Bible in 90 Days

²⁸ And he said to them, “Pursue them, for the Lord has handed over your enemies the Moabites to you.” So they went down after him and seized the ^[a]fords of the Jordan opposite Moab and did not allow anyone to cross. ²⁹ They struck down at that time about ten thousand Moabite men, all strong, courageous men; not a man escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued and humbled that day under the hand of Israel, and the land was at rest for eighty years.

Shamgar Rescues from Philistines

³¹ After Ehud came Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistine men with an ^[b]oxgoad. He too saved Israel.

Deborah and Barak Rescue from Canaanites

4 But the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. ² So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in ^[c]Harosheth-hagoyim. ³ Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord [for help], for Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots and had oppressed and tormented the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴ Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She used to sit [to hear and decide disputes] under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. ⁶ Now she sent word and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men [of war] from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. ⁷ I will draw out Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his infantry to meet you at the river Kishon, and I will hand him over to you.’” ⁸ Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹ She said, “I will certainly go with you; nevertheless, ^[d]the journey that you are about to take will not be for your honor and glory, because the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ And Barak summoned [the fighting men of the tribes of] Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up ^[e]under his command; Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the ^[f]father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the ^[g]terebinth tree in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹² When someone told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, ¹³ Sisera called together all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴ Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day when the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Has the Lord not gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵ And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and [confused] all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera dismounted from his chariot and fled away on foot. ¹⁶ But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and the entire army of Sisera fell by the sword; not even one man was left.

¹⁷ But Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me! Have no fear.” So he turned aside to her [and went] into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹ And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink because I am thirsty.” And she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. ²⁰ And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is there anyone here?’ tell him, ‘No.’” ²¹ But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand, and came up quietly to him and drove the peg through his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. ²² And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered [her tent] with her, and behold Sisera lay dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³ So on that day God subdued and humbled Jabin king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And the hand of the sons of Israel pressed down heavier and heavier on Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed him.

The Song of Deborah and Barak

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

And the land was at rest for forty years.

Israel Oppressed by Midian

6 Then the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years. ² The [powerful] hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens (hideouts) which were in the mountains, and the caves and the [mountain] strongholds. ³ For it was whenever Israel had sown [their seed] that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the people of the east and go up against them. ⁴ So they would camp against them and destroy the crops of the land as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. ⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, and they would come in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were innumerable. So they came into the land to devastate it. ⁶ So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord [for help].

⁷ Now it came about when they cried out to the Lord because of Midian, ⁸ that the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites, and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. ⁹ And I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land, ¹⁰ and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live.” But you have not listened to and obeyed My voice.’”

Gideon Is Visited

¹¹ Now the ^[k]Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, and his son Gideon was beating wheat in the wine press [instead of the threshing floor] to [hide it and] save it from the Midianites. ¹² And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O brave man.” ¹³ But Gideon said to him, “Please my lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous works which our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ¹⁵ But Gideon said to Him, “Please Lord, how am I to rescue Israel? Behold, my family is the least [significant] in Manasseh, and I am the youngest (smallest) in my father’s house.” ¹⁶ The Lord answered him, “I will certainly be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites as [if they were only] one man.” ¹⁷ Gideon replied to Him, “If I have found any favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speaks with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and bring my offering and place it before You.” And He said, “I will wait until you return.”

¹⁹ Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket and the broth in a pot, and he brought the food to Him under the oak (terebinth) and presented it. ²⁰ The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth [over them].” 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 fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. ²² When Gideon realized [without any doubt] that He was the Angel of the Lord, he declared, “^[l]Oh no, Lord God! For now I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face [and I am doomed]!” ²³ The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not be afraid; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah, of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ Now on that same night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down ^[m]the Asherah that is beside it; ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this mountain stronghold [with stones laid down] in an orderly way. Then take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice using the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” ²⁷ Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did just as the Lord had told him; but because he was too afraid of his father’s household (relatives) and the men of the city to do it during daylight, he did it at night.

The Altar of Baal Destroyed

²⁸ Early the next morning when the men of the city got up, they discovered that the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” When they searched about and inquired, they were told, “Gideon the son of Joash did it.” ³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so that he may be executed, because he has torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you ^[n]plead for Baal? Will you save him? Whoever pleads for Baal shall be put to death while it is still morning. If Baal is a god, let him defend himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” ³² Therefore on that day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, ^[o]meaning, “Let Baal plead,” because he had torn down his altar.

³³ Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east assembled together; and they crossed over [the Jordan] and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ So the Spirit of the Lord ^[p]clothed Gideon [and empowered him]; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together [as a militia] to follow him. ³⁵ He sent messengers throughout [the tribe of] Manasseh, and the fighting men were also called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to [the tribes of] Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

Sign of the Fleece

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to rescue Israel through me, as You have spoken, ³⁷ behold, I will put a fleece of [freshly sheared] wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and it is dry on all the ground [around it], then I will know that You will rescue Israel through me, as You have said.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he got up early the next morning and squeezed the dew out of the fleece, he wrung from it a bowl full of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me, so that I may speak once more. Please let me make a test once more with the fleece; now let only the fleece be dry, and let there be dew on all the ground.” ⁴⁰ God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and there was dew on all the ground [around it].

Gideon’s 300 Chosen Men

7 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

² Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are too many people with you for Me to hand over Midian to them, otherwise Israel will boast [about themselves] against Me, saying, ‘My own ^[q]power has rescued me.’ ³ So now, proclaim in the hearing of the people, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men returned [home], but ten thousand remained.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many people; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels down to drink.” ⁶ Now the number of those who lapped [the water], putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water. ⁷ And the Lord told Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will rescue you, and will hand over the Midianites to you. Let all the other people go, each man to his home.” ⁸ So the three hundred men took people’s provisions [for the journey] and their trumpets [made of rams’ horns] in their hands. And Gideon sent [away] all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but kept the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹ Now on that same night the Lord said to Gideon, “Arise, go down against their camp, for I have given it into your hand. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down [by yourself], go with Purah your servant down to the camp, ¹¹ and you will hear what they say; and afterward ^[r]you will have the courage to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the ^[s]outposts of the army that was in the camp. ¹² Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying [camped] in the valley, as countless as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. ¹³ When Gideon arrived, ^[t]there was a man telling a dream to his friend. And he said, “Listen carefully, I had a dream: there was a loaf of ^[u]barley bread tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.” ¹⁴ And his friend replied, “This [dream] is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the entire camp into his hand.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hand.” ¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “Look at me, then do likewise. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do. ¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet (ram’s horn), then all around the camp you also blow the trumpets and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

Confusion of the Enemy

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the ^[v]middle watch, when the guards had just been changed, and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰ When three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ Then each stood in his place around the camp; and the entire [Midianite] army ran, crying out as they fled. ²² When Gideon’s men blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one [Midianite] against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. ²³ The men of Israel were summoned together from [the tribes of] Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴ Then Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of [the tribe of] Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and take [control of] the waters before them [thereby cutting off the Midianites], as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan [River].” So all the men of Ephraim were assembled together and they took control of the waters, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ Then the men of Ephraim took the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, and pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.

Zebah and Zalmunna Routed

8 And the men of [the tribe of] Ephraim said to Gideon, “What is this thing that you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight with Midian?” And they quarreled with him vehemently. ² But he said to them, “What have I done now [that is so significant] in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning (leftovers) of the grapes of [your tribe of] Ephraim better than the vintage (entire harvest) of [my clan of] Abiezer? ³ God has given the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb into your hands; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger toward him subsided when he made this statement.

⁴ So Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over [the river], he and the three hundred men who were with him—exhausted, yet [still] pursuing [the enemy]. ⁵ He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me since they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.” ⁶ But the leaders of Succoth said, “Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?” ⁷ Gideon said, “For that [response], when the Lord has handed over Zebah and Zalmunna to me, I will thrash your bodies with the thorns and briars of the wilderness.” ⁸ He went from there up to Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹ So Gideon said also to the men of Penuel, “When I come again in peace, I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies, about fifteen thousand [fighting] men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east; for a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. ¹¹ Gideon went up by the route of those who lived in tents to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their camp when the camp was unsuspecting. ¹² When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and terrified the entire army.

¹³ Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴ He captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And the youth wrote down for him [the names of] the leaders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ He came to the men of Succoth and said, “Look here, Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’” ¹⁶ He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briars, and with them he ^[w]punished the men of Succoth. ¹⁷ He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” And they replied, “They were like you, each one of them resembled the son of a king.” ¹⁹ He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ So [to humiliate them] Gideon said to Jether his firstborn, “Stand up, and kill them!” But the youth did not draw his sword, because he was afraid, for he was still [just] a boy. ²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise up yourself and strike us; for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent amulets that were on their camels’ necks.

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule [as king] over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have rescued us from the hand of Midian.” ²³ But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.” ²⁴ And Gideon said to them, “I would make a request of you, that each one of you give me an earring from his spoil.” For the Midianites had gold earrings, because they were ^[x]Ishmaelites [who customarily wore them]. ²⁵ They answered, “We will certainly give them to you.” And they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. ²⁶ And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was ^[y]seventeen hundred shekels of gold, apart from the crescent amulets and pendants and the purple garments which were worn by the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains that were on their camels’ necks. ²⁷ Gideon made [all the golden earrings into] an ephod [a sacred, high priest’s garment], and put it in his city of Ophrah, and all Israel ^[z]worshiped it as an idol there, and ^[aa]it became a trap for Gideon and his household.

Forty Years of Peace

²⁸ So Midian was subdued and humbled before the sons of Israel, and they no longer lifted up their heads [in pride]. And the land was at rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.

²⁹ Jerubbaal (Gideon) the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. ³⁰ Now Gideon had seventy sons born to him, because he had many wives. ³¹ And his ^[ab]concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech. ³² Gideon the son of Joash died at a good advanced age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the Israelites again played the prostitute with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. ³⁴ And the Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side; ³⁵ nor did they show kindness to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done for Israel.

Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9 Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal (Gideon) went to Shechem to his mother’s relatives, and said to them and to the whole clan of the household of his mother’s father, ² “Speak now in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that seventy men, all of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one man rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am your own bone and flesh.” ³ So his mother’s relatives spoke all these words concerning him so that all the leaders of Shechem could hear; and their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our relative.” ⁴ And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and undisciplined men, and they followed (supported) him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and murdered his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, [in a public execution] on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left alive, because he had hidden himself. ⁶ All the men of Shechem and all of ^[ac]Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak (terebinth) of the pillar (memorial stone) at Shechem.

⁷ When they told Jotham, he went and stood at the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, “Hear me, O men of Shechem, so that God may hear you. ^8 [ad]Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I give up my fatness by which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us!’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³ And the vine replied, ‘Should I give up my new wine, which makes God and men happy, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵ So the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now then, if you acted in truth and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have dealt with him as he deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you and risked his life and rescued you from the hand of Midian; ¹⁸ but you have risen against my father’s house today and have murdered his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, son of his maidservant, king over the people of Shechem, because he is your relative— ¹⁹ if then you have acted in truth and integrity with Jerubbaal and his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰ But if not, may fire come out from Abimelech and devour the people of Shechem and Beth-millo; and may fire come out from the people of Shechem and Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech.” ²¹ Then Jotham escaped and fled, and went to Beer and lived there because of Abimelech his brother.

Shechem and Abimelech Fall

²² Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years. ²³ Then God sent an ^[ae]evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem; and the leaders of Shechem acted treacherously against Abimelech, ²⁴ so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal (Gideon) might come [on the guilty], and that their [innocent] blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who had killed them, and on the leaders of Shechem, who strengthened his hands (encouraged him) to kill his brothers. ²⁵ The leaders of Shechem set men in ambush against Abimelech on the mountaintops, and they robbed all who passed by them along the road; and it was reported to Abimelech.

²⁶ Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his relatives, and moved into Shechem; and the leaders of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ They went out into the field, gathered the grapes of their vineyard and trod them, and held a festival; and they entered the house of their god, and they ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸ Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not [merely] the son of Jerubbaal and is Zebul not his lieutenant? Serve the men of Hamor the father (founder) of Shechem. Why then should we serve Abimelech? ²⁹ If only this people were under my authority! Then I would remove Abimelech and say to him, ‘Increase [the size of] your army and come out [to fight].’”

³⁰ When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger burned. ³¹ He sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem; and they are stirring up the city against you. ³² Now then, get up during the night, you and the people who are with you, and set up an ambush in the field. ³³ Then in the morning, at sunrise, you will get up early and rush upon and attack the city; and when Gaal and the people who are with him come out against you, you shall do to them ^[af]whatever you can.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all the people who were with him got up during the night, and set up an ambush against Shechem, in four companies. ³⁵ Now Gaal the son of Ebed came out and stood in the entrance of the city gate; then Abimelech and the people who were with him got up from the ambush. ³⁶ When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountaintops.” But Zebul said to him, “You are only seeing the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.” ³⁷ Gaal spoke again and said, “Look! People are coming down from the highest part of the land, and one company is coming by way of the sorcerers’ oak tree.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to Gaal, “Where is your [boasting] mouth now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Is this not the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them!” ³⁹ So Gaal went out ahead of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰ Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him; and many fell wounded as far as the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ Then Abimelech stayed at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives so that they could not remain in Shechem.

⁴² The next day the people went out to the field, and it was reported to Abimelech. ⁴³ So he took his people and divided them into three companies, and set an ambush in the field; and he looked and saw the people coming out of the city. And he rose up against them and struck them down. ⁴⁴ Then Abimelech and the company with him advanced forward and stood in the entrance of the city gate; the two other companies attacked all who were in the field and killed them. ⁴⁵ Abimelech fought against the city that entire day. He took the city and killed the people who were in it; he demolished the city and ^[ag]sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard about it, they entered the inner chamber (stronghold) of the ^[ah]temple of El-berith (the god of a covenant). ⁴⁷ Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were assembled together. ⁴⁸ So Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees, picked it up, and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the people with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do just as I have done.” ⁴⁹ So everyone of the people also cut down his branch and followed Abimelech, and they put the branches on top of the inner chamber and set it on fire over those inside, so that all the people in the Tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and camped against Thebez and took it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong (fortified) tower in the center of the city, and all the men and women with all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in; and they went up on the roof of the tower. ⁵² So Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it down with fire. ⁵³ But a certain woman threw an upper millstone [down] on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull. ⁵⁴ Then he called quickly to the young man who was his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that it will not be said of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man pierced him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each departed to his home. ⁵⁶ In this way God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father [Jerubbaal] by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ Also God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal (Gideon) came upon them.^(A)

Oppression of Philistines and Ammonites

10 After Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. ² Tola judged Israel for twenty-three years; then he died and was buried in Shamir.

³ After him, Jair the Gileadite arose, and he judged Israel for twenty-two years. ⁴ He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead that are called Havvoth-jair (towns of Jair) to this day. ⁵ And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

⁶ Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; they served the Baals, the Ashtaroth (female deities), the gods of Aram (Syria), the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not serve Him. ⁷ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, ⁸ and they oppressed and crushed Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. ⁹ The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.

¹⁰ Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord [for help], saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have abandoned (rejected) our God and have served the Baals.” ¹¹ The Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines? ¹² Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed and crushed you, you cried out to Me, and I rescued you from their hands. ¹³ Yet you have abandoned (rejected) Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer rescue you. ¹⁴ Go, cry out to the gods you have chosen; let them rescue you in your time of distress.” ¹⁵ The Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to You; only please rescue us this day.” ¹⁶ So they removed the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer.

¹⁷ Then the Ammonites were assembled together and they camped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel assembled and camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸ The people, the leaders of Gilead (Israel) said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah the Ninth Judge

11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.” ³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and worthless and unprincipled men gathered around Jephthah, and went out [on raids] with him.

⁴ Now it happened after a while that the Ammonites fought against Israel. ⁵ When the Ammonites fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob; ⁶ and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, so that we may fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me from the house of my father? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?” ⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “This is why we have turned to you now: that you may go with us and fight the Ammonites and become 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 Ammonites and the Lord gives them over to me, will I [really] become your head?” ¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord is ^[ai]the witness between us; be assured that we will do as you have said.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah ^[aj]repeated everything that he had promised before the Lord at Mizpah.

¹² Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What is [the problem] between you and me, that you have come against me to fight in my land?” ¹³ The Ammonites’ king replied to the messengers of Jephthah, “It is because Israel took away ^[ak]my land when they came up from Egypt, from the [river] Arnon as far as the Jabbok and [east of] the Jordan; so now, return those lands peaceably.” ¹⁴ But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the Ammonites, ¹⁵ and they said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶ For when they came up from Egypt, Israel walked through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh; ¹⁷ then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. Also they sent word to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed at Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they went through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped on the other side of the [river] Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the [northern] boundary of Moab. ¹⁹ Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our place.” ²⁰ But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered together all his people and camped at Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²¹ The Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ²² They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness [westward] as far as the Jordan. ^23 [al]And now the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed and driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, so [why] should you possess it? ²⁴ Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And everything that the Lord our God dispossessed before us, we will possess. ²⁵ Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever go to war against them? ²⁶ While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon for three hundred years, why did you not recover your lost lands during that time? ²⁷ So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the Lord, the [righteous] Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.’” ²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites disregarded the message of Jephthah, which he sent to him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. ³⁰ Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹ then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” ³² Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight with them; and the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³ And from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith he struck them, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim (brook by the vineyard), with a very great defeat. So the Ammonites were subdued and humbled before the Israelites.

³⁴ Then Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and this is what he saw: his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵ And when he saw her, he tore his clothes [in grief] and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me great disaster, and you are the cause of ruin to me; for I have ^[am]made a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.” ³⁶ And she said to him, “My father, you have made a vow to the Lord; do to me as you have vowed, since the Lord has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, the Ammonites.” ³⁷ And she said to her father, “Let this one thing be done for me; let me alone for two months, so that I may go to the mountains and weep over my ^[an]virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸ And he said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept over her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹ At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed; and she had no relations with a man. It became a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went yearly to tell the story of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Jephthah and His Successors

12 The men of [the tribe of] Ephraim were summoned [to action], and they crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight with the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? [For that] we will burn your house down upon you.” ² And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a major conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called you [for help], you did not rescue me from their hand. ³ So when I saw that you were not coming to help me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. So why have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴ Then Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and fought with [the tribe of] Ephraim; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim, in the midst of [the tribes of] Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ And the Gileadites took the ^[ao]fords of the Jordan opposite the Ephraimites; and when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶ they said to him, “Then say ‘Shibboleth.’” And he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not ^[ap]pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell.

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

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

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

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

Philistines Oppress Again

13 Now Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

² And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had no children. ³ And the ^[aq]Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are infertile and have no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ Therefore, be careful not to drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, and do not eat anything [ceremonially] unclean. ⁵ For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a ^[ar]Nazirite [dedicated] to God from birth; and he shall begin to rescue Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman went and told her husband, saying, “A Man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the Angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask Him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. ⁷ But He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, nor eat anything [ceremonially] unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the Angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the Man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” ¹¹ Then Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the Man and said to him, “Are you the Man who spoke to this woman?” He said, “I am.” ¹² And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what shall be the boy’s manner of life, and his vocation?” ¹³ The Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “The woman must pay attention to everything that I said to her. ¹⁴ She may not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, nor eat anything [ceremonially] unclean. She shall observe everything that I commanded her.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and let us prepare a young goat for you [to eat].” ¹⁶ The Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was the Angel of the Lord. ¹⁷ Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that when your words come true, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ But the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful (miraculous)?”^{(B) 19} So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, and He performed miracles while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ For when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the altar flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ The Angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah or his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the Angel of the Lord. ²² So Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, because we have seen God.” ²³ But his [sensible] wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have announced such things as these at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman [in due time] gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the boy grew and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ And the Spirit of the Lord began to ^[as]stir him at times in ^[at]Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson’s Marriage

14 Samson went down to Timnah and at Timnah he saw a woman, one of the daughters of the Philistines. ² So he went back and told his father and his mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now get her for me as a wife.” ³ But his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised (pagan) Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she ^[au]looks pleasing to me.” ⁴ His father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, and that He was seeking an occasion [to take action] against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

⁵ Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother [to arrange the marriage], and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and ^[av]suddenly, a young lion came roaring toward him. ⁶ The Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he tore the lion apart as one tears apart a young goat, and he had nothing at all in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ So he went down and talked with the woman; and she looked pleasing to Samson. ⁸ When he returned later to take her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. ⁹ So he scraped the honey out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave them some, and they ate it; but he did not tell them he had taken the honey from the body of the lion.

¹⁰ His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for that was the customary thing for young men to do. ¹¹ When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions (wedding attendants) to be with him.

Samson’s Riddle

¹² Then Samson said to them, “Let me now ask you a riddle; if you can tell me what it is within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen tunics (undergarments) and thirty changes of [outer] clothing. ¹³ But if you are unable to tell me [the answer], then you shall give me thirty linen tunics (undergarments) and thirty changes of [outer] clothing.” And they said to him, “Ask your riddle, so that we may hear it.” ¹⁴ So he said to them,

And they could not solve the riddle in three days.

¹⁵ Then on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to tell us [through you] the [answer to the] riddle, or we will burn you and your father’s household with fire. Have you invited us to make us poor? Is this not true?” ¹⁶ So Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “You only hate me, you do not love me; you have asked my countrymen a riddle, and have not told [the answer] to me.” And he said to her, “Listen, I have not told my father or my mother [either], so [why] should I tell you?” ¹⁷ However Samson’s wife wept before him seven days while their [wedding] feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. Then she told the [answer to the] riddle to her countrymen. ¹⁸ So the men of the city said to Samson on the seventh day before sundown,

And he said to them,

¹⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them and took their gear, and gave changes of clothes to those who had explained the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. ²⁰ But Samson’s wife was given to his ^[ax]companion who had been his friend.

Samson Burns Philistine Crops

15 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat [as a gift of reconciliation]; and he said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father would not allow him to go in. ² Her father said, “I really thought you utterly hated her; so I gave her to your companion. Is her younger sister not more beautiful than she? Please take her [as your wife] instead.” ³ Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.” ⁴ So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches and turning the foxes tail to tail, he put a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ When he had set the torches ablaze, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and he burned up the heap of sheaves and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves. ⁶ Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they were told, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took Samson’s wife and gave her to his [chief] companion [at the wedding feast].” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. ⁷ Samson said to them, “If this is the way you act, be certain that I will take revenge on you, and [only] after that I will stop.” ⁸ Then he struck them ^[ay]without mercy, a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

⁹ Then the [army of the] Philistines came up and camped in [the tribal territory of] Judah, and overran Lehi (Jawbone). ¹⁰ The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they answered, “We have come up to bind Samson, in order 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, “Have you not known that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this that you have done to us?” He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.” ¹² They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, so that we may hand you over to the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not ^[az]kill me.”