THE BOOK OF JUDGES  

Israel’s Failure to Complete the Conquest of Canaan
1 And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, “Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
2 And the Lord said, “Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.”
3 And Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Come up with me into my lot, and let us array ourselves against the Canaanites, and I also will go with you into your lot.” And Simeon went with him.
4 And Judah went up; and the Lord delivered the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hands, and they attacked them in Bezek to the number of ten thousand men.
5 And they overtook Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him; and they attacked the Canaananite and the Perizzite.
6 And Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued after him, and took him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
7 And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, gathered their food under my table: as I therefore have done, so God has recompensed me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 And the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck them with the edge of the sword, and they burned the city with fire.
9 And afterwards the children of Judah went down to fight with the Canaanite dwelling in the hill country, and the south, and the plain country.
10 And Judah went to the Canaanite who dwelt in Hebron; and Hebron came out against him (and the name of Hebron before was Kirjath Arba) and they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, children of Enac.
11 And they went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir; and the name of Debir before was Kirjath Serpher, the City of Letters.
12 And Caleb said, “Whosoever shall attack the City of Letters, and shall first take it, I will give to him Achsah my daughter for a wife.”
13 And Othniel the younger son of Kenaz the brother of Caleb took it; and Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah for a wife.
14 And it came to pass as she went in, that Othniel urged her to ask a field of her father; and she murmured and cried from off her donkey and said, “You have sent me forth into a south land.” And Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?”
15 And Achsah said to him, “Give me, I pray, a blessing, for you have sent me forth into a south land, and you shall give me the ransom of water.” And Caleb gave her according to her heart the ransom of the upper springs and the ransom of the lower springs.
16 And the children of Jethro the Kenite, the father-in-law of Moses, went up from the City of Palm Trees with the children of Judah, to the wilderness that is in the south of Judah, which is at the descent of Arad, and they dwelt with the people.
17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and attacked the Canaanite that inhabited Zephath, and they utterly destroyed them; and they called the name of the city Anathema.
18 But Judah did not inherit Gaza nor her coasts, nor Ashkelon or her coasts, nor Ekron or her coasts, nor Ashdod or the lands around it.
19 And the Lord was with Judah, and he inherited the mountain; for they were not able to destroy the inhabitants of the valley, for Rechab prevented them.
20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses said; and then he inherited the three cities of the children of Anak.
21 But the children of Benjamin did not take the inheritance of the Jebusite who dwelt in Jerusalem; and the Jebusite dwelt with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this day.
22 And the sons of Joseph, they also went up to Bethel; and the Lord was with them.
23 And they encamped and surveyed Bethel: and the name of the city before was Luz.
24 And the spies looked, and behold, a man went out of the city, and they took him; and they said to him, “Show us the way into the city, and we will deal mercifully with you.”
25 And he showed them the way into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and his family.
26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built there a city, and called the name of it Luz; which is its name to this day.
27 And Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-Shean, which is a city of Scythians, nor her towns, nor her suburbs; nor Taanach, nor her towns; nor the inhabitants of Dor, nor her suburbs, nor her towns; nor the inhabitant of Balac, nor her suburbs, nor her towns; nor the inhabitants of Megiddo, nor her suburbs, nor her towns; nor the inhabitants of Jeblaam, nor her suburbs, nor her towns; and the Canaanite began to dwell in this land.
28 And it came to pass when Israel was strong, that he put the Canaanite under forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanite that dwelt in Gezer; and the Canaanite dwelt in the midst of him in Gezer, and became forced labor.
30 And Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kedron, nor the inhabitants of Domana: and the Canaanite dwelt in the midst of them, and became forced labor to them.
31 And Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Accho, and those people became tributary to him, nor did he drive out the inhabitants of Dor, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor the inhabitants of Ahlab, nor Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor Rehob.
32 And Asher dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite who inhabited the land, for he could not drive him out.
33 And Nephthali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemeth, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; and Nephthali dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite who inhabited the land; but the inhabitants of Beth Shemeth and of Beth Anath became forced labor to them.
34 And the Amorite drove out the children of Dan into the mountains, for they did not allow them to come down into the valley.
35 And the Amorite began to dwell in the mountain of shells, in which are bears, and foxes, in Myrsinon, and in Shaalabbin; and the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy upon the Amorite, and he became forced labor to them.
36 And the border of the Amorite was from the Ascent of Akrabbin, from the rock and upwards.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 2  

Israel’s Disobedience
1 And an angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to the place of weeping, and to Bethel, and to the house of Israel, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘I brought you up out of Egypt, and I brought you into the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant that I have made with you.
2 And you shall make no covenant with them that dwell in this land, neither shall you worship their gods; but you shall destroy their graven images, you shall pull down their altars: but you did not listen to My voice, for you did these things.
3 And I said, I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be for a distress to you, and their gods shall be to you for an offense.’”
4 And it came to pass when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept.
5 And they named the name of that place Weepings; and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
6 And Joshua dismissed the people, and they went every man to his inheritance, to inherit the land.

The Death of Joshua
7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that lived many days with Joshua, as many as knew all the great work of the Lord, what things He had done in Israel.
8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old.
9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath Heres, in Mount Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.
10 And all that generation were gathered to their fathers: and another generation rose up after them, who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He wrought in Israel.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness
11 And the children of Israel did evil before the Lord, and served Baalam.
12 And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and walked after other gods, of the gods of the nations round about them; and they worshipped them.
13 And they provoked the Lord, and forsook Him, and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14 And the Lord was very angry with Israel; and He gave them into the hands of the plunderers, and they plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, and they could not any longer resist their enemies,
15 among whomsoever they went; and the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord spoke, and as the Lord swore to them; and He greatly afflicted them.
16 And the Lord raised up judges, and the Lord saved them out of the hands of those that spoiled them: and yet they would not listen to the judges,
17 for they went whoring after other gods, and worshipped them; and they turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the words of the Lord; and they did not do so.
18 And because the Lord raised up judges for them, so the Lord was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved at their groaning by reason of them that besieged them and afflicted them.
19 And it came to pass when the judge died, that they went back, and again corrupted themselves worse than their fathers to go after other gods, to serve them and to worship them: they did not abandon their own doings, nor their stubborn ways.
20 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and said, “Because this nation has forsaken My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice,
21 therefore I will no longer drive out a man of the nations before their face, which Joshua the son of Nun left in the land.” And the Lord left them,
22 to test Israel with them, whether they would keep the way of the Lord, to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.
23 So the Lord will leave these nations, so as not to cast them out suddenly; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.        

JUDGES CHAPTER 3    

The Nations Remaining in the Land
1 And these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all that had not known the wars of Canaan.
2 Only for the sake of the generations of Israel, to teach them war, only the men before them did not know them.
3 These are the nations: the five lordships of the Philistines, and every Canaanite, and the Sidonian, and the Hivite who dwelt in Lebanon from the mount of Hermon to Hamath.
4 And this was done in order to test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commands of the Lord, which He charged their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 And the children of Israel dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
6 And they took their daughters for wives to themselves, and they gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Othniel
7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalam and the groves.
8 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Syria of the rivers: and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years.
9 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord. And the Lord raised up a deliverer to Israel, and he delivered them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war against Cushan-Rishathaim. And the Lord delivered into his hand Cushan-Rishathaim king of Syria of the rivers, and his hand prevailed against Cushan-Rishathaim.
11 And the land was quiet forty years; and Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud
12 And the children of Israel continued to do evil before the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil before the Lord.
13 And he gathered to himself all the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and struck Israel, and took possession of the City of Palm Trees.
14 And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord; and He raised up to them a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man who used both hands alike: and the children of Israel sent gifts by his hand to Eglon king of Moab.
16 And Ehud made himself a two-edged dagger of a span long, and he secured it under his cloak upon his right thigh.
17 And he went, and brought the presents to Eglon king of Moab. And Eglon was a very handsome man.
18 And it came to pass when Ehud had made an end of offering his gifts, that he dismissed those that brought the gifts.
19 And he himself returned from the quarries that are by Gilgal. And Ehud said, “I have a secret message for you, O king!” And Eglon said to him, “Be silent.” And he sent away from his presence all who waited upon him.
20 And Ehud went in to him; and he sat alone in his own upper summer chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you, O king.” And Eglon rose up from his throne near to him.
21 And it came to pass as he arose, that Ehud stretched forth his left hand, and took the dagger off his right thigh, and plunged it into his belly;
22 and drove in also the handle after the blade, and the fat closed in upon the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly.
23 And Ehud went out to the porch, and shut the doors of the chamber behind him, and locked them, and passed on by the appointed guards.
24 And he went out. And Eglon’s servants came, and saw, and behold, the doors of the upper chamber were locked. And they said, “Does he not uncover his feet in the summer-chamber?”
25 And they waited till they were ashamed, and behold, there was no one that opened the doors of the upper chamber; and they took the key, and opened them. And behold, their master was fallen down dead upon the ground.
26 And Ehud escaped while they were in a tumult, and no one paid attention to him; and he passed by the quarries, and escaped to Seirah.
27 And it came to pass when Ehud came into the land of Israel, that he blew the horn in Mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel came down with him from the mountain, and he was before them.
28 And he said to them, “Come down after me, for the Lord God has delivered our enemies, even Moab, into our hand.” So they went down after him, and seized on the fords of the Jordan before Moab, and he did not allow a man to pass over. 29 And they struck Moab on that day, and killed about ten thousand men, every lusty person and every mighty man; and not a man escaped.
30 So Moab was humbled in that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest eighty years; and Ehud judged them till he died.

Shamgar
31 And after him rose up Shamgar the son of Anath, and he struck the Philistines to the number of six hundred men with a plow share of an ox; and he too delivered Israel.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 4  

Deborah
1 And the children of Israel continued to do evil against the Lord; and Ehud was dead.
2 And the Lord sold the children of Israel into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor; and the chief of his army was Sisera, and he dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
3 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord, because he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed Israel twenty years.
4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
5 And she sat under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim; and the children of Israel went up to her for judgment.
6 And Deborah sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Nephtali, and she said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded you? And you shall depart to Mount Tabor, and shall take with yourself ten thousand men of the sons of Nephtali and of the sons of Zebulun.
7 And I will bring to you to the torrent of Kison Sisera the captain of the host of Jabin, and his chariots, and his multitude, and I will deliver them into your hands.”
8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; and if you will not go, I will not go; for I know not the day on which the Lord prospers His messenger with me.”
9 And she said, “I will surely go with you; but know that your honor shall not attend on the expedition on which you go, for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” And Deborah arose, and went with Barak out of Kedesh.
10 And Barak called out Zebulun and Nephtali out of Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.
11 And Heber the Kenite had removed from Caina, from the sons of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, and pitched his tent by the oak of the covetous ones, which is near Kedesh.
12 And it was told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13 And Sisera summoned all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron and all the people with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles to the brook of Kishon.
14 And Deborah said to Barak, “Rise up, for this is the day on which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand, for the Lord shall go forth before you.” And Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15 And the Lord routed Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera descended from off his chariot, and fled on his feet.
16 And Barak pursued after the chariots and after the army, into Harosheth of the Gentiles; and the whole army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword, there was none left.
17 And Sisera fled on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber, his friend the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me, fear not.” So he turned aside to her into the tent; and she covered him with a rug.
19 And Sisera said to her, “Give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him to drink, and covered him.
20 And Sisera said to her, “Stand now by the door of the tent, and it shall come to pass if any man come to you, and ask of you, and say, ‘Is there any man here?’ Then you shall say, ‘There is not.’”
21 And Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him, and fastened the peg in his temple, and it went through to the ground, and he fainted away, and darkness fell upon him and he died.
22 And behold, Barak was pursuing Sisera. And Jael went out to meet him, and she said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” And he went in to her, and behold, Sisera had fallen down dead, and the peg was in his temple.
23 So God routed Jabin king of Canaan in that day before the children of Israel.
24 And the hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin king of Canaan, until they utterly destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 5  

The Song of Deborah
1 And Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang in that day, saying,
2 “A revelation was made in Israel when the people were made willing: Bless the Lord!
3 Hear, O kings, and give ear, O you rulers: I will sing, it is I who will sing to the Lord, it is I, I will sing a psalm to the Lord God of Israel.
4 O Lord, in Your going forth on Seir, when You went forth out of the land of Edom, the earth quaked and the heaven dropped the dew, and the clouds dropped water.
5 The mountains were shaken before the face of the Lord Eloi, this Sinai, before the face of the Lord God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, they deserted the right ways, and went in through the byways; they went in crooked paths.
7 The mighty men in Israel failed, they failed until I, Deborah arose, until there arose a mother in Israel.
8 They chose new gods; then the cities of rulers fought; there was not a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart inclines to the orders given in Israel; you that are willing among the people, bless the Lord.
10 You that mount a donkey at noonday, you that sit on the judgment seat, and walk by the roads of them that sit in judgment by the way. Declare,
11 you that are delivered from the noise of disturbers among those that draw water; there shall they relate righteous acts: O Lord, increase righteous acts in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the cities.
12 Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, utter a song. Arise, Barak, and lead your captivity captive, O son of Abinoam.
13 Then the remnant went down to the strong, the people of the Lord went down for him among the mighty ones from me. 14 Ephraim rooted them out in Amalek, behind you was Benjamin among your people: the inhabitants of Machir came down with me searching out the enemy, and from Zebulun came those that draw with the scribe’s pen of record.
15 And princes in Issachar were with Deborah and Barak, thus she sent Barak on his feet in the valleys into the portions of Reuben; great pangs reached to the heart.
16 Why did they sit between the sheep folds to hear the bleating of flocks for the divisions of Reuben? There were great searchings of heart.
17 Gilead is on the other side of the Jordan where he pitched his tents; and why does Dan remain in ships? Asher sat down on the sea coasts, and he will dwell at his ports.
18 Zebulun risked their lives to the death, and Nephtali came to the high places of their land.
19 Kings set themselves in array, then the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach at the water of Megiddo; they took no gift of money.
20 The stars from heaven set themselves in array, they set themselves to fight with Sisera out of their paths.
21 The brook of Kishon swept them away, the ancient brook, the brook Kishon: my mighty soul will trample him down.
22 When the hoofs of the horse were entangled, his mighty ones earnestly hastened
23 to curse Meroz: ‘Curse it,’ said the angel of the Lord; cursed is everyone that dwells in it, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to His help among the mighty.
24 Blessed among women is Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; let her be blessed above women in tents.
25 He asked for water, she gave him milk in a dish; she brought the butter of princes.
26 She stretched forth her left hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workman’s hammer, and she struck Sisera with it, she nailed through his head and killed him; she nailed through his temples.
27 He rolled down between her feet; he fell and lay between her feet; he bowed and fell: where he bowed, there he fell dead.
28 The mother of Sisera looked down through the window out of the loophole, saying, ‘Why was his chariot ashamed? Why did the wheels of his chariots tarry?’
29 Her wise ladies answered her, and she returned answers to herself, saying,
30 ‘Will they not find him dividing the spoil? He will surely be gracious to every man.” There are spoils of dyed garments for Sisera, spoils of various dyed garments, dyed embroidered garments, they are the spoils for his neck.
31 Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord: and they that love Him shall be as the going forth of the sun in his strength.” And the land had rest forty years.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 6  

The Midianite Oppression
1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years.
2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. And the children of Israel made for themselves caves in the mountains, and the dens, and the holes in the rocks, because of Midian.
3 And it came to pass when the children of Israel sowed, that Midian and Amalek went up, and the children of the east went up together with them.
4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed their fruits until they came to Gaza; and they left no sustenance in the land of Israel, not even ox or donkey among the herds.
5 For they and their stock came up, and their tents were with them, as the locust in multitude, and there was no number to them and their camels; and they came to the land of Israel, and laid it waste.
6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian.
7 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord because of Midian.
8 And the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel; and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I am He that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I brought you up out of the house of your bondage.
9 And I delivered you out of the hand of Egypt, and out of the hand of all that afflicted you, and I cast them out before you; and I 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 dwell; but you did not listen to My voice.”

Gideon
11 And an angel of the Lord came, and sat down under the fir tree, which was in Ephratha in the land of Joash father of Esdri. And Gideon his son was threshing wheat in a wine press in order to escape from the face of Midian.
12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you who are mighty in strength!”
13 And Gideon said to him, “Be gracious with me, my Lord: but if the Lord is with us, why have these evils found us? And where are all His miracles, which our fathers have related to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ And now He has cast us out, and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 And the Angel of the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this your strength, and you shall save Israel out of the hand of Midian: behold, I have sent you.”
15 And Gideon said to him, “Be gracious with me, my Lord: how shall I save Israel? Behold, my thousand is weakened in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “The Lord shall be with you, and you shall strike Midian as one man.”
17 And Gideon said to him, “If now I have found mercy in Your eyes, and You will do this day for me all that You have spoken of with me,
18 do not depart from here until I come to You, and I will bring forth an offering and offer it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”
19 And Gideon went in, and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of fine flour; and he put the flesh in the basket, and poured the broth into the pot, and brought them forth to Him under the terebinth tree, and drew near.
20 And the Angel of God said to him, “Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and put them on that rock, and pour out the broth close by”; and he did so.
21 And the Angel of the Lord stretched out the end of the rod that was in His hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened bread; and fire came up out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened bread, and the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22 And Gideon saw that He was the Angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, “Ah, O Lord my God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”
23 And the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you, fear not, you shall not die.”
24 And Gideon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it The Peace of the Lord, until this day, as it is still in Ephratha of the father of Esdri.
25 And it came to pass in that night, that the Lord said to him, “Take the young bull which your father has, even the second bull of seven years old, and you shall destroy the altar of Baal which your father has, and the grove which is by it you shall destroy.
26 And you shall build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and you shall take the second bull, and shall offer up burnt offerings with the wood of the grove, which you shall destroy.”
27 And Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord spoke to him. And it came to pass, as he feared the house of his father and the men of the city if he should do it by day, that he did it by night.

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal
28 And the men of the city rose up early in the morning. And behold, the altar of Baal had been demolished, and the grove by it had been destroyed; and they saw the second bull, which Gideon offered on the altar that had been built.
29 And a man said to his neighbor, “Who has done this thing?” And they inquired and searched, and learned that Gideon the son of Joash had done this thing. 30 And the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, and let him die, because he has destroyed the altar of Baal, and because he has destroyed the grove that is by it.”
31 And Gideon the son of Joash said to all the men who rose up against him, “Do you now plead for Baal, or will you save him? Whoever will plead for him, let him be slain this morning: if he be a god let him plead for himself, because one has thrown down his altar.”
32 And he called it in that day Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him,” because his altar has been thrown down.
33 And all Midian, and Amalek, and the sons of the east gathered themselves together, and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.
34 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he sounded his trumpet, and Abiezer came to help after him.
35 And Gideon sent messengers into all Manasseh, and into Asher, and into Zebulun, and into Nephtali; and he went up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece
36 And Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as You have said,
37 behold, I put the fleece of wool in the threshing floor: if there be dew on the fleece only, and drought on all the ground, I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”
38 And it was so. And he rose up early in the morning, and wrung the fleece, and dew dropped from the fleece, a bowl full of water.
39 And Gideon said to God, “Let not Your anger be kindled with me, and I will speak yet once; I will even yet make one trial more with the fleece: let now the drought be upon the fleece only, and let there be dew on all the ground.”
40 And God did so in that night; and there was drought on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.        


JUDGES CHAPTER 7  

Gideon Surprises and Routs the Midianites
1 And Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) rose early, and all the people with him, and encamped at the fountain of Harod. And the camp of Midian was to the north of him, reaching from the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people that are with you are too many, so that I may not deliver Midian into their hand, lest at any time Israel boast against Me, saying, ‘My hand has saved me.’
3 And now speak in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Who is afraid and fearful? Let him turn and depart from Mount Gilead.’” And there returned of the people twenty-two thousand, and ten thousand were left.
4 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too numerous; bring them down to the water, and I will purge them there for you; and it shall come to pass that of whom I shall say to you, This one shall go with you, even he shall go with you; and of whomever I shall say to you, This one shall not go with you, even he shall not go with you.”
5 And he brought the people down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, “Whoever shall lap of the water with his tongue as if a dog should lap, you shall set him apart; likewise whoever shall bow down upon his knees to drink.”
6 And the number of those that lapped with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men; and all the rest of the people bowed upon their knees to drink water.
7 And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you by the three hundred men that lapped, and I will give Midian into your hand; and all the rest of the people shall go everyone to his place.”
8 And they took the provision of the people in their hand, and their horns; and he sent away every man of Israel, each to his tent, and he strengthened the three hundred. And the army of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
9 And it came to pass in that night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down into the camp, for I have delivered them into your hand.
10 And if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant.  
11 And you shall hear what they shall say, and afterwards your hands shall be strong, and you shall go down into the camp.” And he went down with Purah his servant to the extremity of the companies of fifty, which were in the camp.
12 And Midian and Amalek and all the children of the east were scattered in the valley, as numerous as locusts; and there was no number to their camels, but they were as the sand on the seashore in multitude.
13 And Gideon came, and behold, a man was relating a dream to his neighbor, and he said, “Behold, I have dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread rolling into the camp of Midian, and it came as far as a tent, and struck it, and it fell, and it turned it up, and the tent fell.”
14 And his neighbor answered and said, “This is none other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash a man of Israel: God has delivered Midian and all the host into his hand.”
15 And it came to pass when Gideon heard the account of the dream and the interpretation of it, that he worshipped the Lord, and returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Rise up, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into our hand.”
16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put horns in the hands of all, and empty pitchers, and torches in the pitchers.
17 And he said to them, “You shall look at me, and so shall you do; and behold, I will go to the beginning of the camp, and it shall come to pass that as I do, so shall you do.
18 And I will blow the trumpet, and all you with me shall blow your trumpets round about the whole camp, and you shall say, ‘For the Lord and Gideon.’”
19 And Gideon and the hundred men that were with him came to the extremity of the army in the beginning of the middle watch; and they completely roused the guards, and blew the trumpets, and they smashed the pitchers that were in their hands,
20 and the three companies blew their trumpets, and smashed their pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands their horns to sound with; and they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.”
21 And every man stood in his place round about the camp; and all the army ran, and sounded an alarm, and fled.
22 And they sounded with the three hundred horns; and the Lord set every man’s sword in all the camp against his neighbor.
23 And the army fled as far as Bethseed Tagaragatha Abel-meula to Tabath. And the men of Israel from Nephtali, and from Asher, and from all Manasseh, came to help, and followed after Midian.
24 And Gideon sent messengers into all of Mount Ephraim, saying, “Come down to meet Midian, and take to yourselves the water as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.” And every man of Ephraim cried out, and they took the water before hand unto Beth Barah and the Jordan.
25 And they took the princess of Midian, even Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they slew Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. And they pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from beyond the Jordan.          

JUDGES CHAPTER 8  

Gideon’s Triumph and Vengeance
1 And the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “What is this that you have done to us, in that you did not call us when you went to fight with Midian?” And they contended with him sharply.
2 And he said to them, “What have I now done in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
3 The Lord has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what could I do in comparison of you?” Then was their spirit calmed toward him, when he spoke this word.
4 And Gideon came to the Jordan, and crossed over, himself and the three hundred with him, hungry yet still pursuing.
5 And he said to the men of Soccoth, “Give some bread to feed this people that follow me; because they are faint, and behold, I am following after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”
6 And the princes of Soccoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”
7 And Gideon said, “Therefore when the Lord gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then will I tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and the Barkenim.”
8 Then he went up to Penuel, and spoke to them likewise. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Soccoth had answered him.
9 And Gideon said to the men of Penuel, “When I return in peace, I will break down this tower.”
10 And Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies were with them, about fifteen thousand, all that were left of the whole army of the aliens; and those that fell were a hundred and twenty thousand men that drew the sword.
11 And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents, eastward of Nobah and Jogbehah; and he attacked the army, while the camp was secure.
12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed all the army.
13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle, down from the battle of Heres.
14 And he took prisoner a young lad of the men of Soccoth, and questioned him. And he wrote to him the names of the princes of Soccoth and of their elders, seventy-seven men.
15 And Gideon came to the princes of Soccoth, and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you reproached me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men that are faint?’”
16 And he took the elders of the city, with the thorns and briers of the wilderness, and with them he threshed the men of the city.
17 And he overthrew the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city.
18 And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed in Tabor?” And they said, “As you are, so were they, according to the likeness of the son of a king.”
19 And Gideon said, “They were my brothers and the sons of my mother: as the Lord lives, if you had preserved them alive, I would not have slain you.”
20 And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise up and kill them.” But the lad did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, and he was still very young.
21 And Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise up, and fall on us, for your power is as that of a man.” And Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna: and he took the round ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Gideon’s Idolatry
22 And the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, my lord, you and your son, and your grandson also, for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.”
23 And Gideon said to them, “I will not rule, and my son shall not rule among you; but the Lord shall rule over you.”
24 And Gideon said to them, “I will make a request of you: give me every man an earring out of his spoils.” (for they had golden earrings, for they were Ishmaelites).
25 And they said, “We will certainly give them.” And he opened his garment, and each man cast in an earring out of his spoils.
26 And the weight of the golden earrings which he asked was one thousand seven hundred pieces of gold, besides the crescents, and the chains, and the garments, and the purple cloths that were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were on the necks of their camels.
27 And Gideon made an ephod of it, an set it in his city in Ephratha; and all Israel went whoring after it, and it became a stumbling block to Gideon and his house.
28 Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they did not lift up their head any longer. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Death of Gideon
29 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his house.
30 Now Gideon had seventy sons begotten from his own body, for he had many wives.
31 And his concubine was in Shechem, and she also bore him a son, and gave him the name Abimelech.
32 And Gideon son of Joash died in his city, and he was buried in the tomb of Joash his father in Ephratha of Abi-Esdri.
33 And it came to pass when Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned, and went a whoring after the Baals, and made for themselves a covenant with Baal, that he should be their god.
34 And the children of Israel forgot the Lord their God who had delivered them out of the hand of all that afflicted them.
35 And they did not deal mercifully with the house of Jerubbaal, (that is, Gideon) according to all the good which he did to Israel.           


JUDGES CHAPTER 9  

Abimelech’s Treachery
1 And Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers; and he spoke to them and to all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying,
2 “Speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, saying, ‘Which is better for you, that seventy men, even all the sons of Jerubbaal, should reign over you, or that one man should reign over you?’ And remember that I am your own flesh and bone.”
3 And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the ears of all the men of Shechem, and their heart turned after Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”
4 And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-Berith; and Abimelech hired for himself worthless and cowardly men, and they went after him.
5 And he went to the house of his father to Ephratha, and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men upon one stone; but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself.
6 And all the men of Shechem, and all the house of Beth Millo were gathered together, and they went and made Abimelech king by the Oak of Sedition, which was at Shechem.

The Parable of the Trees
7 And it was reported to Jotham, and he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and wept, and said to them, “Hear me, you men of Sicima, and God shall hear you.
8 The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive, ‘Reign over us.’
9 But the olives said to them, ‘Shall I leave my fatness, with which men shall glorify God, and go to be promoted over the trees?’
10 And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come, reign over us.’
11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruits, and go to be promoted over the trees?’
12 And the trees said to the vine, ‘Come, reign over us.’
13 And the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men, and go to be promoted over the trees?’
14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come, and reign over us.’
15 And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me to reign over you, come, stand under my shadow; and if not, let fire come out from me and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
16 “And now, if you have done it in truth and integrity, and have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal, and with his house, and if you have done to him according to the reward of his hand,
17 as my father fought for you, and put his life in jeopardy, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian;
18 and you have risen up this day against the house of my father, and have slain his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech the son of his bondwoman king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother:
19 if then you have done truly and faithfully with Jerubbaal, and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice over you.
20 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Beth Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from the house of Beth Millo, and devour Abimelech.”
21 And Jotham fled and ran away, and went as far as Beer, and dwelt there out of the way of his brother Abimelech.

The Downfall of Abimelech
22 And Abimelech reigned over Israel three years.
23 And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shecem dealt treacherously with the house of Abimelech,
24 to bring the injury done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, and to lay their blood upon their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and upon the men of Shechem, because they strengthened his hands to slay his brothers.
25 And the men of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the top of the mountains, and robbed everyone who passed by them on the road. And it was reported to Abimelech the king.
26 And Gaal son of Ebed came, and his brothers, and passed by Shechem, and the men of Shechem trusted in him.
27 And they went out into the field, and gathered their grapes, and trod them, and made merry; and they brought the grapes into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.
28 And Gaal the son of Jobel said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is the son of Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his manager, his servant with the son of Hamor the father of Shechem? And why should we serve him?
29 If only this people were under my hand! Then would I remove Abimelech, and I would say to him, ‘Multiply your host, and come out.’”
30 And Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, and he was very angry.
31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and behold, they have besieged the city against you.
32 And now rise up by night, you and the people with you, and lay wait in the field.
33 And it shall come to pass in the morning at sunrise, that you shall rise up early and draw toward the city; and behold, he and the people with him will come forth against you, and you shall do to him according to your power.”
34 And Abimelech and all the people with him rose up by night, and formed an ambush against Shechem in four companies.
35 And Gaal the son of Ebed went forth, and stood by the door of the gate of the city. And Abimelech and the people with him rose up from the ambush.
36 And Gaal the son of Ebed saw the people, and said to Zebul, “Behold, a people comes down from the top of the mountains.” And Zebul said to him, “You see the shadow of the mountains as men.”
37 And Gaal continued to speak and said, “Behold, a people comes down westward from the part bordering on the middle of the land, and another company comes by the way of Diviners’ Terebinth Tree.”
38 And Zebul said to him, “And where is your mouth as you spoke, Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Is not this the people whom you despised? Go forth now, and set the battle in array against him.”
39 And Gaal went forth before the men of Shechem, and set the battle in array against Abimelech.
40 And Abimelech pursued him, and he fled from before him; and many fell down slain as far as the door of the gate.
41 And Abimelech entered into Aruma, and Zebul cast out Gaal and his brothers, so that they should not dwell in Shechem.
42 And it came to pass on the second day that the people went out into the field, and one brought word to Abimelech.
43 And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and formed an ambush in the field. And he looked, and behold, the people went forth out of the city, and he rose up against them, and struck them.
44 And Abimelech and the chiefs of companies that were with him rushed forward, and stood by the door of the gate of the city; and the two other companies rushed forward upon all that were in the field, and struck them.
45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and took the city, and killed the people that were in it, and destroyed the city, and sowed it with salt.
46 And all the men of the tower of Shechem heard, and came to the gathering of Bethel-Berith.
47 And it was reported to Abimelech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.
48 And Abimelech went up to the mount of Zalmon, and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a branch of a tree, and took it, and laid it on his shoulders; and said to the people that were with him, “What you see me doing, do quickly as I do.”
49 And every man likewise cut down a branch, and went after Abimelech, and laid them against the place of gathering, and burned the place of gathering over them with fire. And they died, even all the men of the tower of Sicima, about a thousand men and women.
50 And Abimelech went out of Bethel-Berith, and encamped against Thebes, and took it.
51 And there was a strong tower in the midst of the city; and all the men and the women of the city fled there, and shut the door behind them, and went up on the roof of the tower.
52 And Abimelech drew near to the tower, and they besieged it; and Abimelech drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
53 And a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon the head of Abimelech, and broke his skull.
54 And he cried out quickly to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword, and kill me, lest at any time they should say, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man thrust him through and he died.
55 And the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, and they went each to his place.
56 So God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did against his father, in slaying his seventy brothers.
57 And all the wickedness of the men of Shechem God repaid upon their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them.        

JUDGES CHAPTER 10   

Tola
1 And after Abimelech, Tola the son of Puah rose up to save Israel, being the son of his father’s brother, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in Mount Ephraim.
2 And he judged Israel twenty-three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.

Jair
3 And after him arose Jair of Gilead, and he judged Israel twenty-two years.
4 And he had thirty-two sons riding on thirty-two colts, and they had thirty-two cities; and they called them Jair’s towns until this day in the land of Gilead.
5 And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

Oppression by the Ammonites
6 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord, and did not serve Him.
7 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon.
8 And they afflicted and bruised the children of Israel at that time eighteen years, all the children of Israel beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorite in Gilead.
9 And the children of Ammon went over the Jordan to fight with Judah, and Benjamin, and with Ephraim; and the children of Israel were greatly afflicted.
10 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have forsaken God, and served the Baals.”
11 And the Lord said to the children of Israel, “Did I not save you from Egypt and from the Amorite, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines,
12 and from the Sidonians, and Amalek, and Midian, who afflicted you? And you cried to Me, and I saved you out of their hand?
13 Yet you forsook Me and served other gods; therefore I will not save you anymore.
14 Go, and cry to the gods whom you have chosen for yourselves, and let them save you in the time of your affliction.”
15 And the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned: do unto us according to all that is good in Your eyes; only deliver us this day.”
16 And they put away the strange gods from the midst of them, and served the Lord only, and His soul was pained for the trouble of Israel.
17 And the children of Ammon went up, and encamped in Gilead; and the children of Israel were gathered together and encamped on the hill.
18 And the people, the princes of Gilead, said, every man to his neighbor, “Who is he that shall begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall even be head over all that dwell in Gilead.”          

JUDGES CHAPTER 11  

Jephthah
1 And Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man; and he was the son of a harlot, who bore Jephthah to Gilead.
2 And the wife of Gilead bore him sons; and the sons of his wife grew up, and they cast out Jephthah, and said to him, “You shall not inherit in the house of our father, for you are the son of a concubine.”
3 And Jephthah fled from the face of his brothers, and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men gathered to Jephthah, and went out with him.
4 And it came to pass when the children of Ammon prepared to fight with Israel,
5 that the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah from the land of Tob.
6 And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, and we will fight with the sons of Ammon.”
7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and cast me out of my father’s house, and banish me from you? And why have you come to me now, when you need me?”
8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore have we now turned to you, that you should go with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be our leader over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you turn me back to fight with the children of Ammon, and the Lord should deliver them before me, then will I be your leader.”
10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord be witness between us, if we shall not do according to your word.”
11 And Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and ruler over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.
12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What have I to do with you, that you have come against me to fight in my land?”
13 And the king of the children of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took my land when he went up out of Egypt, from Arnon to Jabbok, and to the Jordan: now then return them peaceably and I will depart.”
14 And Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon,
15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon;
16 for in their going up out of Egypt Israel went in the wilderness as far as the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh.
17 And Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘I will pass, if it please you, by your land’; and the king of Edom would not consent. And Israel also sent to the king of Moab, and he did not consent; and Israel sojourned in Kadesh.
18 And they journeyed in the wilderness, and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. And they came by the east of the land of Moab, and encamped in the country beyond Arnon, and did not enter the borders of Moab, for Arnon is the border of Moab.
19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorite, king of Hesbron, and Israel said to him, ‘Let us pass through your land to our place.’
20 And Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; and Sihon gathered all his people, and they encamped at Jahaz; and he set the battle in array against Israel.
21 And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck him; and Israel inherited all the land of the Amorite who dwelt in that land,
22 from Arnon and to Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
23 And now the Lord God of Israel has removed the Amorite from before His people Israel, and shall you inherit his land?
24 Will you not inherit those possessions which Chemosh your god shall cause you to inherit; and shall not we inherit the land of all those whom the Lord our God has removed from before you?
25 And now are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he indeed fight with Israel, or indeed make war with him,
26 when Israel dwelt in Hesbron and in its coasts, and in the land of Aroer and in its coasts, and in all the cities by the Jordan, three hundred years? And why did you not recover them in that time?
27 And now I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me in preparing war against me: may the Lord, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.”
28 But the king of the children of Ammon did not heed the words of Jephthah, which he sent to him.

Jephthah’s Vow
29 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed by the watchtower of Gilead to the other side of the children of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
31 then it shall come to pass that whosoever shall first come out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, he shall be the Lord’s: I will offer him up for a burnt offering.”
32 And Jephthah advanced to meet the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hand.
33 And he struck them from Aroer till one comes to Arnon, twenty cities in number, and as far as Abel-Keramim, with a very great destruction. And the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Jephthah’s Daughter
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house; and behold, his daughter came forth to meet him with timbrels and dances; and she was his only child, for he had no other son or daughter.
35 And it came to pass when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter, you have indeed troubled me, and you are the cause of my trouble; and I have opened my mouth against you to the Lord, and I shall not be able to return from it.”
36 And she said to him, “Father, have you opened your mouth to the Lord? Do to me accordingly as the word went out of your mouth, in that the Lord has worked vengeance for you on your enemies of the children of Ammon.”
37 And she said to her father, “Let my father now do this thing: let me alone for two months, and I will go up and down on the mountains, and I will lament my virginity, I and my companions.”
38 And he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months. And she went, and her companions, and she lamented her virginity on the mountains.
39 And it came to pass at the end of the two months that she returned to her father; and he performed upon her his vow which he vowed; and she knew no man.
40 And it was an ordinance in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days in the year.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 12  

Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim
1 And the men of Ephraim assembled themselves, and passed on to the north, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you go over to fight with the children of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.”
2 And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people and the children of Ammon were very much engaged in war; and I called for you, and you did not save me out of their hand.
3 And I saw that you were no helper, and I put my life in my hand, and passed on to the sons of Ammon; and the Lord delivered them into my hand: and why then have you come up against me this day to fight with me?”
4 And Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they that had escaped of Ephraim said, “You are of Gilead in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.”
5 And Gilead took the fords of the Jordan before Ephraim; and they that escaped of Ephraim said to them, “Let us go over.” And the men of Gilead said, “Are you an Ephraimite?” And he said, “No.”
6 Then they said to him, “Say now Stachys.” And he did not correctly pronounce it. So they took him, and killed him at the fords of the Jordan; and there fell at that time of Ephraim forty-two thousand.
7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years; and Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in his city, which was Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon
8 And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
9 And he had thirty sons and thirty daughters, whom he sent forth; and he brought in thirty daughters for his sons from outside; and he judged Israel seven years.
10 And Ibzan died, and was buried in Bethlehem.
11 And after him Elon of Zebulun judged Israel ten years.
12 And Elon of Zebulun died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judged Israel.
14 And he had forty sons, and thirty grandsons, that rode upon seventy colts: and he judged Israel eight years.
15 And Abdon the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the mount of Amalek.          


JUDGES CHAPTER 13  

The Birth of Samson
1 And the children of Israel yet again committed iniquity before the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2 And there was a man of Zorah, of the family of the kindred of Dan, and his name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, and bore no children.
3 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not given birth; yet you shall conceive a son.
4 And now be very cautious, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing;
5 for behold, you are with child, and shall bring forth a son; and there shall come no razor upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
6 And the woman went in, and spoke to her husband, saying, “A Man of God came to me, and His appearance was as of an angel of God, very fearful. And I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name.
7 And He said to me, ‘Behold, you are with child, and shall bring forth a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing; for the child shall be holy to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
8 And Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “I pray to You, O Lord my Lord, concerning the Man of God whom You sent; let Him now come to us once more, and teach us what we shall do with the child about to be born.”
9 And the Lord heard the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came yet again to the woman. And she sat in the field, and Manoah her husband was not with her.
10 And the woman made haste and ran, and brought word to her husband, and said to him, “Behold the Man who came in the other day to me has appeared to me.”
11 And Manoah arose and followed his wife, and came to the Man, and said to Him, “Are you the Man that spoke to the woman?” And the Angel said, “I am.”
12 And Manoah said, “Now shall Your word come to pass: what shall be the ordering of the child, and our dealings with him?” 13 And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all things concerning which I spoke to the woman, she shall beware.
14 She shall eat of nothing that comes of the vine yielding wine, and let her not drink wine or strong liquor, and let her not eat anything unclean: all things that I have commanded her she shall observe.”
15 And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Let us detain You here, and prepare before You a young goat.”
16 And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you should detain Me, I will not eat of your bread; and if you would offer a burnt offering, you shall 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, “What is Your name, that when Your word shall come to pass, we may glorify You?”
18 And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you thus ask after My name; seeing it is Wonderful?”
19 And Manoah took a young goat, and its grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and the Angel wrought a distinct work, and Manoah and his wife were looking on.
20 And it came to pass when the flame went up above the altar toward heaven, that the Angel of the Lord went up in the flame; and Manoah and his wife were looking, and they fell upon their face to the earth.
21 And the Angel appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that this was the Angel of the Lord.
22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”
23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord were pleased to slay us, He would not have received of our hand a burnt offering and a grain offering; and He would not have shown us all these things, neither would He have caused us to hear all these things as He did at this time.”
24 And the woman brought forth a son, and she called his name Sampson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.
25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to go out with him in the camp of Dan, and between Zorah and Esthaol.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 14  

Samson’s Marriage
1 And Sampson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he went up and told his father and his mother, and said, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; and now take her to me for a wife.”
3 And his father and his mother said to him, “Are there no daughters among your brothers, and is there not a woman of all my people, that you would go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Sampson said to his father, “Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
4 And his father and his mother did not know that it was of the Lord, that He sought to be revenged on the Philistines. And at that time the Philistines lorded it over Israel.
5 And Sampson and his father and his mother went down to Timnah, and he came to the vineyard of Timnah. And behold, a young lion roared in meeting him. 6 And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he crushed the lion as he would have crushed a young goat, and there was nothing in his hands. And he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
7 And they went down and spoke to the woman, and she was pleasing in the eyes of Sampson.
8 And after some time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the mouth of the lion.
9 And he took it into his hands, and went on eating, and he went to his father and his mother, and gave to them, and they did eat; but he did not tell them that he took the honey out of the mouth of the lion.
10 And his father went down to the woman, and Sampson made there a banquet for seven days, for so the young men are used to doing.
11 And it came to pass when they saw him, that they took thirty guests, and they were with him.
12 And Sampson said to them, “I put to you a riddle: if you will indeed tell it to me, and discover it within the seven days of the feast, I will you give thirty sheets and thirty changes of clothing.
13 And if you cannot tell it me, you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” And they said to him, “Put forth your riddle, and we will hear it.”
14 And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” And they could not explain the riddle for three days.
15 And it came to pass on the fourth day, that they said to the wife of Sampson, “Deceive now your husband, and let him tell you the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire: did you invite us to do us violence?”
16 And Sampson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me! You don’t love me! For the riddle which you have put to my people you have not told me.” And Sampson said to her, “If I have not told it to my father and my mother, shall I tell it to you?”
17 And she wept before him the entire seven days in which the banquet lasted. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she troubled him; and she told it to her people.
18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before sunrise, “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” And Sampson said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have known my riddle.”
19 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him powerfully, and he went down to Ashkelon, and destroyed thirty men among the inhabitants, and took their garments, and gave the changes of clothing to them that told the riddle. And Sampson was very angry, and went up to the house of his father.
20 And the wife of Sampson was given to one of his friends, with whom he was on terms of friendship.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 15  

Samson Defeats the Philistines
1 And it came to pass after a time, in the days of wheat harvest, that Sampson visited his wife with a young goat, and said, “I will go in to my wife even into the chamber.” But her father did not allow him to go in.
2 And her father spoke, saying, “I said that you surely did hate her, and I gave her to one of your friends: is not her younger sister better than she? Let her be to you instead of her.”
3 And Sampson said to them, “Even for once am I guiltless with regard to the Philistines, in that I do mischief among them.”
4 And Sampson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between two tails, and fastened it.
5 And he set fire to the torches, and sent the foxes into the grain of the Philistines; and everything was burnt from the threshing floor to the standing grain, and even to the vineyard and olives.
6 And the Philistines said, “Who has done these things?” And they said, “Sampson the son in law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to one of his friends.” And the Philistines went up, and burned her and her father’s house with fire. 7 And Sampson said to them, “Though you may have dealt thus with her, verily I will be avenged of you, and afterwards I will cease.”
8 And he struck them, leg on thigh, with a great overthrow; and went down and dwelt in a cave of the rock of Etam.
9 And the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves abroad in Lehi.
10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And the Philistines said, “We have come up to bind Sampson, and to do to him as he has done to us.”
11 And the three thousand men of Judah went down to the hole of the rock Etam, and they said to Sampson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines rule over us? And what is this that you have done to us?” And Sampson said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”
12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, to deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” And Sampson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not fall upon me yourselves.”
13 And they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will only bind you securely, and deliver you into their hand, and will by no means kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him from that rock.
14 And they came to Lehi. And the Philistines shouted, and ran to meet him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax which is burned with fire; and his bonds were consumed from off his hands.
15 And he found the jawbone of a donkey that had been cast away, and he put forth his hand and took it, and he struck down a thousand men with it.
16 And Sampson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey I have utterly destroyed them, for with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men.” 17 And it came to pass when he ceased speaking, that he cast the jawbone out of his hand; and he called that place the Lifting of the Jawbone.
18 And he was very thirsty, and wept before the Lord, and said, “You have been well pleased to grant this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
19 And God broke open a hollow place in the jaw, and there came out water, and he drank; and his spirit returned and he revived. Therefore the name of the fountain was called The Well of the Invoker, which is in Lehi, to this day.
20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 16  

Samson and Delilah
1 And Sampson went to Gaza, and he saw a harlot there, and went in to her.
2 And it was reported to the Gazites, saying, “Sampson has come here.” And they surrounded him and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and they were quiet all the night, saying, “Let us wait until the sun rises, and then we will kill him.”
3 And Sampson slept till midnight, and rose up at midnight, and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city with the two posts, and lifted them up with the bar, and laid them on his shoulders, and he went up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron, and laid them there.
4 And it came to pass after this that he loved a woman in Sorek, and her name was Delilah.
5 And the princes of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, “Deceive him, and see where his great strength is, and by what means we may prevail against him, and bind him to humble him; and we will give you each eleven hundred pieces of silver.”  6 And Delilah said to Sampson, “Tell me, wherein lies your great strength, and with what may you be bound, so that you may be humbled.”
7 And Sampson said to her, “If they bind me with seven moist cords that have not been spoiled, then shall I be weak, and be as one of the ordinary men.”
8 And the princes of the Philistines brought to her seven moist cords that had not been spoiled, and she bound him with them.
9 And the men lying in wait remained with her in the chamber; and she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Sampson.” And he broke the cords as if anyone should break a strand of yarn when it has touched the fire, and the secret of his strength was not known.
10 And Delilah said to Sampson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies; now then, tell me with what shall you be bound.”
11 And he said to her, “If they should bind me securely with new ropes with which work has not been done, then shall I be weak, and shall be as another man.”
12 And Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and the men lying in wait came out of the chamber, and she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Sampson.” And he broke them off his arms like a thread.
13 And Delilah said to Sampson, “Behold, you have deceived me, and told me lies; tell me, I intreat you, with what may you be bound.” And he said to her, “If you should weave the seven locks of my head with the web, and should fasten them with the pin into the wall, then shall I be weak as another man.”
14 And it came to pass when he was asleep, that Delilah took the seven locks of his head, and wove them with the web, and fastened them with the pin into the wall. Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Sampson.” And he awoke out of his sleep, and carried away the pin of the web out of the wall.
15 And Delilah said to Sampson, “How can you say ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have deceived me, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16 And it came to pass as she pressed him sore with her words continually, and pestered him, that his spirit failed, to the point of death.
17 Then he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has not come upon my head, because I have been holy to God from my mother’s womb; if then I should be shaven, my strength will depart from me, and I shall be weak, and I shall be as all other men.”
18 And Delilah saw that he told her all his heart, and she sent and called the princes of the Philistines, saying, “Come up yet this once; for he has told me all his heart.” And the chiefs of the Philistines went up to her, and brought the money in their hands.
19 And Delilah made Sampson sleep upon her knees. And she called a man, and he shaved the seven locks of his head, and she began to humble him, and his strength departed from him.
20 And Delilah said, “The Philistines are upon you, Sampson.” And he awoke out of his sleep and said, “I will go out as at former times, and shake myself”; and he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.
21 And the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he became a grinder in the prison house.
22 And the hair of his head began to grow as before it was shaven.

The Death of Samson
23 And the chiefs of the Philistines met to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to make merry. And they said, “Our god has given into our hand our enemy Sampson.”
24 And the people saw him, and sang praises to their god; “For our god,” they said, “has delivered our enemy into our hand, who wasted our land, and who multiplied our slain.”
25 And when their heart was merry, then they said, “Call Sampson out of the prison house, and let him play before us.” And they called Sampson out of the prison house, and he played before them; and they struck him with the palms of their hands, and set him between the pillars.
26 And Sampson said to the young man that held his hand, “Allow me to feel the pillars on which the house rests, and I will lean myself upon them.”
27 And the house was full of men and women, and there were all the chiefs of the Philistines, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women looking at the sports of Sampson.
28 And Sampson wept before the Lord, and said, “O Lord, my Lord, remember me, I pray, and strengthen me, O God, just this once, and I will be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”
29 And Sampson took hold of the two pillars on which the house stood, and leaned on them, and laid hold of one with his right hand, and the other with his left.
30 And Sampson said, “Let my wife perish with the Philistines.” And he bowed himself mightily; and the house fell upon the princes, and upon all the people that were in it. And the dead whom Sampson slew in his death were more than those whom he slew in his life.
31 And his brothers and his father’s house went down, and they took him; and they went up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah; and he judged Israel twenty years.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 17  

Michah’s Idolatry
1 And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Micah.
2 And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which you took of yourself, and about which you cursed me, and spoke in my ears, saying, ‘Behold, the silver is with me’; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son of the Lord.”
3 And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I had wholly consecrated the money to the Lord out of my hand for my son, to make a graven and a molten image, and now I will restore it to you.”
4 But he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, and he made it a graven and a molten image; and it was in the house of Micah.
5 And the house of Micah was to him the house of God, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and he consecrated one of his sons, and he became to him a priest.
6 And in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
7 And there was a young man in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he was sojourning there.
8 And the man departed from Bethlehem the city of Judah to sojourn in whatever place he might find. And he came as far as Mount Ephraim, and to the house of Micah to accomplish his journey.
9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I go to sojourn in any place I may find.”
10 And Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest; and I will give you ten pieces of silver every year, and a change of clothing, and your living.”
11 And the Levite went and began to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.
12 And Micah consecrated the Levite, and he became to him a priest, and he was in the house of Micah.
13 And Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will do me good, because a Levite has become my priest.”         

JUDGES CHAPTER 18  

The Migration of Dan
1 In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the tribe of Dan sought for itself an inheritance to inhabit, because no inheritance had fallen to it until that day in the midst of the tribes of the children of Israel.
2 And the sons of Dan sent from their families five men of valor, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. And they said to them, “Go and search out the land.” And they came as far as the mount of Ephraim to the house of Micah, and they lodged there
3 in the house of Micah, and they recognized the voice of the young man the Levite, and turned in there. And they said to him, “Who brought you in here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?”
4 And he said to them, “Thus and thus did Micah to me, and he hired me, and I became his priest.”
5 And they said to him, “Inquire now of God, and we shall know whether our way will prosper, on which we are going.”
6 And the priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you go is before the Lord.”
7 And the five men went on, and came to Laish; and they saw the people in the midst of it dwelling securely, at ease as is the manner of the Sidonians, and there is no one perverting or shaming a matter in the land, nor an heir extorting treasures; and they are far from the Sidonians, and they have no ties with anyone.
8 And the five men came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and said to their brothers, “Why do you sit here idle?”
9 And they said, “Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good, yet you are still: do not delay to go, and to enter in to possess the land.
10 And whenever you shall go, you shall come in upon a secure people, and the land is extensive, for God has given it into your hand; a place where there is no lack of anything that the earth affords.”
11 And there departed six hundred men of the families of Dan, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, girded with weapons of war.
12 And they went up, and encamped in Kirjath Jearim in Judah; therefore it was called in that place the Camp of Dan, until this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath Jearim.
13 And they went on from there to the mount of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.
14 And the five men who went to spy out the land of Laish answered and said to their brothers, “You know that there is in this place an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven and a molten image; and now consider what you shall do.”
15 And they turned aside there, and went into the house of the young man, the Levite, even into the house of Micah, and asked him how he was.
16 And the six hundred men of the sons of Dan who were girded with their weapons of war stood by the door of the gate.
17 And the five men who went to spy out the land went up, and entered into the house of Micah, and the priest stood.
18 And they took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
19 And they said to him, “Be silent, lay your hand upon your mouth, and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for you to be the priest of the house of one man, or to be the priest of a tribe and house for a family of Israel?”
20 And the heart of the priest was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and the molten image, and went in the midst of the people.
21 So they turned and departed, and put their children and their property and their baggage before them.
22 They went some distance from the house of Micah, and behold, Micah and the men in the houses near Micah’s house cried out, and overtook the children of Dan.
23 And the children of Dan turned their face, and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you have cried out?”
24 And Micah said, “Because you have taken my graven image which I made, and my priest, and have gone; and what have I remaining? And what is this that you say to me, ‘Why do you cry?’”
25 And the children of Dan said to him, “Let not your voice be heard with us, lest angry men run upon you, and take away your life, and the lives of your house.”
26 And the children of Dan went their way; and Micah saw that they were stronger than himself, and he returned to his house.

The Danites Settle in Laish
27 And the children of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest that he had, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure; and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and burned the city with fire.
28 And there was no deliverer, because the city is far from the Sidonians, and they have no ties with anyone, and it is in the valley of the house of Raab; and they built the city, and dwelt in it.
29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; and the name of the city was Laish before.
30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image for themselves; and Jonathan son of Gershom son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan till the time of the carrying away of the nation.
31 And they set up for themselves the graven image which Micah had made, all the days that the house of God was in Shiloh; and it was so in those days that there was no king in Israel.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 19  

The Levite’s Concubine
1 And there was a Levite sojourning in the sides of Mount Ephraim, and he took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem Judah.
 2 And his concubine departed from him, and went away from him to the house of her father to Bethlehem Judah, and she was there four months.
3 And her husband rose up, and went after her to speak kindly to her, to recover her to himself. And he had his young man with him, and a pair of donkeys; and she brought him into the house of her father. And the father of the young woman saw him, and was well pleased to meet him.
4 And his father-in-law, the father of the young woman, constrained him, and he stayed with him for three days; and they ate and drank, and lodged there.
5 And it came to pass on the fourth day that they rose early, and he stood up to depart. And the father of the young woman said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterwards you shall go.”
6 So they two sat down together and ate and drank. And the father of the young woman said to her husband, “Now stay the night, and let your heart be merry.”
7 And the man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law constrained him, and he stayed and lodged there.
8 And he rose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the father of the young woman said, “Now strengthen your heart, and do not be a soldier until the day declines”; and the two ate.
9 And the man rose up to depart, he and his concubine, and his young man. But his father in law, the father of the young woman said to him, “Behold now, the day has declined toward evening; lodge here, and let your heart rejoice; and you shall rise early tomorrow for your journey, and you shall go to your home.”
10 However the man would not lodge there, but he arose and departed, and came to the part opposite Jebus, (this is Jerusalem) and there was with him a pair of donkeys, saddled, and his concubine was with him.
11 And they came as far as Jebus. And the day had far advanced, and the young man said to his master, “Come, and let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites, and let us lodge in it.”
12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside to a strange city, where there is none of the children of Israel, but we will pass on as far as Gibeah.”
13 And he said to his young man, “Come, and let us draw near to one of the places, and we will lodge in Gibeah or in Ramah.”
14 And they passed by and went on, and the sun went down upon them near to Gibeah, which is in Benjamin.
15 And they turned aside there to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And they went in, and sat down in the street of the city, and there was no one would take them into his house to spend the night.
16 And behold, an old man came out of the field from his work in the evening; and the man was of Mount Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah, and the men of the place were sons of Benjamin.
17 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw a traveler in the street of the city; and the old man said to him, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”
18 And he said to him, “We are passing by from Bethlehem Judah to the sides of Mount Ephraim; I am from there, and I went as far as Bethlehem Judah, and I am going home, and there is no man to take me into his house.
19 Although we have both straw and food for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and my maid and the young man with your servants; there is no lack of anything.”
20 And the old man said, “Peace be unto you; however let all your needs be upon me, and by no means lodge in the street.” 21 And he brought him into his house, and made room for his donkeys; and they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

Gibeah’s Crime
22 And they were enjoying themselves, when behold, the men of the city, sons of transgressors, surrounded the house, knocking at the door. And they spoke to the old man, the owner of the house, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.”
23 And the master of the house came out to them, and said, “No, brothers, I beg you, do not act so wickedly, seeing this man has come into my house; do not commit this outrage.
24 Behold my daughter is a virgin, and the man’s concubine is here as well: I will bring them out. Humble them, and do to them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!”
25 But the men would not consent to hear him. So the man laid hold of his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they knew her, and abused her all night till the morning, and let her go when the morning dawned.
26 And the woman came toward morning, and fell down at the door of the house where her husband was, until it was light.
27 And her husband rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went forth to go on his journey; and behold, the woman his concubine had fallen down by the doors of the house, and her hands were on the threshold.
28 And he said to her, “Get up, and let us go”; but she did not answer, for she was dead. And he took her upon his donkey, and went to his place.
29 And he took his sword, and laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve parts, and sent them to every coast of Israel.
30 And it was so, that everyone who saw it said, “Such a day as this has not happened nor has been seen from the day of the going up of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt until this day: take counsel concerning it, and speak.”          

JUDGES CHAPTER 20  

Israel’s War with the Benjamites
1 And all the children of Israel went out, and all the congregation was gathered as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, and in the land of Gilead, to the Lord at Mizpah.
2 And all the tribes of Israel stood before the Lord in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew the sword.
3 And the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah: and the children of Israel came and said, “Tell us, where did this wickedness take place?”
4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, “I and my concubine went to Gibeah of Benjamin to lodge.
5 And the men of Gibeah rose up against me, and surrounded the house by night against me; they wanted to kill me, and they have humbled my concubine, and she is dead.
6 And I laid hold of my concubine, and divided her in pieces, and sent the parts into every coast of the inheritance of the children of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and an abomination in Israel.
7 Behold, all you are children of Israel; and consider and take counsel here among yourselves.”
8 And all the people rose up as one man, saying, “None of us shall return to his tent, and none of us shall return to his house.
9 And now this is the thing which shall be done in Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot.
10 Moreover we will take ten men for a hundred for all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred for a thousand, and a thousand for ten thousand, to take provision, to cause them to come to Gibeah of Benjamin, to do to it according to all the abomination which they have done in Israel.”
11 And all the men of Israel were gathered to the city as one man.
12 And the tribes of Israel sent men through the whole tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has been done among you?
13 Now then give up the men, the sons of transgressors that are in Gibeah, and we will put them to death, and purge out the wickedness from Israel.” But the children of Benjamin did not consent to obey the voice of their brothers the children of Israel.
14 And the children of Benjamin were gathered from their cities to Gibeah, to go forth to fight with the children of Israel.
15 And the children of Benjamin from their cities were numbered in that day, twenty-three thousand, every man drawing a sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men of all the people, able to use both hands alike.
16 All these could sling with stones at a hair, and not miss.
17 And the men of Israel, exclusive of Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of war.
18 And they arose and went up to Bethel, and inquired of God. And the children of Israel said, “Who shall go up for us first to fight with the children of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Judah shall go up first as leader.”
19 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.
20 And they went out, all the men of Israel, to fight with Benjamin, and engaged with them at Gibeah.
21 And the sons of Benjamin went forth from Gibeah, and they destroyed in Israel on that day twenty-two thousand men down to the ground.
22 And the men of Israel strengthened themselves, and again engaged in battle in the place where they had engaged on the first day.
23 And the children of Israel went up, and wept before the Lord till evening, and inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall we again draw near to battle with our brothers the children of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.”
24 And the children of Israel advanced against the children of Benjamin on the second day.
25 And the children of Benjamin went forth to meet them from Gibeah on the second day, and destroyed of the children of Israel yet eighteen thousand more men down to the ground: all these drew the sword.
26 And the children of Israel and all the people went up, and came to Bethel. And they wept, and sat there before the Lord; and they fasted on that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and perfect sacrifices before the Lord,
27 for the ark of the Lord God was there in those days,
28 and Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it in those days; and the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall we yet again go forth to fight with our brothers the sons of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.”
29 And the children of Israel set an ambush against Gibeah round about it.
30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as before.
31 And the children of Benjamin went out to meet the people, and were all drawn out of the city, and began to strike and kill the people as before in the roads, one of which goes up to Bethel, and one to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
32 And the children of Benjamin said, “They fall before us as at the first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee, and draw them out from the city into the roads”; and they did so.
33 And all the men rose up out of their places, and engaged in Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush advanced from their place from Maraagabe.
34 And there came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel; and the fight was severe; and they did not know that evil was coming upon them.
35 And the Lord struck Benjamin before the children of Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin in that day a hundred and twenty-five thousand men: all these drew the sword.
36 And the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten; and the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted in the men in ambush which they had prepared against Gibeah.
37 And when they retreated, then those in ambush rose up, and they moved toward Gibeah, and the whole ambush came forth, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword.
38 And the children of Israel had a signal of battle with those waiting in ambush, that they should send up a signal of smoke from the city.
39 And the children of Israel saw that those in ambush had seized Gibeah, and they stood in line of battle; and Benjamin began to strike down wounded ones among the men of Israel, about thirty men; for they said, “Surely they fall again before us, as in the first battle.”
40 And the signal went up increasingly over the city as a pillar of smoke. And Benjamin looked behind him, and behold the destruction of the city went up to heaven.
41 And the men of Israel turned back, and the men of Benjamin panicked, because they saw that evil had come upon them.
42 And they turned to the way of the wilderness from before the children of Israel, and fled: but the battle overtook them, and those from the cities destroyed them in the midst of them.
43 And they cut down Benjamin, and pursued him from Nua closely till they came opposite Gibeah on the east.
44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men: all these were men of might.
45 And the rest turned, and fled to the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and the children of Israel picked off of them five thousand men; and the children of Israel went down after them as far as Gidom, and they killed two thousand of them.
46 And all that fell of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men that drew the sword in that day: all these were men of might.
47 And the rest turned, and fled to the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, even six hundred men; and they sojourned four months in the rock of Rimmon.
48 And the children of Israel returned to the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword from the city of Methla, even to the cattle, and everything that was found in all the cities: and they burned with fire the cities they found.         

JUDGES CHAPTER 21   

Wives Provided for the Benjamites
1 Now the children of Israel swore in Mizpah, saying, “No man of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.”
2 And the people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God. And they lifted up their voice and wept with a great weeping;
3 and said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this come to pass, that today one tribe should be counted as missing from Israel?”
 4 And it came to pass on the next day that the people rose up early, and built an altar there, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5 And the children of Israel said, “Who of all the tribes of Israel, did not go up among the congregation, to the Lord?” For there was a great oath concerning those who did not go up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.”
6 And the children of Israel relented toward Benjamin their brother, and said, “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel.
7 What shall we do for wives for the rest that remain? Whereas we have sworn by the Lord, not to give them of our daughters for wives.”
8 And they said, “What one man is there of the tribes of Israel, who did not go up to the Lord to Mizpah?” And behold, no man came to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.
9 And the people were numbered, and there was not there a man from the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead.
10 And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the strongest, and they commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword.
11 And this shall you do: every male and every woman that has known the lying with a man you shall devote to destruction, but the virgins you shall save alive.” And they did so.
12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not known a man by lying with him; and they brought them to Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
13 And all the congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin at the rock of Rimmon, and invited them to make peace.
14 And Benjamin returned to the children of Israel at that time, and the children of Israel gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the daughters of Jabesh Gilead; and they were content.
15 And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a void in the tribes of Israel.
16 And the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for them that remain?” For the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin.
17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance of those that have escaped of Benjamin; and so a tribe shall not be destroyed out of Israel.
18 For we shall not be able to give them wives of our daughters, because we swore among the children of Israel, saying, ‘Cursed is he that gives a wife to Benjamin.’”
19 And they said, “Lo! Now there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, eastward on the way that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and from the south of Lebonah.
20 And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
21 and you shall see; and lo! If there come out the daughters of the inhabitants of Shiloh to perform their dances, then shall you go out of the vineyards and seize for yourselves every man a wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go into the land of Benjamin.
22 And it shall come to pass, when their fathers or their brothers come to dispute with us, that we will say to them, ‘Grant them freely to us, for we have not taken every man his wife in the battle: because you did not give to them according to the occasion, you transgressed.’”
23 And the children of Benjamin did so; and they took wives according to their number from the dancers whom they seized. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them.
24 And the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and his family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.
25 And in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own sight.