Judges 12-13

New American Standard Bible

Jephthah and His Successors

12 Now the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed ^[a]to Zaphon; and ^(A)they said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you!” ² So Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were in a major dispute with the sons of Ammon; and I did call you, but you did not save me from their hand. ³ When I saw that you were no deliverer, I ^[b](B)took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead ^[c]defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You are survivors of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” ⁵ And the Gileadites ^(C)took control of the crossing places of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened whenever any of the survivors of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” that the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶ then they would say to him, “Just say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he was not ^[d]prepared to ^[e]pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the crossing places of the Jordan. So at that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

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

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

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

¹³ Now Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel after him. 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 the sons of Israel ^(D)again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

² And there was a man of ^(E)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had not given birth to any children. ^3 (F)Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are infertile and have not given birth; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ And now, be careful ^(G)not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[g]unclean thing. ^5 (H)For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a ^(I)Nazirite to God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “^(J)A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. So I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he 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 strong drink, nor eat any ^[h]unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord and said, “Lord, please let ^(K)the man of God whom You have sent come to us again so that he may 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 ^(L)the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman hurried and ran, and told her ^[i]husband, “Behold, ^(M)the man who ^[j]came the other day has appeared to me!” ¹¹ So Manoah got up and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you ^(N)the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² Then Manoah said, “Now when your words ^[k]are fulfilled, what shall be the boy’s way of life and his vocation?” ¹³ And ^(O)the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “^(P)The woman shall pay attention ^[l]to all that I said. ¹⁴ She shall not eat anything that comes from the ^(Q)vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; she shall keep all that I commanded.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to ^(R)the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶ But the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, ^(S)I will not eat your ^[m]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 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “^(T)What is your name, so that when your words ^[n]are fulfilled, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, for it is ^[o](U)wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(V)Manoah took the young goat along with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(W)fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. ^(X)Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²² So Manoah said to his wife, “^(Y)We will certainly die, for 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 ^(Z)shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a son, and named him Samson; and the ^(AA)child grew up and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ And ^(AB)the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him when he was in ^[p](AC)Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.