Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers; they presented themselves before God.

²Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, lived beyond the [Euphrates] River in ancient times; and they served other gods.

³Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the [Euphrates] River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants, and I gave him Isaac.

⁴To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave [the hill country of] Mount Seir to possess; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

⁵Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.

⁶Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.

⁷When they cried out to the LORD [for help], He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time (forty years).

⁸Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land and I destroyed them before you.

⁹Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.

¹⁰But I would not listen to Balaam. Therefore he had to bless you, so I saved you from Balak's hand.

¹¹You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite; and so I gave them into your hand.

¹²I sent the hornet [that is, the terror of you] before you, which drove the two kings of the Amorites out before you; but it was not by your sword or by your bow.

¹³I gave you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you live in them; you eat from vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'

¹⁴"Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; remove the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

¹⁵If it is unacceptable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

¹⁶The people answered, "Far be it from us to abandon (reject) the LORD to serve other gods;

¹⁷for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs (miracles) in our sight and kept us safe all along the way that we went and among all the peoples among whom we passed.

¹⁸The LORD drove all the peoples out from before us, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."

¹⁹Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD [if you serve any other gods], for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His]. He will not forgive your transgression [of His law] or your sins.

²⁰If you do abandon (reject) the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume and destroy you after He has done you good."

²¹The people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve [only] the LORD."

²²Joshua then said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

²³"Now then, remove the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your hearts toward the LORD, the God of Israel."

²⁴The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and we will listen to and obey His voice."

²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance at Shechem.

²⁶And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was in [the courtyard of] the sanctuary of the LORD.

²⁷Joshua then said to all the people, "Look, this stone shall serve as a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that [afterward] you do not deny your God."

²⁸Then Joshua sent the people away, each to [the territory of] his inheritance.

²⁹It happened after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, at the age of a hundred and ten years.

³⁰They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.

³¹Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the works of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

³²Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph.

³³And Eleazar [the priest], the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah [on the hill] of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.

¹Now it came about after the death of Joshua, that the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob) asked the LORD, "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?"

²And the LORD said, "Judah shall go up [first]; behold, I have given the land into his hand."

³And [the tribe of the sons of] Judah said to [the tribe of the sons of] Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into my allotted territory, so that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your allotted territory." So Simeon went with him.

⁴Then Judah went up, and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they struck down in defeat ten thousand men at Bezek.

⁵Then they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they struck down in defeat the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

⁶But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

⁷Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather up scraps of food under my table; as I have done [to others], so God has repaid me." So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸Then the sons of Judah fought against [Jebusite] Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.

⁹Afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negev (South country) and in the lowland.

¹⁰So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba); and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.

¹¹From there [the tribe of] Judah went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher [city of books and scribes]).

¹²And Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter Achsah as a wife."

¹³Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife.

¹⁴When she came to Othniel, she persuaded him to [allow her to] ask her father [Caleb] for a field. Then she [rode up to Caleb and] dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you want?"

¹⁵She said to him, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land of the Negev (South country), give me springs of water, too." So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

¹⁶The sons of [ Jethro] the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the City of Palms (Jericho) with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the Negev (South country) near Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

¹⁷Then [the warriors of the tribe of] Judah went with [the warriors of the tribe of] Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath and utterly destroyed it. So the city was called Hormah (destruction).

¹⁸Also [the warriors of] Judah captured Gaza with its territory and Ashkelon with its territory and Ekron with its territory.

¹⁹The LORD was with Judah, and [the tribe of] Judah took possession of the hill country, but they could not dispossess and drive out those inhabiting the valley because they had iron chariots.

²⁰Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said, and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak.

²¹But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

²²The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.

²³The house of Joseph spied out Bethel (now the name of the city was formerly Luz).

²⁴The spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, "Please show us the entrance to the city and we will treat you kindly."

²⁵So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free.

²⁶The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz, which is its name to this day.

²⁷But [the tribe of] Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites remained in that land.

²⁸It happened when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

²⁹Neither did [the warriors of] Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

³⁰[The warriors of the tribe of] Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and were put to forced labor.

³¹[The warriors of the tribe of] Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob.

³²So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out.

³³Neither did [the warriors of] Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became forced labor for them.

³⁴Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan [back] into the hill country, for they would not allow them to come down into the valley;

³⁵yet the Amorites persisted in living on Mount Heres (the mountain of the sun), in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house (descendants) of Joseph became strong and prevailed, they became forced labor.

³⁶The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela (rock) and upward.

¹Now the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, "I brought you up from Egypt and led you to the land which I swore [to give] to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you,

²and as for you, you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed Me; what is this that you have done?

³So I also said, 'I will not drive your enemies out before you; but they will be like thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.'"

⁴When the Angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people raised their voices and wept.

⁵So they named that place Bochim (weepers); and there they offered sacrifices to the LORD.

⁶And when Joshua had sent the people away, the [tribes of the] Israelites went each to his inheritance, to take possession of the land.

⁷The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

⁸Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.

⁹And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

¹⁰Also, all [the people of] that generation were gathered to their fathers [in death]; and another generation arose after them who did not know (recognize, understand) the LORD, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.

¹¹Then the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and worshiped and served the Baals,

¹²and they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and they bowed down to them, and offended and provoked the LORD to anger.

¹³So they abandoned the LORD and served Baal [the pagan god of the Canaanites] and the Ashtaroth.

¹⁴So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands (power) of plunderers who robbed them; and He sold them into the hands of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer stand [in opposition] before their enemies.

¹⁵Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil (misfortune), as the LORD had spoken, and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

¹⁶Then the LORD raised up judges who rescued them from the hands of those who robbed them.

¹⁷Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the prostitute after other gods and they bowed down to them. They quickly turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do as their fathers.

¹⁸When the LORD raised up judges for them, He was with the judge and He rescued them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.

¹⁹But when the judge died, they turned back and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, in following and serving other gods, and bowing down to them. They did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.

²⁰So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, "Because this nation has transgressed (violated) My covenant (binding agreement) which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice,

²¹I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left [to be conquered] when he died,

²²in order to test [the loyalty of] Israel by them, whether Israel will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it, as their fathers did, or not."

²³So the LORD allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out at once; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

¹Now these are the nations which the LORD left [in order] to test Israel by them (that is, all [the people of Israel] who had not [previously] experienced any of the wars in Canaan;

²only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, at least those who had not experienced it previously).

³The remaining nations are: the five lords (governors) of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath.

⁴They were [allowed to remain] for the testing of Israel, to determine whether Israel would listen to and obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers (ancestors) through Moses.

⁵And the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites;

⁶and they took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their [pagan] gods.

⁷And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

⁸So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

⁹But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD [for help], the LORD raised up a man to rescue the people of Israel, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

¹⁰The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.

¹¹And the land was at rest [from oppression for] forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹²Now the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, since they had done what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹³And Eglon gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and went and struck down Israel [in defeat], and they took possession of the City of Palm Trees (Jericho).

¹⁴And the Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD [for help], the LORD raised up a man to rescue them, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the Israelites sent a gift of tribute by him to Eglon king of Moab.

¹⁶Now Ehud made for himself a sword a cubit long, which had two edges, and he bound it on his right thigh under his robe.

¹⁷And he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

¹⁸And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried it.

¹⁹But Ehud himself turned back from the sculptured stones at Gilgal, [and he returned to Eglon] and said [to him], "I have a secret message for you, O king." Eglon said "Keep silence." And all who attended him left him.

²⁰Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his [private] cool upper chamber, and Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." And the king got up from his seat.

²¹Then Ehud reached out with his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon's belly.

²²And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, because Ehud did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the refuse came out.

²³Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the upper chamber behind him, and locked them.

²⁴When Ehud departed, Eglon's servants came. And when they saw that the doors of the upper room were locked, they said, "He is only relieving himself in the cool room."

²⁵They waited [a very long time] until they became embarrassed and uneasy, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. So [finally] they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the floor, dead.

²⁶Now Ehud escaped while they lingered, and he passed beyond the sculptured stones and escaped to Seirah.

²⁷When he had arrived, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was in front of them.

²⁸And he said to them, "Pursue them, for the LORD has handed over your enemies the Moabites to you." So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab and did not allow anyone to cross.

²⁹They struck down at that time about ten thousand Moabite men, all strong, courageous men; not a man escaped.

³⁰So Moab was subdued and humbled that day under the hand of Israel, and the land was at rest for eighty years.

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

¹But the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud died.

²So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

³Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD [for help], for Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots and had oppressed and tormented the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

⁵She used to sit [to hear and decide disputes] under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.

⁶Now she sent word and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, "Behold, the LORD, the God of Israel, has commanded, 'Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men [of war] from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun.

⁷I will draw out Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his infantry to meet you at the river Kishon, and I will hand him over to you.'"

⁸Then Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go."

⁹She said, "I will certainly go with you; nevertheless, the journey that you are about to take will not be for your honor and glory, because the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰And Barak summoned [the fighting men of the tribes of] Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up under his command; Deborah also went up with him.

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

¹²When someone told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,

¹³Sisera called together all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon.

¹⁴Deborah said to Barak, "Arise! For this is the day when the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Has the LORD not gone out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

¹⁵And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and [confused] all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera dismounted from his chariot and fled away on foot.

¹⁶But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and the entire army of Sisera fell by the sword; not even one man was left.

¹⁷But Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me! Have no fear." So he turned aside to her [and went] into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

¹⁹And he said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink because I am thirsty." And she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him.

²⁰And he said to her, "Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, 'Is there anyone here?' tell him, 'No.'"

²¹But Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand, and came up quietly to him and drove the peg through his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died.

²²And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking." And he entered [her tent] with her, and behold Sisera lay dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³So on that day God subdued and humbled Jabin king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.

²⁴And the hand of the sons of Israel pressed down heavier and heavier on Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed him.

¹Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

²"For the leaders who took the lead in Israel, For the people who volunteered [for battle], Bless the LORD!

³"Hear, O kings; listen, O rulers! I will sing to the LORD, I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁴"LORD, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, Yes, the clouds dripped water.

⁵"The mountains quaked at the presence of the LORD, Yes, this Sinai, at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁶"In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, And travelers went by roundabout ways.

⁷"The villagers ceased to be; they ceased in Israel Until I, Deborah, arose, Until I arose, a mother in Israel.

⁸"They chose new gods; Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen Among forty thousand in Israel?

⁹"My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, The volunteers among the people; Bless the LORD!

¹⁰"Sing of it, you who ride on white donkeys, You who sit on rich carpets, And you who walk by the way.

¹¹"At the sound of those who divide flocks among the watering places, There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, The righteous acts toward His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates.

¹²"Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.

¹³"Then down marched the survivors to the nobles; The people of the LORD marched down for Me against the mighty.

¹⁴"From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down, After you, Benjamin, with your relatives; From Machir came down commanders and rulers, And from Zebulun those who handle the scepter of the [office of] scribe.

¹⁵"And the heads of Issachar came with Deborah; As Issachar, so was Barak; Into the valley they rushed at his heels; Among the divisions of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.

¹⁶"Why [Reuben] did you linger among the sheepfolds, To hear the piping for the flocks? Among the divisions of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷"Gilead remained beyond the Jordan; And why did Dan live as an alien on ships? Asher sat [still] on the seacoast, And remained by its landings. [These did not come to battle for God's people.]

¹⁸"But Zebulun was a people who risked their lives to the [point of] death; Naphtali also, on the heights of the field.

¹⁹"The kings came and fought; Then the kings of Canaan fought At Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. Spoils of silver they did not obtain.

²⁰"From the heavens the stars fought, From their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹"The torrent Kishon swept the enemy away, The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength.

²²"Then the horses' hoofs beat [loudly] Because of the galloping—the galloping of his valiant and powerful steeds.

²³'Curse Meroz,' said the messenger of the LORD, 'Utterly curse its inhabitants; Because they did not come to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the mighty.'

²⁴"Most blessed of women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Most blessed is she of women in the tent.

²⁵"Sisera asked for water and she gave him milk; She brought him curds in a magnificent bowl.

²⁶"She reached out her [left] hand for the tent peg, And her right hand for the workmen's hammer. Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; And she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷"He bowed, he fell, he lay [still] at her feet; At her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell dead.

²⁸"Out of the window she looked down and lamented (cried out in a shrill voice), The mother of Sisera through the lattice, 'Why is his chariot delayed in coming? Why have the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?'

²⁹"Her wise ladies answered her, Indeed, she repeated her words to herself,

³⁰'Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? A maiden (concubine) or two for every man; A spoil of dyed garments for Sisera, A spoil of dyed garments embroidered, Two pieces of dyed garments embroidered for the neck of the plunderer?'

³¹"So let all Your enemies perish, O LORD; But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might." And the land was at rest for forty years.

¹Then the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years.

²The [powerful] hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens (hideouts) which were in the mountains, and the caves and the [mountain] strongholds.

³For it was whenever Israel had sown [their seed] that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the people of the east and go up against them.

⁴So they would camp against them and destroy the crops of the land as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey.

⁵For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, and they would come in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were innumerable. So they came into the land to devastate it.

⁶So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD [for help].

⁷Now it came about when they cried out to the LORD because of Midian,

⁸that the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.

⁹And I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land,

¹⁰and I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live." But you have not listened to and obeyed My voice.'"

¹¹Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, and his son Gideon was beating wheat in the wine press [instead of the threshing floor] to [hide it and] save it from the Midianites.

¹²And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O brave man."

¹³But Gideon said to him, "Please my lord, if the LORD is with us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous works which our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

¹⁴The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?"

¹⁵But Gideon said to Him, "Please Lord, how am I to rescue Israel? Behold, my family is the least [significant] in Manasseh, and I am the youngest (smallest) in my father's house."

¹⁶The LORD answered him, "I will certainly be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites as [if they were only] one man."

¹⁷Gideon replied to Him, "If I have found any favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speaks with me.

¹⁸Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and bring my offering and place it before You." And He said, "I will wait until you return."

¹⁹Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket and the broth in a pot, and he brought the food to Him under the oak (terebinth) and presented it.

²⁰The Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth [over them]." And he did so.

²¹Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the Angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.

²²When Gideon realized [without any doubt] that He was the Angel of the LORD, he declared, " Oh no, Lord GOD! For now I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face [and I am doomed]!"

²³The LORD said to him, "Peace to you, do not be afraid; you shall not die."

²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah, of the Abiezrites.

²⁵Now on that same night the LORD said to Gideon, "Take your father's bull, the second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;

²⁶and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this mountain stronghold [with stones laid down] in an orderly way. Then take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice using the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down."

²⁷Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did just as the LORD had told him; but because he was too afraid of his father's household (relatives) and the men of the city to do it during daylight, he did it at night.

²⁸Early the next morning when the men of the city got up, they discovered that the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built.

²⁹So they said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" When they searched about and inquired, they were told, "Gideon the son of Joash did it."

³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, so that he may be executed, because he has torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah which was beside it."

³¹But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? Whoever pleads for Baal shall be put to death while it is still morning. If Baal is a god, let him defend himself, because someone has torn down his altar."

³²Therefore on that day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, meaning, "Let Baal plead," because he had torn down his altar.

³³Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east assembled together; and they crossed over [the Jordan] and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

³⁴So the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon [and empowered him]; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together [as a militia] to follow him.

³⁵He sent messengers throughout [the tribe of] Manasseh, and the fighting men were also called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to [the tribes of] Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

³⁶Then Gideon said to God, "If You are going to rescue Israel through me, as You have spoken,

³⁷behold, I will put a fleece of [freshly sheared] wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and it is dry on all the ground [around it], then I will know that You will rescue Israel through me, as You have said."

³⁸And it was so. When he got up early the next morning and squeezed the dew out of the fleece, he wrung from it a bowl full of water.

³⁹Then Gideon said to God, "Do not let your anger burn against me, so that I may speak once more. Please let me make a test once more with the fleece; now let only the fleece be dry, and let there be dew on all the ground."

⁴⁰God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and there was dew on all the ground [around it].

¹Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

²Then the LORD said to Gideon, "There are too many people with you for Me to hand over Midian to them, otherwise Israel will boast [about themselves] against Me, saying, 'My own power has rescued me.'

³So now, proclaim in the hearing of the people, 'Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'" So twenty-two thousand men returned [home], but ten thousand remained.

⁴Then the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many people; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

⁵So he brought the people down to the water, and the LORD said to Gideon, "You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels down to drink."

⁶Now the number of those who lapped [the water], putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water.

⁷And the LORD told Gideon, "With the three hundred men who lapped I will rescue you, and will hand over the Midianites to you. Let all the other people go, each man to his home."

⁸So the three hundred men took people's provisions [for the journey] and their trumpets [made of rams' horns] in their hands. And Gideon sent [away] all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but kept the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹Now on that same night the LORD said to Gideon, "Arise, go down against their camp, for I have given it into your hand.

¹⁰But if you are afraid to go down [by yourself], go with Purah your servant down to the camp,

¹¹and you will hear what they say; and afterward you will have the courage to go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the army that was in the camp.

¹²Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying [camped] in the valley, as countless as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

¹³When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling a dream to his friend. And he said, "Listen carefully, I had a dream: there was a loaf of barley bread tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat."

¹⁴And his friend replied, "This [dream] is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the entire camp into his hand."

¹⁵When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Arise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hand."

¹⁶He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers.

¹⁷And he said to them, "Look at me, then do likewise. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do.

¹⁸When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet (ram's horn), then all around the camp you also blow the trumpets and shout, 'For the LORD and for Gideon!'"

¹⁹So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when the guards had just been changed, and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.

²⁰When three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow, and they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

²¹Then each stood in his place around the camp; and the entire [Midianite] army ran, crying out as they fled.

²²When Gideon's men blew the three hundred trumpets, the LORD set the sword of one [Midianite] against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

²³The men of Israel were summoned together from [the tribes of] Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴Then Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of [the tribe of] Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites and take [control of] the waters before them [thereby cutting off the Midianites], as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan [River]." So all the men of Ephraim were assembled together and they took control of the waters, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.

²⁵Then the men of Ephraim took the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, and pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.

¹And the men of [the tribe of] Ephraim said to Gideon, "What is this thing that you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight with Midian?" And they quarreled with him vehemently.

²But he said to them, "What have I done now [that is so significant] in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning (leftovers) of the grapes of [your tribe of] Ephraim better than the vintage (entire harvest) of [my clan of] Abiezer?

³God has given the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb into your hands; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger toward him subsided when he made this statement.

⁴So Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over [the river], he and the three hundred men who were with him—exhausted, yet [still] pursuing [the enemy].

⁵He said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me since they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian."

⁶But the leaders of Succoth said, "Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?"

⁷Gideon said, "For that [response], when the LORD has handed over Zebah and Zalmunna to me, I will thrash your bodies with the thorns and briars of the wilderness."

⁸He went from there up to Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.

⁹So Gideon said also to the men of Penuel, "When I come again in peace, I will tear down this tower."

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies, about fifteen thousand [fighting] men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east; for a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.

¹¹Gideon went up by the route of those who lived in tents to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their camp when the camp was unsuspecting.

¹²When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and terrified the entire army.

¹³Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.

¹⁴He captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And the youth wrote down for him [the names of] the leaders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

¹⁵He came to the men of Succoth and said, "Look here, Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, 'Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?'"

¹⁶He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briars, and with them he punished the men of Succoth.

¹⁷He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?" And they replied, "They were like you, each one of them resembled the son of a king."

¹⁹He said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the LORD lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you."

²⁰So [to humiliate them] Gideon said to Jether his firstborn, "Stand up, and kill them!" But the youth did not draw his sword, because he was afraid, for he was still [just] a boy.

²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise up yourself and strike us; for as the man is, so is his strength." So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent amulets that were on their camels' necks.

²²Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule [as king] over us, both you and your son, also your son's son, for you have rescued us from the hand of Midian."

²³But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you."

²⁴And Gideon said to them, "I would make a request of you, that each one of you give me an earring from his spoil." For the Midianites had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites [who customarily wore them].

²⁵They answered, "We will certainly give them to you." And they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil.

²⁶And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was seventeen hundred shekels of gold, apart from the crescent amulets and pendants and the purple garments which were worn by the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains that were on their camels' necks.

²⁷Gideon made [all the golden earrings into] an ephod [a sacred, high priest's garment], and put it in his city of Ophrah, and all Israel worshiped it as an idol there, and it became a trap for Gideon and his household.

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

²⁹Jerubbaal (Gideon) the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.

³⁰Now Gideon had seventy sons born to him, because he had many wives.

³¹And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.

³²Gideon the son of Joash died at a good advanced age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the Israelites again played the prostitute with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god.

³⁴And the Israelites did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side;

³⁵nor did they show kindness to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done for Israel.

¹Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal (Gideon) went to Shechem to his mother's relatives, and said to them and to the whole clan of the household of his mother's father,

²"Speak now in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, 'Which is better for you, that seventy men, all of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one man rule over you?' Also, remember that I am your own bone and flesh."

³So his mother's relatives spoke all these words concerning him so that all the leaders of Shechem could hear; and their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, "He is our relative."

⁴And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and undisciplined men, and they followed (supported) him.

⁵Then he went to his father's house at Ophrah and murdered his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, [in a public execution] on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left alive, because he had hidden himself.

⁶All the men of Shechem and all of Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak (terebinth) of the pillar (memorial stone) at Shechem.

⁷When they told Jotham, he went and stood at the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, "Hear me, O men of Shechem, so that God may hear you.

⁸Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us!'

⁹But the olive tree said to them, 'Should I give up my fatness by which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the trees?'

¹⁰Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You come and reign over us!'

¹¹But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?'

¹²Then the trees said to the vine, 'You come and reign over us.'

¹³And the vine replied, 'Should I give up my new wine, which makes God and men happy, and go to wave over the trees?'

¹⁴Then all the trees said to the bramble, 'You come and reign over us.'

¹⁵So the bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

¹⁶"Now then, if you acted in truth and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have dealt with him as he deserved—

¹⁷for my father fought for you and risked his life and rescued you from the hand of Midian;

¹⁸but you have risen against my father's house today and have murdered his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, son of his maidservant, king over the people of Shechem, because he is your relative—

¹⁹if then you have acted in truth and integrity with Jerubbaal and his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you.

²⁰But if not, may fire come out from Abimelech and devour the people of Shechem and Beth-millo; and may fire come out from the people of Shechem and Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech."

²¹Then Jotham escaped and fled, and went to Beer and lived there because of Abimelech his brother.

²²Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years.

²³Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem; and the leaders of Shechem acted treacherously against Abimelech,

²⁴so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal (Gideon) might come [on the guilty], and that their [innocent] blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who had killed them, and on the leaders of Shechem, who strengthened his hands (encouraged him) to kill his brothers.

²⁵The leaders of Shechem set men in ambush against Abimelech on the mountaintops, and they robbed all who passed by them along the road; and it was reported to Abimelech.

²⁶Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his relatives, and moved into Shechem; and the leaders of Shechem trusted him.

²⁷They went out into the field, gathered the grapes of their vineyard and trod them, and held a festival; and they entered the house of their god, and they ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

²⁸Gaal the son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not [merely] the son of Jerubbaal and is Zebul not his lieutenant? Serve the men of Hamor the father (founder) of Shechem. Why then should we serve Abimelech?

²⁹If only this people were under my authority! Then I would remove Abimelech and say to him, 'Increase [the size of] your army and come out [to fight].'"

³⁰When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger burned.

³¹He sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, "Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem; and they are stirring up the city against you.

³²Now then, get up during the night, you and the people who are with you, and set up an ambush in the field.

³³Then in the morning, at sunrise, you will get up early and rush upon and attack the city; and when Gaal and the people who are with him come out against you, you shall do to them whatever you can."

³⁴So Abimelech and all the people who were with him got up during the night, and set up an ambush against Shechem, in four companies.

³⁵Now Gaal the son of Ebed came out and stood in the entrance of the city gate; then Abimelech and the people who were with him got up from the ambush.

³⁶When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, "Look, people are coming down from the mountaintops." But Zebul said to him, "You are only seeing the shadow of the mountains as if they were men."

³⁷Gaal spoke again and said, "Look! People are coming down from the highest part of the land, and one company is coming by way of the sorcerers' oak tree."

³⁸Then Zebul said to Gaal, "Where is your [boasting] mouth now, you who said, 'Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?' Is this not the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them!"

³⁹So Gaal went out ahead of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech.

⁴⁰Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him; and many fell wounded as far as the entrance of the gate.

⁴¹Then Abimelech stayed at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives so that they could not remain in Shechem.

⁴²The next day the people went out to the field, and it was reported to Abimelech.

⁴³So he took his people and divided them into three companies, and set an ambush in the field; and he looked and saw the people coming out of the city. And he rose up against them and struck them down.

⁴⁴Then Abimelech and the company with him advanced forward and stood in the entrance of the city gate; the two other companies attacked all who were in the field and killed them.

⁴⁵Abimelech fought against the city that entire day. He took the city and killed the people who were in it; he demolished the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard about it, they entered the inner chamber (stronghold) of the temple of El-berith (the god of a covenant).

⁴⁷Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were assembled together.

⁴⁸So Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees, picked it up, and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the people with him, "What you have seen me do, hurry and do just as I have done."

⁴⁹So everyone of the people also cut down his branch and followed Abimelech, and they put the branches on top of the inner chamber and set it on fire over those inside, so that all the people in the Tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and camped against Thebez and took it.

⁵¹But there was a strong (fortified) tower in the center of the city, and all the men and women with all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in; and they went up on the roof of the tower.

⁵²So Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it down with fire.

⁵³But a certain woman threw an upper millstone [down] on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull.

⁵⁴Then he called quickly to the young man who was his armor bearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword and kill me, so that it will not be said of me, 'A woman killed him.'" So the young man pierced him through, and he died.

⁵⁵When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each departed to his home.

⁵⁶In this way God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father [Jerubbaal] by killing his seventy brothers.

⁵⁷Also God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal (Gideon) came upon them.

¹After Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.

²Tola judged Israel for twenty-three years; then he died and was buried in Shamir.

³After him, Jair the Gileadite arose, and he judged Israel for twenty-two years.

⁴He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead that are called Havvoth-jair (towns of Jair) to this day.

⁵And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

⁶Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; they served the Baals, the Ashtaroth (female deities), the gods of Aram (Syria), the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned the LORD and did not serve Him.

⁷So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites,

⁸and they oppressed and crushed Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

⁹The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.

¹⁰Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD [for help], saying, "We have sinned against You, because we have abandoned (rejected) our God and have served the Baals."

¹¹The LORD said to the Israelites, "Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines?

¹²Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed and crushed you, you cried out to Me, and I rescued you from their hands.

¹³Yet you have abandoned (rejected) Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer rescue you.

¹⁴Go, cry out to the gods you have chosen; let them rescue you in your time of distress."

¹⁵The Israelites said to the LORD, "We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to You; only please rescue us this day."

¹⁶So they removed the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer.

¹⁷Then the Ammonites were assembled together and they camped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel assembled and camped at Mizpah.

¹⁸The people, the leaders of Gilead (Israel) said to one another, "Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

²Gilead's wife bore him sons, and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, "You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, because you are the son of another woman."

³Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and worthless and unprincipled men gathered around Jephthah, and went out [on raids] with him.

⁴Now it happened after a while that the Ammonites fought against Israel.

⁵When the Ammonites fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob;

⁶and they said to Jephthah, "Come and be our leader, so that we may fight against the Ammonites."

⁷But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Did you not hate me and drive me from the house of my father? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?"

⁸The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "This is why we have turned to you now: that you may go with us and fight the Ammonites and become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

⁹So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you take me back [home] to fight against the Ammonites and the LORD gives them over to me, will I [really] become your head?"

¹⁰The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD is the witness between us; be assured that we will do as you have said."

¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah repeated everything that he had promised before the LORD at Mizpah.

¹²Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, "What is [the problem] between you and me, that you have come against me to fight in my land?"

¹³The Ammonites' king replied to the messengers of Jephthah, "It is because Israel took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the [river] Arnon as far as the Jabbok and [east of] the Jordan; so now, return those lands peaceably."

¹⁴But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the Ammonites,

¹⁵and they said to him, "This is what Jephthah says: 'Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.

¹⁶For when they came up from Egypt, Israel walked through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh;

¹⁷then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let us pass through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen. Also they sent word to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

¹⁸Then they went through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped on the other side of the [river] Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the [northern] boundary of Moab.

¹⁹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, "Please let us pass through your land to our place."

²⁰But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered together all his people and camped at Jahaz and fought against Israel.

²¹The LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

²²They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness [westward] as far as the Jordan.

²³And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed and driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, so [why] should you possess it?

²⁴Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And everything that the LORD our God dispossessed before us, we will possess.

²⁵Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever go to war against them?

²⁶While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon for three hundred years, why did you not recover your lost lands during that time?

²⁷So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the LORD, the [righteous] Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.'"

²⁸But the king of the Ammonites disregarded the message of Jephthah, which he sent to him.

²⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

³⁰Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed give the Ammonites into my hand,

³¹then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites, it shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."

³²Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight with them; and the LORD gave them into his hand.

³³And from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith he struck them, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim (brook by the vineyard), with a very great defeat. So the Ammonites were subdued and humbled before the Israelites.

³⁴Then Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and this is what he saw: his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

³⁵And when he saw her, he tore his clothes [in grief] and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me great disaster, and you are the cause of ruin to me; for I have made a vow to the LORD, and I cannot take it back."

³⁶And she said to him, "My father, you have made a vow to the LORD; do to me as you have vowed, since the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, the Ammonites."

³⁷And she said to her father, "Let this one thing be done for me; let me alone for two months, so that I may go to the mountains and weep over my virginity, I and my companions."

³⁸And he said, "Go." So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept over her virginity on the mountains.

³⁹At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed; and she had no relations with a man. It became a custom in Israel,

⁴⁰that the daughters of Israel went yearly to tell the story of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

¹The men of [the tribe of] Ephraim were summoned [to action], and they crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight with the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? [For that] we will burn your house down upon you."

²And Jephthah said to them, "My people and I were in a major conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called you [for help], you did not rescue me from their hand.

³So when I saw that you were not coming to help me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD handed them over to me. So why have you come up to me this day to fight against me?"

⁴Then Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and fought with [the tribe of] Ephraim; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they had said, "You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim, in the midst of [the tribes of] Ephraim and Manasseh."

⁵And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan opposite the Ephraimites; and when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No,"

⁶they said to him, "Then say 'Shibboleth.'" And he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell.

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

⁸And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

⁹He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters [-in-law] from outside for his sons. He judged Israel for seven years.

¹⁰Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel for ten years.

¹²Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³Now after him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.

¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel for eight years.

¹⁵Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

¹Now Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

²And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had no children.

³And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are infertile and have no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son.

⁴Therefore, be careful not to drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, and do not eat anything [ceremonially] unclean.

⁵For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite [dedicated] to God from birth; and he shall begin to rescue Israel from the hands of the Philistines."

⁶Then the woman went and told her husband, saying, "A Man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the Angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask Him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

⁷But He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, nor eat anything [ceremonially] unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.'"

⁸Then Manoah pleaded with the LORD and said, "O Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born."

⁹And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the Angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

¹⁰So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the Man who came to me the other day has appeared to me."

¹¹Then Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the Man and said to him, "Are you the Man who spoke to this woman?" He said, "I am."

¹²And Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what shall be the boy's manner of life, and his vocation?"

¹³The Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "The woman must pay attention to everything that I said to her.

¹⁴She may not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, nor eat anything [ceremonially] unclean. She shall observe everything that I commanded her."

¹⁵Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain you and let us prepare a young goat for you [to eat]."

¹⁶The Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." For Manoah did not know that he was the Angel of the LORD.

¹⁷Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that when your words come true, we may honor you?"

¹⁸But the Angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful (miraculous)?"

¹⁹So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, and He performed miracles while Manoah and his wife looked on.

²⁰For when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Angel of the LORD ascended in the altar flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹The Angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah or his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the Angel of the LORD.

²²So Manoah said to his wife, "We will certainly die, because we have seen God."

²³But his [sensible] wife said to him, "If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have announced such things as these at this time."

²⁴So the woman [in due time] gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the boy grew and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at times in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.