came to pass, when
the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the
angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And
Manoah and his wife looked on [it,] and fell on their faces
to the ground. {13:21} But the angel of the LORD did no
more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew
that he [was] an angel of the LORD. {13:22} And Manoah
said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have
seen God. {13:23} But his wife said unto him, If the LORD
were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt
offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he
have shewed us all these [things,] nor would as at this time
have told us [such things] as these.
{13:24} And the woman bare a son, and called his name
Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.
{13:25} And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at
times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

14 {14:1} And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw
a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
{14:2} And he came up, and told his father and his mother,
and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters
of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
{14:3} Then his father and his mother said unto him, [Is
there] never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren,
or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the
uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father,
Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. {14:4} But his
father and his mother knew not that it [was] of the LORD,
that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that
time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
{14:5} Then went Samson down, and his father and his
mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath:
and, behold, a young lion roared against him. {14:6} And
the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent
him as he would have rent a kid, and [he had] nothing in his
hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had
done. {14:7} And he went down, and talked with the
woman; and she pleased Samson well.
{14:8} And after a time he returned to take her, and he
turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold,
[there was] a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the
lion. {14:9} And he took thereof in his hands, and went on
eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave
them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had
taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.
{14:10} So his father went down unto the woman: and
Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to
do. {14:11} And it came to pass, when they saw him, that
they brought thirty companions to be with him.
{14:12} And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth
a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the
seven days of the feast, and find [it] out, then I will give you
thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: {14:13} But if
ye cannot declare [it] me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets
and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put
forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. {14:14} And he said
unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the
strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three
days expound the riddle. {14:15} And it came to pass on the
seventh day, that they said unto Samson’s wife, Entice thy
husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we
burn thee and thy father’s house with fire: have ye called us
to take that we have? [is it] not [so?] {14:16} And Samson’s
wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and
lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children
of my people, and hast not told [it] me. And he said unto
her, Behold, I have not told [it] my father nor my mother,
and shall I tell [it] thee? {14:17} And she wept before him
the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass
on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore
upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her
people. {14:18} And the men of the city said unto 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 unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye
had not found out my riddle.
{14:19} And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and
he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them,
and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them
which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled,
and he went up to his father’s house. {14:20} But Samson’s
wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had used as
his friend.

15 {15:1} But it came to pass within a while after, in the
time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a
kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But
her father would not suffer him to go in. {15:2} And her
father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her;
therefore I gave her to thy companion: [is] not her younger
sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.
{15:3} And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be
more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a
displeasure. {15:4} And Samson went and caught three
hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail,
and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. {15:5}
And when he had set the brands on fire, he [let] them go
into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both
the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards
[and] olives.
{15:6} Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this?
And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite,
because he had taken his wife, and given her to his
companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and
her father with fire.
{15:7} And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done
this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
{15:8} And he smote them hip and thigh with a great
slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the
rock Etam.
{15:9} Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah,
and spread themselves in Lehi. {15:10} And the men of
Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they
answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as
he hath done to us. {15:11} Then three thousand men of
Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson,
Knowest thou not that the Philistines [are] rulers over us?
what [is] this [that] thou hast done unto us? And he said
unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
{15:12} And they said unto him, We are come down to bind
thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the
Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me,
that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. {15:13} And they
spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and
deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee.
And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him
up from the rock.
{15:14} [And] when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines
shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came
mightily upon him, and the cords that [were] upon his arms
became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands
loosed from off his hands. {15:15} And he found a new
jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and
slew a thousand men therewith. {15:16} And Samson said,
With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw
of an ass have I slain a thousand men. {15:17} And it came
to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast
away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place
Ramath-lehi.
{15:18} And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD,
and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the
hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall
into the hand of the uncircumcised? {15:19} But God clave
an hollow place that [was] in the jaw, and there came water
thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and
he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore,
which [is] in Lehi unto this day. {15:20} And he
judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

16 {16:1} Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there
an harlot, and went in unto her. {16:2} [And it was told]
the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they
compassed [him] in, and laid wait for him all night in the
gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In
the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. {16:3} And
Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took
the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and
went away with them, bar and all, and put [them] upon his
shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is
before Hebron.
{16:4} And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a
woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name [was] Delilah.
{16:5} And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her,
and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great
strength [lieth,] and by what [means] we may prevail
against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we
will give thee every one of us eleven hundred [pieces] of
silver.
{16:6} And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee,
wherein thy great strength [lieth,] and wherewith thou
mightest be bound to afflict thee. {16:7} And Samson said
unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were
never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
{16:8} Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her
seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound
him with them. {16:9} Now [there were] men lying in wait,
abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him,
The Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson. And he brake the
withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire.
So his strength was not known. {16:10} And Delilah said
unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me
lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be
bound. {16:11} And he said unto her, If they bind me fast
with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be
weak, and be as another man. {16:12} Delilah therefore
took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto
him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And [there
were] liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake
them from off his arms like a thread. {16:13} And Delilah
said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told
me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he
said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head
with the web. {16:14} And she fastened [it] with the pin,
and said unto him, The Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson.
And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin
of the beam, and with the web.
{16:15} And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I
love thee, when thine heart [is] not with me? thou hast
mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein
thy great strength [lieth.] {16:16} And it came to pass,
when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him,
[so] that his soul was vexed unto death; {16:17} That he
told her all his heart, and said unto her. There hath not come
a razor upon mine head; for I [have been] a Nazarite unto
God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my
strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be
like any [other] man. {16:18} And when Delilah saw that he
had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of
the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath
shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.
{16:19} And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she
called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven
locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his
strength went from him. {16:20} And she said, The
Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his
sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and
shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed
from him.
{16:21} But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes,
and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters
of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. {16:22}
Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he
was shaven. {16:23} Then the lords of the Philistines
gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto
Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath
delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. {16:24} And
when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they
said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and
the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
{16:25} And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry,
that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.
And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he
made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.
{16:26} And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the
hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the
house standeth, that I may lean upon them. {16:27} Now
the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of
the Philistines [were] there; and [there were] upon the roof
about three thousand men and women, that beheld while
Samson made sport. {16:28} And Samson called unto the
LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee,
and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I
may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
{16:29} And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars
upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up,
of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
{16:30} And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.
And he bowed himself with [all his] might; and the house
fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that [were]
therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more
than [they] which he slew in his life. {16:31} Then his
brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took
him, and brought [him] up, and buried him between Zorah
and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And
he judged Israel twenty years.

17 {17:1} And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose
name [was] Micah. {17:2} And he said unto his mother,
The eleven hundred [shekels] of silver that were taken from
thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine
ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother
said, Blessed [be thou] of the LORD, my son. {17:3} And
when he had restored the eleven hundred [shekels] of silver
to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the
silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a
graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will
restore it unto thee. {17:4} Yet he restored the money unto
his mother; and his mother took two hundred [shekels] of
silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a
graven image and a molten image: and they were in the
house of Micah. {17:5} And the man Micah had an house
of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated
one of his sons, who became his priest. {17:6} In those days
[there was] no king in Israel, [but] every man did [that
which was] right in his own eyes.
{17:7} And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah
of the family of Judah, who [was] a Levite, and he so-
journed there. {17:8} And the man departed out of
the city from Bethlehemjudah to sojourn where he could
find [a place:] and he came to mount Ephraim to the house
of Micah, as he journeyed. {17:9} And Micah said unto
him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I [am] a
Levite of Bethlehemjudah, and I go to sojourn where I may
find [a place. ]{17:10} And Micah said unto him, Dwell
with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will
give thee ten [shekels] of silver by the year, and a suit of
apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. {17:11}
And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the
young man was unto him as one of his sons. {17:12} And
Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became
his priest, and was in the house of Micah. {17:13} Then
said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good,
seeing I have a Levite to [my] priest.

18 {18:1} In those days [there was] no king in Israel:
and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an
inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day [all their]
inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of
Israel. {18:2} And the children of Dan sent of their family
five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and
from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they
said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to
mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.
{18:3} When they [were] by the house of Micah, they knew
the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in
thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and
what makest thou in this [place?] and what hast thou here?
{18:4} And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah
with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. {18:5} And
they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that
we may know whether our way which we go shall be
prosperous. {18:6} And the priest said unto them, Go in
peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.
{18:7} Then the five men departed, and came to Laish,
and saw the people that [were] therein, how they dwelt
careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and
secure; and [there was] no magistrate in the land, that might
put [them] to shame in [any] thing; and they [were] far from
the Zidonians, and had no business with [any] man. {18:8}
And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol:
and their brethren said unto them, What [say] ye? {18:9}
And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for
we have seen the land, and, behold, it [is] very good: and
[are] ye still? be not slothful to go, [and] to enter to possess
the land. {18:10} When ye go, ye shall come unto a people
secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your
hands; a place where [there is] no want of any thing that [is]
in the earth.
{18:11} And there went from thence of the family of the
Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men
appointed with weapons of war. {18:12} And they went up,
and pitched in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah: wherefore they
called that place Mahaneh-dan unto this day: behold, [it is]
behind Kirjath-jearim. {18:13} And they passed thence unto
mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.
{18:14} Then answered the five men that went to spy out
the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye
know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim,
and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore
consider what ye have to do. {18:15} And they turned
thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the
Levite, [even] unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.
{18:16} And the six hundred men appointed with their
weapons of war, which [were] of the children of Dan, stood
by the entering of the gate. {18:17} And the five men that
went to spy out the land went up, [and] came in thither,
[and] took the graven image, and the ephod, and the
teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the
entering of the gate with the six hundred men [that were]
appointed with weapons of war. {18:18} And these went
into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the
ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said
the priest unto them, What do ye? {18:19} And they said
unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth,
and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: [is it]
better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or
that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?
{18:20} And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the
ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in
the midst of the people. {18:21} So they turned and
departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the
carriage before them.
{18:22} [And] when they were a good way from the
house of Micah, the men that [were] in the houses near to
Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the
children of Dan. {18:23} And they cried unto the children
of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah,
What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?
{18:24} And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I
made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I
more? and what [is] this [that] ye say unto me, What aileth
thee? {18:25} And the children of Dan said unto him, Let
not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run
upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy
household. {18:26} And the children of Dan went their
way: and when Micah saw that they [were] too strong for
him, he turned and went back unto his house. {18:27} And
they took [the things] which Micah had made, and the priest
which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people [that
were] at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the
edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. {18:28} And
[there was] no deliverer, because it [was] far from Zidon,
and they had no business with [any] man; and it was in the
valley that [lieth] by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and
dwelt therein. {18:29} And they called the name of the city
Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto
Israel: howbeit the name of the city [was] Laish at the first.
{18:30} And the children of Dan set up the graven image:
and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he
and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of
the captivity of the land. {18:31} And they set them up
Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the
house of God was in Shiloh.

19 {19:1} And it came to pass in those days, when [there
was] no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite
sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a
concubine out of Bethlehemjudah. {19:2} And his
concubine played the whore against him, and went away
from him unto her father’s house to Bethlehemjudah, and
was there four whole months. {19:3} And her husband
arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, [and]
to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a
couple of asses: and she brought him into her father’s
house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he
rejoiced to meet him. {19:4} And his father in law, the
damsel’s father, retained him; and he abode with him three
days: so they did eat and drink, and lodged there.
{19:5} And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they
arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the
damsel’s father said unto his son in law, Comfort thine heart
with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way. {19:6}
And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them
together: for the damsel’s father had said unto the man, Be
content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart
be merry. {19:7} And when the man rose up to depart, his
father in law urged him: therefore he lodged there again.
{19:8} And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to
depart: and the damsel’s father said, Comfort thine heart, I
pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they did eat
both of them. {19:9} And when the man rose up to depart,
he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the
damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the day
draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold,
the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may
be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that
thou mayest go home. {19:10} But the man would not tarry
that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over
against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and [there were] with
him two asses saddled, his concubine also [was] with him.
{19:11} [And] when they [were] by Jebus, the day was far
spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray
thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and
lodge in it. {19:12} And his master said unto him, We will
not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that [is] not
of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.
{19:13} And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us
draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in
Gibeah, or in Ramah. {19:14} And they passed on and went
their way; and the sun went down upon them [when they
were] by Gibeah, which [belongeth] to Benjamin. {19:15}
And they turned aside thither, to go in [and] to lodge in
Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of
the city: for [there was] no man that took them into his
house to lodging.
{19:16} And, behold, there came an old man from his
work out of the field at even, which [was] also of mount
Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the
place [were] Benjamites. {19:17} And when he had lifted
up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the
city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence
comest thou? {19:18} And he said unto him, We [are]
passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount
Ephraim; from thence [am] I: and I went to
Bethlehemjudah, but I [am now] going to the house of the
LORD; and there [is] no man that receiveth me to house.
{19:19} Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses;
and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy
handmaid, and for the young man [which is] with thy
servants: [there is] no want of any thing. {19:20} And the
old man said, Peace [be] with thee; howsoever [let] all thy
wants [lie] upon me; only lodge not in the street. {19:21}
So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto
the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.
{19:22} [Now] as they were making their hearts merry,
behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the
house round about, [and] beat at the door, and spake to the
master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the
man that came into thine house, that we may know him.
{19:23} And the man, the master of the house, went out
unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, [nay,] I
pray you, do not [so] wickedly; seeing that this man is come
into mine house, do not this folly. {19:24} Behold, [here is]
my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring
out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what
seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a
thing. {19:25} But the men would not hearken to him: so
the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto
them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until
the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her
go. {19:26} Then came the woman in the dawning of the
day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her
lord [was,] till it was light. {19:27} And her lord rose up in
the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went
out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine
was fallen down [at] the door of the house, and her hands
[were] upon the threshold. {19:28} And he said unto her,
Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man
took her [up] upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him
unto his place.
{19:29} And when he was come into his house, he took a
knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her,
[together] with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her
into all the coasts of Israel. {19:30} And it was so, that all
that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from
the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of
Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak
[your minds.]

20 {20:1} Then all the children of Israel went out, and the
congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan
even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD
in Mizpeh. {20:2} And the chief of all the people, [even] of
all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly
of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that
drew sword. {20:3} (Now the children of Benjamin heard
that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then
said the children of Israel, Tell [us,] how was this
wickedness? {20:4} And the Levite, the husband of the
woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into
Gibeah that [belongeth] to Benjamin, I and my concubine,
to lodge. {20:5} And the men of Gibeah rose against me,
and beset the house round about upon me by night, [and]
thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they
forced, that she is dead. {20:6} And I took my concubine,
and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country
of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed
lewdness and folly in Israel. {20:7} Behold, ye [are] all
children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.
{20:8} And all the people arose as one man, saying, We
will not any [of us] go to his tent, neither will we any [of us]
turn into his house. {20:9} But now this [shall be] the thing
which we will do to Gibeah; [we will go up] by lot against
it; {20:10} And we will take ten men of an hundred
throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a
thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch
victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to
Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they
have wrought in Israel. {20:11} So all the men of Israel
were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.
{20:12} And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the
tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness [is] this that is
done among you? {20:13} Now therefore deliver [us] the
men, the children of Belial, which [are] in Gibeah, that we
may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But
the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of
their brethren the children of Israel: {20:14} But the
children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of
the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the
children of Israel. {20:15} And the children of Benjamin
were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six
thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of
Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
{20:16} Among all this people [there were] seven hundred
chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an
hair [breadth,] and not miss. {20:17} And the men of Israel,
beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand
men that drew sword: all these [were] men of war.
{20:18} And the children of Israel arose, and went up to
the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said,
Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the
children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah [shall go
up] first. {20:19} And the children of Israel rose up in the
morning, and encamped against Gibeah. {20:20} And the
men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the
men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them
at Gibeah. {20:21} And the children of Benjamin came
forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of
the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.
{20:22} And the people the men of Israel encouraged
themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place
where they put themselves in array the first day. {20:23}
(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the
LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying,
Shall I go up again to battle against the children of
Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against
him.) {20:24} And the children of Israel came near against
the children of Benjamin the second day. {20:25} And
Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second
day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of
Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the
sword.
{20:26} Then all the children of Israel, and all the people,
went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat
there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and
offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the
LORD. {20:27} And the children of Israel enquired of the
LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God [was] there in
those days, {20:28} And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the
son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I
yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin
my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up;
for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand. {20:29}
And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. {20:30}
And the children of Israel went up against the children of
Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array
against Gibeah, as at other times. {20:31} And the children
of Benjamin went out against the people, [and] were drawn
away from the city; and they began to smite of the people,
[and] kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one
goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the
field, about thirty men of Israel. {20:32} And the children
of Benjamin said, They [are] smitten down before us, as at
the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and
draw them from the city unto the highways. {20:33} And all
the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put
themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of
Israel came forth out of their places, [even] out of the
meadows of Gibeah. {20:34} And there came against
Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the
battle was sore: but they knew not that evil [was] near them.
{20:35} And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and
the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day
twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these
drew the sword. {20:36} So the children of Benjamin saw
that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to
the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait
which they had set beside Gibeah. {20:37} And the liers in
wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait
drew [themselves] along, and smote all the city with the
edge of the sword. {20:38} Now there was an appointed
sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that
they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of
the city. {20:39} And when the men of Israel retired in the
battle, Benjamin began to smite [and] kill of the men of
Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are
smitten down before us, as [in] the first battle. {20:40} But
when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar
of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold,
the flame of the city ascended up to heaven. {20:41} And
when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin
were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.
{20:42} Therefore they turned [their backs] before the men
of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle
overtook them; and them which [came] out of the cities they
destroyed in the midst of them. {20:43} [Thus] they
inclosed the Benjamites round about, [and] chased them,
[and] trode them down with ease over against Gibeah
toward the sunrising. {20:44} And there fell of Benjamin
eighteen thousand men; all these [were] men of valour.
{20:45} And they turned and fled toward the wilderness
unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the
highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them
unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. {20:46}
So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and
five thousand men that drew the sword; all these [were] men
of valour. {20:47} But six hundred men turned and fled to
the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock
Rimmon four months. {20:48} And the men of Israel turned
again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with
the edge of the sword, as well the men of [every] city, as the
beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the
cities that they came to.

21 {21:1} Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh,
saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto
Benjamin to wife. {21:2} And the people came to the house
of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up
their voices, and wept sore; {21:3} And said, O LORD God
of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should
be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? {21:4} And it came to
pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built
there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings. {21:5} And the children of Israel said, Who [is
there] among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with
the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a
great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to
Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. {21:6} And
the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their
brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel
this day. {21:7} How shall we do for wives for them that
remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will
not give them of our daughters to wives?
{21:8} And they said, What one [is there] of the tribes of
Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And,
behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead
to the assembly. {21:9} For the people were numbered, and,
behold, [there were] none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-
gilead there. {21:10} And the congregation sent thither
twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded
them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead
with the edge of the sword, with the women and the
children. {21:11} And this [is] the thing that ye shall do, Ye
shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath
lain by man. {21:12} And they found among the inhabitants
of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had
known no man by lying with any male: and they brought
them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of
Canaan. {21:13} And the whole congregation sent [some]
to speak to the children of Benjamin that [were] in the rock
Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. {21:14} And
Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them
wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-
gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not. {21:15} And the
people repented them for Benjamin, because that the
LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
{21:16} Then the elders of the congregation said, How
shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the
women are destroyed out of Benjamin? {21:17} And they
said, [There must be] an inheritance for them that be
escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of
Israel. {21:18} Howbeit we may not give them wives of our
daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying,
Cursed [be] he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. {21:19}
Then they said, Behold, [there is] a feast of the LORD in
Shiloh yearly [in a place] which [is] on the north side of
Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from
Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. {21:20}
Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin,
saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; {21:21} And
see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to
dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and
catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh,
and go to the land of Benjamin. {21:22} And it shall be,
when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to
complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto
them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man
his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this
time, [that] ye should be guilty. {21:23} And the children of
Benjamin did so, and took [them] wives, according to their
number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they
went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the
cities, and dwelt in them. {21:24} And the children of Israel
departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to
his family, and they went out from thence every man to his
inheritance. {21:25} In those days [there was] no king in
Israel: every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes.

Richest Passages

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