Judges 5:14-18

New King James Version

So the land had rest for forty years.

Midianites Oppress Israel

6 Then the children of Israel did ^(M)evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of ^(N)Midian for seven years, ² and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, ^(O)the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. ³ So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the ^(P)people of the East would come up against them. ⁴ Then they would encamp against them and ^(Q)destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ^(R)donkey. ⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were ^[g]without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. ⁶ So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel ^(S)cried out to the Lord.

⁷ And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, ⁸ that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the ^(T)house of ^[h]bondage; ⁹ and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and ^(U)drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; ^(V)do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My ^(W)voice.’ ”

Gideon

¹¹ Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash ^(X)the Abiezrite, while his son ^(Y)Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² And the ^(Z)Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is ^(AA)with you, you mighty man of valor!”

¹³ Gideon said to Him, “O ^[i]my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And ^(AB)where are all His miracles ^(AC)which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has ^(AD)forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ^(AE)“Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. ^(AF)Have I not sent you?”

¹⁵ So he said to Him, “O ^[j]my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed ^(AG)my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, ^(AH)“Surely I will be with you, and you shall ^[k]defeat the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷ Then he said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then ^(AI)show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. ^18 (AJ)Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.”

And He said, “I will wait until you come back.”

^19 (AK)So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. ²⁰ The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and ^(AL)lay them on this rock, and ^(AM)pour out the broth.” And he did so.

²¹ Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and ^(AN)fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

²² Now Gideon ^(AO)perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! ^(AP)For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”

²³ Then the Lord said to him, ^(AQ)“Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” ²⁴ So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it ^[l]The-Lord-Is-Peace. To this day it is still ^(AR)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and ^(AS)tear down the altar of ^(AT)Baal that your father has, and ^(AU)cut down the ^[m]wooden image that is beside it; ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this ^[n]rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.” ²⁷ So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

²⁸ And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”

³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you ^[o]plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!” ³² Therefore on that day he called him ^(AV)Jerubbaal,^[p] saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”

³³ Then all ^(AW)the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in ^(AX)the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ But ^(AY)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he ^(AZ)blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. ³⁵ And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to ^(BA)Asher, ^(BB)Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

³⁶ So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— ^37 (BC)look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, ^(BD)“Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” ⁴⁰ And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

Gideon’s Valiant Three Hundred

7 Then ^(BE)Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

² And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel ^(BF)claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ ³ Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ^(BG)‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

⁴ But the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” ⁶ And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. ⁷ Then the Lord said to Gideon, ^(BH)“By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his ^[q]place.” ⁸ So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹ It happened on the same ^(BI)night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, ¹¹ and you shall ^(BJ)hear what they say; and afterward ^[r]your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. ¹² Now the Midianites and Amalekites, ^(BK)all the people of the East, were lying in the valley ^(BL)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were ^[s]without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

¹³ And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.”

¹⁴ Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand ^(BM)God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”

¹⁵ And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” ¹⁶ Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: ¹⁸ When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!’ ”

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰ Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers—they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing—and they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” ²¹ And ^(BN)every man stood in his place all around the camp; ^(BO)and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. ²² When the three hundred ^(BP)blew the trumpets, ^(BQ)the Lord set ^(BR)every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to ^[t]Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of ^(BS)Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

²³ And the men of Israel gathered together from ^(BT)Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

²⁴ Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the ^(BU)mountains of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.” Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and ^(BV)seized the watering places as far as ^(BW)Beth Barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ And they captured ^(BX)two princes of the Midianites, ^(BY)Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the ^(BZ)other side of the Jordan.

Gideon Subdues the Midianites

8 Now ^(CA)the men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you done this to us by not calling us when you went to fight with the Midianites?” And they reprimanded him sharply.

² So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the ^[u]gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than ^[v]the vintage of ^(CB)Abiezer? ^3 (CC)God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their ^(CD)anger toward him subsided when he said that.

⁴ When Gideon came ^(CE)to the Jordan, he and ^(CF)the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit. ⁵ Then he said to the men of ^(CG)Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”

⁶ And the leaders of Succoth said, ^(CH)“Are^[w] the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that ^(CI)we should give bread to your army?”

⁷ So Gideon said, “For this cause, when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, ^(CJ)then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers!” ⁸ Then he went up from there ^(CK)to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹ So he also spoke to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I ^(CL)come back in peace, ^(CM)I will tear down this tower!”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand, all who were left of ^(CN)all the army of the people of the East; for ^(CO)one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen. ¹¹ Then Gideon went up by the road of those who dwell in tents on the east of ^(CP)Nobah and Jogbehah; and he ^[x]attacked the army while the camp felt ^(CQ)secure. ¹² When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them; and he ^(CR)took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army.

¹³ Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle, from the Ascent of Heres. ¹⁴ And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth and interrogated him; and he wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ Then he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you ^(CS)ridiculed me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your weary men?’ ” ^16 (CT)And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he ^[y]taught the men of Succoth. ^17 (CU)Then he tore down the tower of ^(CV)Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at ^(CW)Tabor?”

So they answered, “As you are, so were they; each one resembled the son of a king.”

¹⁹ Then he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them!” But the youth would not draw his sword; for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.

²¹ So Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself, and kill us; for as a man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon arose and ^(CX)killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.

Gideon’s Ephod

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ^(CY)“Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have ^(CZ)delivered us from the hand of Midian.”

²³ But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; ^(DA)the Lord shall rule over you.” ²⁴ Then Gideon said to them, “I would like to ^[z]make a request of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder.” For they had golden earrings, ^(DB)because they were Ishmaelites.

²⁵ So they answered, “We will gladly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man threw into it the earrings from his plunder. ²⁶ Now the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around their camels’ necks. ²⁷ Then Gideon ^(DC)made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, ^(DD)Ophrah. And all Israel ^(DE)played the harlot with it there. It became ^(DF)a snare to Gideon and to his house.

²⁸ Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted their heads no more. ^(DG)And the country was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon.

Death of Gideon

²⁹ Then ^(DH)Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. ³⁰ Gideon had ^(DI)seventy sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives. ^31 (DJ)And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. ³² Now Gideon the son of Joash died ^(DK)at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, ^(DL)in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ So it was, ^(DM)as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again ^(DN)played the harlot with the Baals, ^(DO)and made Baal-Berith their god. ³⁴ Thus the children of Israel ^(DP)did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; ^35 (DQ)nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.

Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9 Then Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to ^(DR)his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, ² “Please speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, that all ^(DS)seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal reign over you, or that one reign over you?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and ^(DT)bone.”

³ And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem; and their heart was inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our ^(DU)brother.” ⁴ So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of ^(DV)Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired ^(DW)worthless and reckless men; and they followed him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house ^(DX)at Ophrah and ^(DY)killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. ⁶ And all the men of Shechem gathered together, all of Beth Millo, and they went and made Abimelech king beside the terebinth tree at the pillar that was in Shechem.

The Parable of the Trees

⁷ Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of ^(DZ)Mount Gerizim, and lifted his voice and cried out. And he said to them:

¹⁶ “Now therefore, if you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him ^(EH)as^[aa] he deserves— ¹⁷ for my ^(EI)father fought for you, risked his life, and ^(EJ)delivered you out of the hand of Midian; ^18 (EK)but you have risen up against my father’s house this day, and killed his seventy sons on one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his ^(EL)female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother— ¹⁹ if then you have acted in truth and sincerity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then ^(EM)rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰ But if not, ^(EN)let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and Beth Millo; and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo and devour Abimelech!” ²¹ And Jotham ran away and fled; and he went to ^(EO)Beer and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

Downfall of Abimelech

²² After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, ^23 (EP)God sent a ^(EQ)spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem ^(ER)dealt treacherously with Abimelech, ^24 (ES)that the crime done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be settled and their ^(ET)blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who aided him in the killing of his brothers. ²⁵ And the men of Shechem set ^[ab]men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way; and it was told Abimelech.

²⁶ Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. ²⁷ So they went out into the fields, and gathered grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and ^[ac]made merry. And they went into ^(EU)the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸ Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, ^(EV)“Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of ^(EW)Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ^29 (EX)If only this people were under my ^[ad]authority! Then I would remove Abimelech.” So ^[ae]he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out!”

³⁰ When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was aroused. ³¹ And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, “Take note! Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and here they are, fortifying the city against you. ³² Now therefore, get up by night, you and the people who are with you, and ^[af]lie in wait in the field. ³³ And it shall be, as soon as the sun is up in the morning, that you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may then do to them ^[ag]as you find opportunity.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all the people who were with him rose by night, and ^[ah]lay in wait against Shechem in four companies. ³⁵ When Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance to the city gate, Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from lying in wait. ³⁶ And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!”

But Zebul said to him, “You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were men.”

³⁷ So Gaal spoke again and said, “See, people are coming down from the center of the land, and another company is coming from the ^[ai]Diviners’ Terebinth Tree.”

³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where indeed is your mouth now, with which you ^(EY)said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out, if you will, and fight with them now.”

³⁹ So Gaal went out, leading the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰ And Abimelech chased him, and he fled from him; and many fell wounded, to the very entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ Then Abimelech dwelt at Arumah, and Zebul ^[aj]drove out Gaal and his brothers, so that they would not dwell in Shechem.

⁴² And it came about on the next day that the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech. ⁴³ So he took his people, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the field. And he looked, and there were the people, coming out of the city; and he rose against them and ^[ak]attacked them. ⁴⁴ Then Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city; and the other two companies rushed upon all who were in the fields and killed them. ⁴⁵ So Abimelech fought against the city all that day; ^(EZ)he took the city and killed the people who were in it; and he ^(FA)demolished the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ Now when all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that, they entered the ^[al]stronghold of the temple ^(FB)of the god Berith. ⁴⁷ And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ Then Abimelech went up to Mount ^(FC)Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it and laid it on his shoulder; then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done.” ⁴⁹ So each of the people likewise cut down his own bough and followed Abimelech, put them against the ^[am]stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire above them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he ^[an]encamped against Thebez and took it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and women—all the people of the city—fled there and shut themselves in; then they went up to the top of the tower. ⁵² So Abimelech came as far as the tower and fought against it; and he drew near the door of the tower to burn it with fire. ⁵³ But a certain woman ^(FD)dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull. ⁵⁴ Then ^(FE)he called quickly to the young man, his armorbearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” So his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed, every man to his ^[ao]place.

^56 (FF)Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ And all the evil of the men of Shechem God returned on their own heads, and on them came ^(FG)the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

Tola

10 After Abimelech there ^(FH)arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. ² He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir.

Jair

³ After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ Now he had thirty sons who ^(FI)rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, ^(FJ)which are called ^[ap]“Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. ⁵ And Jair died and was buried in Camon.

Israel Oppressed Again

⁶ Then ^(FK)the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and ^(FL)served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, ^(FM)the gods of Syria, the gods of ^(FN)Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. ⁷ So the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He ^(FO)sold them into the hands of the ^(FP)Philistines and into the hands of the people of ^(FQ)Ammon. ⁸ From that year they ^[aq]harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years—all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the ^(FR)land of the Amorites, in Gilead. ⁹ Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

^10 (FS)And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have ^(FT)sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!”

¹¹ So the Lord said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you ^(FU)from the Egyptians and ^(FV)from the Amorites and ^(FW)from the people of Ammon and ^(FX)from the Philistines? ¹² Also ^(FY)the Sidonians ^(FZ)and Amalekites and ^[ar]Maonites ^(GA)oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. ^13 (GB)Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. ¹⁴ “Go and ^(GC)cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.”

¹⁵ And the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned! ^(GD)Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.” ^16 (GE)So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And ^(GF)His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

¹⁷ Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in ^(GG)Mizpah. ¹⁸ And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall ^(GH)be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah

11 Now ^(GI)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(GJ)a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have ^(GK)no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of ^(GL)Tob; and ^(GM)worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

⁴ It came to pass after a time that the ^(GN)people of Ammon made war against Israel. ⁵ And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶ Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”

⁷ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, ^(GO)“Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in ^[as]distress?”

^8 (GP)And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have ^(GQ)turned^[at] again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be ^(GR)our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”

¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ^(GS)“The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” ¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him ^(GT)head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words ^(GU)before the Lord in Mizpah.

¹² Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, ^(GV)“What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?”

¹³ And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^(GW)“Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from ^(GX)the Arnon as far as ^(GY)the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”

¹⁴ So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, ¹⁵ and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^(GZ)‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon; ¹⁶ for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and ^(HA)came to Kadesh. ¹⁷ Then ^(HB)Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” ^(HC)But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the ^(HD)king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(HE)remained in Kadesh. ¹⁸ And they ^(HF)went along through the wilderness and ^(HG)bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ Then ^(HH)Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please ^(HI)let us pass through your land into our place.” ^20 (HJ)But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹ And the Lord God of Israel ^(HK)delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they ^(HL)defeated^[au] them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²² They took possession of ^(HM)all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³ ‘And now the Lord God of Israel has ^[av]dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? ²⁴ Will you not possess whatever ^(HN)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever ^(HO)the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. ²⁵ And now, are you any better than ^(HP)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them? ²⁶ While Israel dwelt in ^(HQ)Heshbon and its villages, in ^(HR)Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? ²⁷ Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord, ^(HS)the Judge, ^(HT)render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’ ” ²⁸ However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Vow and Victory

²⁹ Then ^(HU)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon. ³⁰ And Jephthah ^(HV)made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, ³¹ then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, ^(HW)shall surely be the Lord’s, ^(HX)and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

³² So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. ³³ And he ^[aw]defeated them from Aroer as far as ^(HY)Minnith—twenty cities—and to ^[ax]Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Jephthah’s Daughter

³⁴ When Jephthah came to his house at ^(HZ)Mizpah, there was ^(IA)his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he ^(IB)tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I ^(IC)have ^[ay]given my word to the Lord, and ^(ID)I cannot ^[az]go back on it.”

³⁶ So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, ^(IE)do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because ^(IF)the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” ³⁷ Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and ^[ba]bewail my virginity, my ^[bb]friends and I.”

³⁸ So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹ And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he ^(IG)carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She ^[bc]knew no man.

And it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to ^[bd]lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim

12 Then ^(IH)the men of Ephraim ^[be]gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire!”

² And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. ³ So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I ^(II)took my life in my hands and crossed over against the people of Ammon; and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴ Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You Gileadites ^(IJ)are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.” ⁵ The Gileadites seized the ^(IK)fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶ then they would say to him, “Then say, ^(IL)‘Shibboleth’!”^[bf] And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not ^[bg]pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.

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

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸ After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹ He had thirty sons. And he gave away thirty daughters in marriage, and brought in thirty daughters from elsewhere for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. ¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹ After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. He judged Israel ten years. ¹² And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.

¹³ After him, Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who ^(IM)rode on seventy young donkeys. He judged Israel eight years. ¹⁵ Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, ^(IN)in the mountains of the Amalekites.

The Birth of Samson^(IO)

13 Again the children of Israel ^(IP)did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them ^(IQ)into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

² Now there was a certain man from ^(IR)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. ³ And the ^(IS)Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Now therefore, please be careful ^(IT)not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. ⁵ For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no ^(IU)razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be ^(IV)a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall ^(IW)begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶ So the woman came and told her husband, saying, ^(IX)“A Man of God came to me, and His ^(IY)countenance^[bh] was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I ^(IZ)did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. ⁷ And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.”

⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!”

¹¹ So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?”

And He said, “I am.”

¹² Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?”

¹³ So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ¹⁴ She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, ^(JA)nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please ^(JB)let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.”

¹⁶ And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?”

¹⁸ And the Angel of the Lord said to him, ^(JC)“Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”

¹⁹ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, ^(JD)and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on— ²⁰ it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(JE)fell on their faces to the ground. ²¹ When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, ^(JF)then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord.

²² And Manoah said to his wife, ^(JG)“We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”

²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman bore a son and called his name ^(JH)Samson; and ^(JI)the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. ^25 (JJ)And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at ^[bi]Mahaneh Dan ^(JK)between Zorah and ^(JL)Eshtaol.

Samson’s Philistine Wife

14 Now Samson went down ^(JM)to Timnah, and ^(JN)saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. ² So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, ^(JO)get her for me as a wife.”

³ Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of ^(JP)your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the ^(JQ)uncircumcised Philistines?”

And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for ^[bj]she pleases me well.”

⁴ But his father and mother did not know that it was ^(JR)of the Lord—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time ^(JS)the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

⁵ So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah.

Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. ⁶ And ^(JT)the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

⁷ Then he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. ⁸ After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. ⁹ He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the ^(JU)carcass of the lion.

¹⁰ So his father went down to the woman. And Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so. ¹¹ And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

¹² Then Samson said to them, “Let me ^(JV)pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me ^(JW)within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty ^(JX)changes of clothing. ¹³ But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.”

And they said to him, ^(JY)“Pose your riddle, that we may hear it.”

¹⁴ So he said to them:

Now for three days they could not explain the riddle.

¹⁵ But it came to pass on the ^[bk]seventh day that they said to Samson’s wife, ^(JZ)“Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, ^(KA)or else we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?”

¹⁶ Then Samson’s wife wept on him, and said, ^(KB)“You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me.”

And he said to her, “Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?” ¹⁷ Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people. ¹⁸ So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down:

And he said to them:

¹⁹ Then ^(KC)the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father’s house. ²⁰ And Samson’s wife ^(KD)was given to his companion, who had been ^(KE)his best man.

Samson Defeats the Philistines

15 After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a ^(KF)young goat. And he said, “Let me go in to my wife, into her room.” But her father would not permit him to go in.

² Her father said, “I really thought that you thoroughly ^(KG)hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead.”

³ And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!” ⁴ Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

⁶ Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?”

And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” ^(KH)So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

⁷ Samson said to them, “Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.” ⁸ So he attacked them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; then he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of ^(KI)Etam.

⁹ Now the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah, and deployed themselves ^(KJ)against Lehi. ¹⁰ And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?”

So they answered, “We have come up to ^[bl]arrest Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines ^(KK)rule over us? What is this you have done to us?”

And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”

¹² But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.”

Then Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”

¹³ So they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two ^(KL)new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then ^(KM)the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds ^[bm]broke loose from his hands. ¹⁵ He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and ^(KN)killed a thousand men with it. ¹⁶ Then Samson said:

¹⁷ And so it was, when he had finished speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place ^[bn]Ramath Lehi.

¹⁸ Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord and said, ^(KO)“You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ So God split the hollow place that is in ^[bo]Lehi, and water came out, and he drank; and ^(KP)his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name ^[bp]En Hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. ²⁰ And ^(KQ)he judged Israel ^(KR)twenty years ^(KS)in the days of the Philistines.

Samson and Delilah

16 Now Samson went to ^(KT)Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. ² When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they ^(KU)surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” ³ And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

⁴ Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ And the ^(KV)lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ^(KW)“Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”

⁷ And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

⁸ So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”

¹¹ So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with ^(KX)new ropes ^[bq]that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

¹² Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.”

And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”—

¹⁴ So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom.

¹⁵ Then she said to him, ^(KY)“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” ¹⁶ And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was ^[br]vexed to death, ¹⁷ that he ^(KZ)told her all his heart, and said to her, ^(LA)“No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. ^19 (LB)Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then ^[bs]she began to torment him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord ^(LC)had departed from him.

²¹ Then the Philistines took him and ^[bt]put out his ^(LD)eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. ²² However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.

Samson Dies with the Philistines

²³ Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to ^(LE)Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said:

²⁴ When the people saw him, they ^(LF)praised their god; for they said:

²⁵ So it happened, when their hearts were ^(LG)merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. ²⁶ Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.” ²⁷ Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the ^(LH)roof watching while Samson performed.

²⁸ Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, “O Lord God, ^(LI)remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” ²⁹ And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. ³⁰ Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

³¹ And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and ^(LJ)buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel ^(LK)twenty years.

Micah’s Idolatry

17 Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was ^(LL)Micah. ² And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you ^(LM)put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.”

And his mother said, ^(LN)“May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!” ³ So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son, to ^(LO)make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” ⁴ Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother ^(LP)took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.

⁵ The man Micah had a ^(LQ)shrine, and made an ^(LR)ephod and ^(LS)household^[bu] idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ^6 (LT)In those days there was no king in Israel; ^(LU)everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ Now there was a young man from ^(LV)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and ^(LW)was staying there. ⁸ The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. ⁹ And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”

So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.”

¹⁰ Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, ^(LX)and be a ^(LY)father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹ Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. ¹² So Micah ^(LZ)consecrated^[bv] the Levite, and the young man ^(MA)became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since I have a Levite as ^(MB)priest!”

The Danites Adopt Micah’s Idolatry

18 In ^(MC)those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days ^(MD)the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in; for until that day their inheritance among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them. ² So the children of Dan sent five men of their family from their territory, men of valor from ^(ME)Zorah and Eshtaol, ^(MF)to spy out the land and search it. They said to them, “Go, search the land.” So they went to the mountains of Ephraim, to the ^(MG)house of Micah, and lodged there. ³ While they were at the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?”

⁴ He said to them, “Thus and so Micah did for me. He has ^(MH)hired me, and I have become his priest.”

⁵ So they said to him, “Please ^(MI)inquire ^(MJ)of God, that we may know whether the journey on which we go will be prosperous.”

⁶ And the priest said to them, ^(MK)“Go in peace. ^[bw]The presence of the Lord be with you on your way.”

⁷ So the five men departed and went to ^(ML)Laish. They saw the people who were there, ^(MM)how they dwelt safely, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything. They were far from the ^(MN)Sidonians, and they had no ties ^[bx]with anyone.

⁸ Then the spies came back to their brethren at ^(MO)Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brethren said to them, “What is your report?”

⁹ So they said, ^(MP)“Arise, let us go up against them. For we have seen the land, and indeed it is very good. Would you ^(MQ)do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, and enter to possess the land. ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to a ^(MR)secure people and a large land. For God has given it into your hands, ^(MS)a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

¹¹ And six hundred men of the family of the Danites went from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war. ¹² Then they went up and encamped in ^(MT)Kirjath Jearim in Judah. (Therefore they call that place ^(MU)Mahaneh Dan^[by] to this day. There it is, west of Kirjath Jearim.) ¹³ And they passed from there to the mountains of Ephraim, and came to ^(MV)the house of Micah.

^14 (MW)Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brethren, “Do you know that ^(MX)there are in these houses an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a molded image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.”