²⁶ And Gaal the son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his relatives, and the leaders of Shechem put confidence in him. ²⁷ And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them and held a festival; and they went into ^(A)the house of their god and ate and drank and reviled Abimelech. ²⁸ And Gaal the son of Ebed said, ^(B)“Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of ^(C)Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ²⁹ Would that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech. I would say^[a] 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 kindled. ³¹ And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly,^[b] saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up^[c] the city against you. ³² Now therefore, go by night, you and the people who are with you, and set an ambush in the field. ³³ Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, rise early and rush upon the city. And when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may do to them ^(D)as your hand finds to do.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all the men who were with him rose up by night and set an ambush against Shechem in four companies. ³⁵ And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, and Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from the ambush. ³⁶ And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from ^(E)the mountaintops!” And Zebul said to him, “You mistake^[d] the shadow of the mountains for men.” ³⁷ Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming from the direction of the Diviners' Oak.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, ^(F)‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them.” ³⁹ And Gaal went out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰ And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him. And many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ And Abimelech lived at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives, so that they could not dwell at Shechem.

⁴² On the following day, the people went out into the field, and Abimelech was told. ⁴³ He took his people and divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. And he looked and saw the people coming out of the city. So he rose against them and killed them. ⁴⁴ Abimelech and the company that was with him ^(G)rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed upon all who were in the field and killed them. ⁴⁵ And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people who were in it, and ^(H)he razed the city and ^(I)sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered ^(J)the stronghold of the house of ^(K)El-berith. ⁴⁷ Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ And Abimelech went up to Mount ^(L)Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.” ⁴⁹ So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abimelech put it against ^(M)the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about 1,000 men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in, and they went up to the roof of the tower. ⁵² And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. ^53 (N)And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. ^54 (O)Then he called quickly to the young man his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, everyone departed to his home. ^56 (P)Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came ^(Q)the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

¹⁵ Therefore he is ^(A)the mediator of a new covenant, so that ^(B)those who are called may ^(C)receive the promised eternal inheritance, ^(D)since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.^{[a] 16} For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For ^(E)a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated ^(F)without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took ^(G)the blood of calves and goats, ^(H)with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, ^(I)“This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both ^(J)the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and ^(K)without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

²³ Thus it was necessary for ^(L)the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places ^(M)made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ^(N)on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as ^(O)the high priest enters ^(P)the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, ^(Q)he has appeared ^(R)once for all ^(S)at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as ^(T)it is appointed for man to die once, and ^(U)after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once ^(V)to bear the sins of ^(W)many, will appear ^(X)a second time, ^(Y)not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly ^(Z)waiting for him.

¹⁷ Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at ^(A)Mizpah. ¹⁸ And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? ^(B)He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah Delivers Israel

11 Now ^(C)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(D)a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² And Gilead's wife also bore him sons. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(E)Tob, and ^(F)worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴ After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. ⁵ And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of ^(G)Tob. ⁶ And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” ⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and ^(H)be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ^(I)“The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people ^(J)made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words ^(K)before the Lord at ^(L)Mizpah.

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^(M)“Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the ^(N)Arnon to the ^(O)Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” ¹⁴ Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵ and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^(P)Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, ¹⁶ but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness ^(Q)to the Red Sea and ^(R)came to Kadesh. ^17 (S)Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ ^(T)but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(U)remained at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and ^(V)went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and ^(W)arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and ^(X)camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. ^19 (Y)Israel then 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 country,’ ²⁰ but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. ²¹ And 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, who inhabited that country. ²² And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? ²⁴ Will you not possess what ^(Z)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? ^(AA)And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. ²⁵ Now are you any better than ^(AB)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? ²⁶ While Israel lived ^(AC)in Heshbon and its villages, and ^(AD)in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. ^(AE)The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.” ²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.

Christ's Sacrifice Once for All

10 For since the law has but ^(A)a shadow ^(B)of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, ^(C)it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³ But ^(D)in these sacrifices ^(E)there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For ^(F)it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵ Consequently, ^(G)when Christ^[a] came into the world, he said,

⁸ When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in ^(I)sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he added, ^(J)“Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will ^(K)we have been sanctified through the offering of ^(L)the body of Jesus Christ ^(M)once for all.

¹¹ And every priest stands ^(N)daily at his service, ^(O)offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, ^(P)which can never take away sins. ¹² But when Christ^[b] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he ^(Q)sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time ^(R)until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴ For by a single offering ^(S)he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

¹⁷ then he adds,

¹⁸ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.