Bible in 90 Days

²⁸ He said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” They followed him, and they captured the Jordan fords leading to Moab. They did not let anyone cross. ²⁹ They struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all strong and valorous men, and not a single man escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was humbled under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹ After Ehud was Shamgar son of Anath. He struck down six hundred Philistine men with an ox goad. He also saved Israel.

Deborah

4 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel once more did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ² The Lord sold them into the hands of King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera. He lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. ³ The children of Israel cried out to the Lord, for Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots and had forcefully oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.

⁴ Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophetess. She judged Israel at that time. ⁵ She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. The children of Israel would go up to her for her to render judgment. ⁶ She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord God of Israel commands you, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun with you. ⁷ I will draw Sisera, the commander of the army of Jabin, with his chariots and large army to you at the River Kishon and give him into your hands.’ ”

⁸ Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go, but if you will not go with me, then I will not go.”

⁹ She said, “I will indeed go with you. However, the way you are going will gain you no glory, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. Ten thousand men went up on foot with him, and Deborah went up with him also.

¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, who were descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He pitched his tent at the oak in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.

¹² Then they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³ So Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the people with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the River Kishon.

¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get up, for this is the day that the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him. ¹⁵ The Lord routed Sisera and all of his chariots and all of his army with the edge of the sword in front of Barak. Sisera dismounted his chariot and fled on foot.

¹⁶ Barak chased after the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. The whole army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a single man survived. ¹⁷ Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord. Turn aside to me. Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

¹⁹ He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a leather milk container, gave it to him to drink, and covered him.

²⁰ He said to her, “Stand in the entrance to the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ then you say, ‘No.’ ”

²¹ Then Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand and went quietly to him, for he was fast asleep and tired. She drove the tent peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground, so he died.

²² Now as Barak had been chasing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” When he came in, there was Sisera fallen dead with a tent peg in his temple.

²³ So God humbled King Jabin of Canaan before the children of Israel that day. ²⁴ The children of Israel grew more and more powerful over King Jabin of Canaan until he was no more.

The Song of Deborah

5 On that day, Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:

Then the land was at peace for forty years.

Gideon

6 The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian for seven years. ² The hands of Midian dominated Israel, and because of Midian the children of Israel made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. ³ Whenever Israel would plant crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would come up against them. ⁴ Then they would make camp by them and ruin crops of the land all the way to Gaza. They did not leave any provisions behind in Israel—neither sheep, nor cattle, nor donkeys. ⁵ For they came with their livestock and tents like a swarm of locusts. They and their camels were too numerous to count, and they came into the land to destroy it. ⁶ Israel was made weak before Midian and cried out to the Lord.

⁷ When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of Midian, ⁸ the Lord sent them a prophet who said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt and out of that place of slavery. ⁹ I delivered you from the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out from before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. Do not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.’ But you have disobeyed Me.”

¹¹ Now the angel^[a] of the Lord came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah belonging to Joash the Abiezrite. Gideon his son was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

¹³ Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? Where are all His miracles that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt?’ Yet now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours. Save Israel from the control of Midian. Have I not sent you?”

¹⁵ And he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you will strike the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷ And he said to Him, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You who are speaking with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here until I come to You and bring out my gift and set it before You.”

And He said, “I will stay until you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought them out and offered them to Him under the oak.

²⁰ And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And so he did. ²¹ The angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand and touched the meat and unleavened flatbread. Fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord departed from his sight. ²² Then Gideon perceived that it was indeed the angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”

²³ Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. You will not die.”

²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar for the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. Even to this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ That night the Lord said to him, “Take a bull from your father’s herd and a second bull seven years old. Tear down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. ²⁶ Then build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this stronghold in an orderly way. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole that you will cut down.”

²⁷ So Gideon took ten men from among his slaves and did as the Lord had told him, but because he was too afraid of the rest of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it at night.

²⁸ When the men of the city got up early in the morning, the altar of Baal was torn down, the Asherah pole beside it was cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the new altar that had been built.

²⁹ They said to each other, “Who has done this?”

When they had inquired and asked, they responded, “Gideon son of Joash has done this.”

³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son so that he may die, for he tore down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

³¹ Joash then said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Whoever fights for him will be killed by morning. If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself, for someone has torn down his altar.” ³² Therefore on that day he called him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal fight him, for he tore down the altar of Baal.”

³³ All the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east gathered together, and they crossed over, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ The Spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon. He blew a ram’s horn trumpet, and the Abiezrites assembled behind him. ³⁵ He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh and they assembled behind him as well. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so these tribes came up to meet them.

³⁶ Gideon said to God, “If You will use my hands to save Israel, as You have said— ³⁷ I am placing a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only and all of the ground remains dry, then I will know that You will save Israel with my hands, as You have said.” ³⁸ So it happened. He got up early the next morning and squeezed the fleece. Enough dew poured out of the fleece to fill a bowlful of water.

³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me as I speak only one more time. Please let me perform a test with the fleece one more time. Please, let the fleece be the only thing dry, and let there be dew on all of the ground.” ⁴⁰ So God did this during that night. Only the fleece was dry, and the dew was on all the ground.

Gideon Defeats the Midianites

7 Then Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up early and set up camp at Harod Spring. There was a camp of Midianites to the north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. ² The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many people with you for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘Our own power saved us.’ ³ So now, call out so the people can hear, ‘Whoever is afraid or anxious may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand from among the people turned back, and ten thousand were left.

⁴ But 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. When I say to you, ‘This one will go with you,’ he will go with you. Everyone about whom I will say, ‘This one will not go with you,’ will not go.”

⁵ So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall set apart by himself everyone who laps the water with his tongue like dogs; likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink.” ⁶ The number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was three hundred. The rest of the people had knelt to drink water.

⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, “With three hundred men who lapped to drink, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. All the rest of the people should go home.” ⁸ So the three hundred men took provisions and ram’s horn trumpets in their hands. Gideon sent all the other Israelite men to their tents, but he kept the three hundred men.

Now the Midianite camp was below him in the valley. ⁹ That night the Lord said to him, “Get up and go down into the camp, for I have given it into your hands. ¹⁰ Yet if you are afraid to go down, then go down to the camp with Purah your servant. ¹¹ Listen to what they say, and afterward you will be emboldened to go down to the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down near the edge of the camp. ¹² Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Kedemites covered the valley like locusts; and their camels could not be counted, for they were as numerous as grains of sand on the seashore.

¹³ Gideon came and overheard one man who was telling his dream to another. The man said, “Listen to a dream I had. I saw a dry cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It rolled up to a tent and struck it. It fell, turned upside down, and collapsed.”

¹⁴ The other man responded, “This is none other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash the Israelite. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hands.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped, returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Get up, for the Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” ¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three combat units. He gave all of them ram’s horn trumpets, empty jars, and torches within the jars.

¹⁷ He said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. Watch, and when I come to the perimeter of the camp, do as I do. ¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow the horn, then you will blow the horns all around the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’ ”

¹⁹ So Gideon and a hundred men with him went to the edge of the camp at the start of the middle night watch, just as they were setting the watch. Then they blew the horns and smashed the jars in their hands. ²⁰ The three combat units blew the horns and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the horns for blowing in their right hands. They called out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ Every man stood in his place all around the camp, but the men in the camp ran, shouted, and fled.

²² When they blew the three hundred horns, the Lord turned every man’s sword against his fellow man throughout the camp. The Midianite camp fled to Beth Shittah in the direction of Zererah, up to the border of Abel Meholah, near Tabbath. ²³ The men of Israel from Naphtali, Asher, and all of Manasseh were summoned, and they chased after the Midianites. ²⁴ Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to engage Midian in battle. Take control of the water ways as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.”

All the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they took control of the water ways as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ They captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two Midianite commanders. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They chased after the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

Zebah and Zalmunna

8 Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “What have you done to us by not calling us to go and wage war against Midian?” They argued heatedly with him.

² He said to them, “What have I done now compared to you? Are not the gleanings of the grapes of Ephraim better than the harvest of Abiezer? ³ It was into your hands that God gave the Midianite commanders, Oreb and Zeeb. What was I able to do compared to you?” When Gideon said this, their anger against him cooled down.

⁴ Then Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted but still pursuing. ⁵ He said to the men of Sukkoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”

⁶ The officials of Sukkoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands that we should give bread to your army?”

⁷ So Gideon said, “Because of this, when the Lord gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will tear your bodies with desert thorns and briers.”

⁸ He went up from there to Peniel and spoke to them in the same way. The men of Peniel answered him just as the men of Sukkoth had. ⁹ So he also said to the men of Peniel, “When I return safely, I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies, about fifteen thousand survivors; they were all who were left of all the army of the Kedemites, for one hundred twenty thousand arms-bearing men had fallen. ¹¹ Gideon went up on the route of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the camp while the army was off guard. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and Gideon chased after them. He captured Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, and the entire army was terrified.

¹³ Gideon son of Joash returned from battle by the Pass of Heres. ¹⁴ He captured a young man from among the men of Sukkoth and asked him to write the names of the leaders and elders of Sukkoth, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ Then he came to the men of Sukkoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me. You said, ‘Have you subjugated Zebah and Zalmunna that we should give bread to your weary army?’ ” ¹⁶ He took the city elders and disciplined the men of Sukkoth with thorns and briers of the wilderness. ¹⁷ He tore down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?”

They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like the son of a king.”

¹⁹ He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had allowed them to live, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ Gideon said to his firstborn Jether, “Rise and kill them!” Yet the young man did not draw his sword because he was afraid, for he was still a young man.

²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You get up and attack us, for a man is judged by his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna and took the crescent-shaped ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Gideon’s Ephod

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you, and your son, and your grandson, for you have saved us from the hands of Midian.”

²³ Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴ Gideon continued, “I have a request to make of you, that each man would give me an earring from his spoils.” (Their enemy had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

²⁵ They said, “We will certainly give them.” So they spread out a cloak, and each man threw a ring of his spoils there. ²⁶ The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was seventeen hundred gold shekels.^[b] This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, and purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, as well as the chains hanging on the necks of their camels. ²⁷ Gideon used these things to make an ephod. He put it in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

²⁸ The Midianites were humbled before the children of Israel and did not lift their heads high again. The land had peace for forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Death of Gideon

²⁹ Jerub-Baal son of Joash went to his house and lived there. ³⁰ Gideon had seventy sons, for he had many wives. ³¹ His concubine who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelek. ³² Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ After Gideon died, the children of Israel turned again to prostitute themselves with the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god. ³⁴ The children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of their enemies around them, ³⁵ and they did not keep faith with the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon), for all the good he had done for Israel.

Abimelek

9 Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers. He spoke to them and to the house of his mother’s father saying, ² “Please say in the hearing of all of the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, to have all seventy sons of Jerub-Baal rule over you, or for one man to rule over you? Remember that I am your own flesh and bone.’ ”

³ So his mother’s brothers spoke all these things about him in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined toward Abimelek, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴ They gave him seventy silver coins^[c] from the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelek hired unprincipled and undisciplined men, and they followed him. ⁵ He went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerub-Baal, on a single stone. Yet Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, survived because he hid himself. ⁶ All the leaders of Shechem and everyone from Beth Millo gathered together by the oak near the pillar in Shechem to make Abimelek king.

⁷ When Jotham heard this, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He raised his voice and called out, saying to them, “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you! ⁸ The trees once went out to anoint a king over them. They said to the olive tree, ‘Rule over us!’

⁹ “Yet the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I stop making oil, by which God and men are honored, to go and sway over the trees?’

¹⁰ “So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and rule over us.’

¹¹ “Yet the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I stop making my sweet aroma and my fruit, to go and sway over the trees?’

¹² “So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You come and rule over us.’

¹³ “Yet the grapevine said to them, ‘Should I stop making my fresh wine, which cheers God and men, to go and sway over the trees?’

¹⁴ “So the trees said to the thorn bush, ‘You come and rule over us.’

¹⁵ “The thorn bush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade. If not, let fire come out from the thorn bush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

¹⁶ “Now then, did you show good faith and integrity when you made Abimelek king? Did you deal well with Jerub-Baal and his family? Did you do to him as his actions deserved, ¹⁷ considering that my father waged war for you, risked his life for you, and delivered you from the hands of Midian? ¹⁸ Yet you have taken a stand against my father’s family today. You killed his seventy sons, each on a single stone. You made Abimelek, son of his slave woman, king over the leaders of Shechem because he is your brother. ¹⁹ So if you did show good faith and integrity in what you did with Jerub-Baal and his family today, then rejoice in Abimelek, and may he also rejoice in you. ²⁰ If not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth Millo and consume Abimelek!”

²¹ Then Jotham ran away and fled. He went to Beer and lived there because of Abimelek his brother.

The Downfall of Abimelek

²² After Abimelek ruled over Israel for three years, ²³ God sent an evil spirit between Abimelek and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelek, ²⁴ so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerub-Baal and their blood might come back upon Abimelek their brother, who killed them, and upon the leaders of Shechem, who empowered him to kill his brothers. ²⁵ The leaders of Shechem set ambushes against him on the hilltops and robbed all who passed by them on the road. This was told to Abimelek.

²⁶ Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers came to Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ They went out to the field, gathered and trod their grapes, and had a celebration. They went to the temple of their god and ate, drank, and cursed Abimelek. ²⁸ Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelek, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelek? ²⁹ If only this people were under my command, I would get rid of Abimelek.” So he said to Abimelek, “Muster your army and come out!”

³⁰ Then Zebul the city ruler heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed and he burned with anger. ³¹ He secretly sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, “Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers have come to Shechem and are fortifying the city against you. ³² So now, get up at night, you and the people with you, and lie in wait in the field. ³³ In the morning at sunrise, get up early and attack the city. He and the people with him will come out to you, then you can do to them as you find opportunity.”

³⁴ So Abimelek and all the people who were with him got up at night and lay in wait by Shechem in four companies. ³⁵ When Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate, then Abimelek and the people who were with him got up from their hiding places.

³⁶ Gaal saw these people and said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the hilltops.”

Zebul said to him, “The shadows of the hills look like men to you.”

³⁷ Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down the middle of the land, and a company is coming by way of the Diviner’s Oak.”

³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, which said, ‘Who is Abimelek, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people you dismissed out of hand? Go now, I pray, and fight against them.”

³⁹ So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought Abimelek. ⁴⁰ Abimelek chased him, and Gaal fled from him. Many fell wounded at the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers from living in Shechem.

⁴² The next day the people went out into the field, and this was told to Abimelek. ⁴³ So he took the people and divided them into three companies, and they laid in wait in the field. When the people came out from the city, he rose up against them and struck them down. ⁴⁴ Abimelek and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the city gate. The two other combat units attacked everyone in the field and struck them down. ⁴⁵ Abimelek fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people inside it; he tore down the city and spread salt over it.

⁴⁶ When the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard this, they entered the fortified temple of El-Berith. ⁴⁷ Abimelek was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem had gathered together. ⁴⁸ So Abimelek and all the people who were with him went up Mount Zalmon. He took an axe in his hand and cut off a tree branch, lifted it, and carried it on his shoulder. Then he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do the same.” ⁴⁹ So everyone likewise cut off a branch and followed Abimelek. They placed them on the fortification and set the fortification on fire over them. So all the people of the Tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelek went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a fortified tower within the city, so all of the men and women and the leaders of the city fled there. They shut themselves in and went up to the top of the tower. ⁵² Abimelek came to the tower and fought against it. But as he drew near to the tower entrance to burn it with fire, ⁵³ a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on the head of Abimelek, and it crushed his skull.

⁵⁴ Urgently he called to the young man who carried his gear and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that people may not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” So the young man pierced him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ Then the men of Israel saw that Abimelek was dead, so everyone went home.

⁵⁶ Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelek, which he committed against his father by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also repaid the evil deeds of the men of Shechem, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came upon them.

Tola

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

Jair

³ After him Jair the Gileadite arose and judged Israel for twenty-two years. ⁴ He had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and owned thirty cities that are in the land of Gilead. They are called Havvoth Jair to this day. ⁵ Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Jephthah

⁶ Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They worshipped the Baals, the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not serve Him. ⁷ The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. ⁸ They brutally oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites in Gilead. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed over the Jordan to wage war against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed. ¹⁰ Then the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against You, for we have abandoned our God and worshipped the Baals.”

¹¹ The Lord said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites when they oppressed you? You cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hands. ¹³ Yet you have abandoned Me and worshipped other gods. Therefore I will not save you again. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of distress.”

¹⁵ Then the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good in Your sight. Please, just deliver us today.” ¹⁶ They removed the foreign gods from among them and worshipped the Lord, and He could no longer endure the suffering of Israel.

¹⁷ The Ammonites had been called out and set up camp in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled and set up camp in Mizpah. ¹⁸ The commanders of Gilead said to each other, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He will be the ruler of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. His wife’s sons grew up and drove Jephthah away. They said to him, “You will not inherit anything from our father’s house because you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Men of ill repute gathered around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴ Some time passed, then the Ammonites waged war with Israel. ⁵ When the Ammonites waged war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. ⁶ They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader so that we may fight the Ammonites.”

⁷ 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 that you are in trouble?”

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Even so, we have turned to you. Come with us and fight the Ammonites. You will be ruler over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to wage war against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them to me, then I will be your ruler.”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “May the Lord be a witness between us if we do not act according to your word.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead. The people set him over them as ruler and leader. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.

¹² Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king to say, “What problem is there between you and me, that you have come to me to wage war in my land?”

¹³ The Ammonite king said to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because when Israel came up from Egypt, they took my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and as far as the Jordan. Now return it peacefully.”

¹⁴ Again Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, ¹⁵ and said to him,

“Jephthah says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the Ammonite land; ¹⁶ for when Israel came up from Egypt, they went into the desert as far as 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.’ Yet the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “They went into the wilderness, around the lands of Edom and Moab. They went east of the land of Moab and set up camp on the other side of the River Arnon. They did not cross the boundary of Moab, for the River Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

¹⁹ “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon. Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our home.” ²⁰ Yet Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people and set up camp in Jahaz to fight with Israel.

²¹ “The Lord God of Israel gave Sihon and all his people into the hands of Israel, and they struck them down. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land. ²² They took possession of all of the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

²³ “Now that the Lord God of Israel has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you take it? ²⁴ Will you not take possession of whatever Chemosh your god gives you? So everything that the Lord our God possesses before us, we will take possession of it. ²⁵ Now are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or wage war with them? ²⁶ Israel has lived in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the banks of the River Arnon for three hundred years. Why did you not take them back during that time? ²⁷ So I have not sinned against you, but it is you who are doing evil to me by waging war against me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the children of Israel and the Ammonites.”

²⁸ Yet the Ammonite king would not listen to the message that Jephthah had sent him.

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and went on to the Ammonites. ³⁰ Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, “If You will indeed give the Ammonites into my hands, ³¹ then whatever comes out from the door of my house to meet me, when I return safely from the Ammonites, will surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

³² So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to wage war against them, and the Lord gave them into his hands. ³³ He struck them down from Aroer to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel Keramim. The defeat was very severe, and the Ammonites were humbled before the children of Israel.

³⁴ When Jephthah went to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, dancing with a tambourine. She was his only child. Other than her, he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ When he saw her, he ripped up his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought utter disaster to me. You are my undoing, for I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.”

³⁶ She said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord. Do to me what has come out of your mouth, because the Lord worked vengeance upon your enemies, the Ammonites.” ³⁷ Then she said to her father, “Let this be done for me: Give me two months, and I and my friends will wander the hill country and mourn over my virginity.”

³⁸ He said, “Go,” and he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went and mourned over her virginity in the hill country. ³⁹ At the end of two months she returned to her father, and he did to her according to the vow that he had made. She had not ever slept with a man.

So it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰ that the women of Israel would commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days each year.

Jephthah and Ephraim

12 The men of Ephraim gathered together and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go to wage war with the Ammonites and not call us to go with you? We will burn down your house right on top of you.”

² Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a very great conflict with the Ammonites. I called you, but you did not save me from their hands. ³ When I saw that you were not going to save me, I took my life in my own hands and crossed over to the Ammonites. Then the Lord gave them into my hands. Now why have you come up to me today to wage war against me?”

⁴ Then Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck Ephraim down, for they had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives in Ephraim, living in Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan River leading to Ephraim. Whenever an Ephraimite fugitive would say, “Let me cross,” the Gileadite men would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶ then they would say to him, “Say, ‘Shibboleth’!” Yet he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they would grab him and kill him at the Jordan fords. During that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel for six years. When Jephthah the Gileadite died, he 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 thirty daughters in marriage outside his clan; and he brought thirty daughters from outside for his sons. He judged Israel for seven years. ¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

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

¹³ After him, Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years. ¹⁵ Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the Amalekite hill country.

The Birth of Samson

13 Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

² There was a certain man from Zorah, from the tribe of Dan. His name was Manoah. His wife was infertile and had borne no children. ³ The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed, you are infertile and have borne no children, yet you will conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Now be careful, I pray, that you drink no wine or strong drink and that you do not eat anything ritually unclean. ⁵ For you will conceive and bear a son. No razor may touch his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶ Then the woman went to her husband and said, “A man of God came to me. He looked like a very fearsome angel of God. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. ⁷ He said to me, ‘You will conceive and bear a son. So now, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything ritually unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day he dies.’ ”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, “O my Lord, let the man of God whom You sent come again to us, so that he can teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

⁹ God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. ¹⁰ The woman hurried and ran to tell her husband, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”

¹¹ So Manoah got up and went after his wife. He came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

He said, “I am.”

¹² Then Manoah said, “Now may your words come true! What will be the boy’s way of life and his work?”

¹³ The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Your wife must observe everything that I said to her. ¹⁴ She must not consume anything that grows on the vine. She must not drink wine or strong drink, and she must not eat anything ritually unclean. She must observe everything that I commanded her.”

¹⁵ Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you, and let us prepare a young goat for you.”

¹⁶ The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If I stay, I will not eat your food, but if you want to make an offering to the Lord, you should offer it.” (For Manoah did not know that he was an angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we can honor you when your words come true?”

¹⁸ The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.” ¹⁹ Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering and offered them to the Lord upon a rock. Then he did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife watched. ²⁰ When the flame went up from the altar toward the heavens, the angel of the Lord went up in the flames from the altar. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell face down on the ground. ²¹ The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.

²² Manoah said to his wife, “We are certainly going to die, for we have seen God.”

²³ Yet his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, He would not have taken the burnt offering and grain offering from us. He would not have shown us these things, nor let us hear things such as these at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman bore a son, and she called him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ The Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson’s Wedding

14 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman from the daughters of the Philistines. ² He came back up and told his father and mother, “I have seen a woman in Timnah from the daughters of the Philistines; now get her for me as a wife.”

³ His father and mother said to him, “Are there no women among your relatives, or all of our people, that you are intending to take a wife from among the uncircumcised Philistines?”

Yet Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” ⁴ His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for He was seeking an opportunity to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

⁵ Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. As they came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. ⁶ Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and though unarmed, he tore the lion in two as one might tear a young goat in two. However, he did not tell his father and his mother what he had done. ⁷ So Samson went down and spoke with the woman, and she pleased Samson.

⁸ After a while, when he returned to take her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. ⁹ He scooped it out into his hands and ate it as he went along. He came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they also ate. Yet he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of a lion’s carcass.

¹⁰ Then his father went down to the woman. Samson put on a feast there, for this is what young men would do. ¹¹ When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

¹² Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will find thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes to give you. ¹³ However, if you are not able to explain it to me, then you will give me thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes.”

They said to him, “Tell us your riddle, so we can hear it.”

¹⁴ He said to them,

They could not explain the riddle after three days.

¹⁵ On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Trick your groom into telling us the riddle, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to steal what we have? Is that not so?”

¹⁶ So Samson’s wife wept all over him and said, “You must hate me. You do not love me. You have told a riddle to the young men and did not tell it to me.”

Then he said to her, “I have not told it to my father and mother. Why should I tell it to you?” ¹⁷ She wept on him for the seven days of the feast, then on the seventh day he told it to her because she had nagged him. Then she explained the riddle to her people.

¹⁸ So on the seventh day before sunset, the men of the city said to Samson,

Then he said to them,

¹⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord mightily came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of their men. He took their clothes and gave them to the ones who had explained the riddle. His anger burned and he went up to his father’s house. ²⁰ So Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

Samson’s Revenge

15 After a while, during the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, taking a young goat. He said, “I’m going in to my wife in her bedroom,” but her father would not let him go in.

² Her father said, “I thought that you thoroughly hated her, so I gave her to your best man. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, let her be your wife instead.”

³ Samson said to them, “This time I cannot be blamed by the Philistines when I do them harm.” ⁴ Samson went and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches and turned the foxes tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ He set fire to the torches and sent the foxes into standing grain of the Philistines. He burned the harvested grain, standing grain, vineyards, and olive trees.

⁶ The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because the Timnite took the bride of Samson and gave her to his best man.”

So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father with fire. ⁷ Samson said to them, “Because you have done this, I will take revenge on you, and afterwards I will stop.” ⁸ He struck them down with a mighty blow, then went to live in a cave in Etam Rock.

⁹ Then the Philistines went up and set up camp in Judah. They deployed against Lehi. ¹⁰ The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?”

They said, “It is to take Samson prisoner that we have come up, to do to him what he did to us.”

¹¹ So three thousand men from Judah went to the cave in Etam Rock and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are ruling us? Why have you done this 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 to take you prisoner, to give you into the hands of the Philistines.”

Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me.”