Bible in 90 Days

²⁸ He said to them, “Follow me! The Lord has helped you to defeat your enemies, the Moabites.” So Israel followed Ehud and captured the crossings of the Jordan River. They did not allow the Moabites to cross the Jordan River. ²⁹ Israel killed about ten thousand strong and able men from Moab; not one escaped. ³⁰ So that day Moab was forced to be under the rule of Israel, and there was peace in the land for eighty years.

Shamgar, the Judge

³¹ After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath saved Israel. Shamgar killed six hundred Philistines with a sharp stick used to guide oxen.

Deborah, the Woman Judge

4 After Ehud died, the Israelites again did what the Lord said was wrong. ² So he let Jabin, a king of Canaan who ruled in the city of Hazor, defeat Israel. Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim, was the commander of Jabin’s army. ³ Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and was very cruel to the people of Israel for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.

⁴ A prophetess named Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was judge of Israel at that time. ⁵ Deborah would sit under the Palm Tree of Deborah, which was between the cities of Ramah and Bethel, in the mountains of Ephraim. And the people of Israel would come to her to settle their arguments.

⁶ Deborah sent a message to Barak son of Abinoam. Barak lived in the city of Kedesh, which is in the area of Naphtali. Deborah said to Barak, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go and gather ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them to Mount Tabor. ⁷ I will make Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, and his chariots, and his army meet you at the Kishon River. I will hand Sisera over to you.’”

⁸ Then Barak said to Deborah, “I will go if you will go with me, but if you won’t go with me, I won’t go.”

⁹ “Of course I will go with you,” Deborah answered, “but you will not get credit for the victory. The Lord will let a woman defeat Sisera.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ At Kedesh, Barak called the people of Zebulun and Naphtali together. From them, he gathered ten thousand men to follow him, and Deborah went with him also.

¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law. Heber had put up his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.

¹² When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone to Mount Tabor, ¹³ Sisera gathered his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.

¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get up! Today is the day the Lord will hand over Sisera. The Lord has already cleared the way for you.” So Barak led ten thousand men down Mount Tabor. ¹⁵ As Barak approached, the Lord confused Sisera and his army and chariots. The Lord defeated them with the sword, but Sisera left his chariot and ran away on foot. ¹⁶ Barak and his men chased Sisera’s chariots and army to Harosheth Haggoyim. With their swords they killed all of Sisera’s men; not one of them was left alive.

¹⁷ But Sisera himself ran away to the tent where Jael lived. She was the wife of Heber, one of the Kenite family groups. Heber’s family was at peace with Jabin king of Hazor. ¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come into my tent, master! Come in. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera went into Jael’s tent, and she covered him with a rug.

¹⁹ Sisera said to Jael, “I am thirsty. Please give me some water to drink.” So she opened a leather bag of milk and gave him a drink. Then she covered him up.

²⁰ He said to her, “Go stand at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’”

²¹ But Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg and a hammer and quietly went to Sisera. Since he was very tired, he was in a deep sleep. She hammered the tent peg through the side of Sisera’s head and into the ground. And so Sisera died.

²² At that very moment Barak came by Jael’s tent, chasing Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, “Come. I will show you the man you are looking for.” So Barak entered her tent, and there Sisera lay dead, with the tent peg in his head.

²³ On that day God defeated Jabin king of Canaan in the sight of Israel.

²⁴ Israel became stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan until finally they destroyed him.

The Song of Deborah

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

Then there was peace in the land for forty years.

The Midianites Attack Israel

6 Again the Israelites did what the Lord said was wrong. So for seven years the Lord handed them over to Midian. ² Because the Midianites were very powerful and were cruel to Israel, the Israelites made hiding places in the mountains, in caves, and in safe places. ³ Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other peoples from the east would come and attack them. ⁴ They camped in the land and destroyed the crops that the Israelites had planted as far away as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, and no sheep, cattle, or donkeys. ⁵ The Midianites came with their tents and their animals like swarms of locusts to ruin the land. There were so many people and camels they could not be counted. ⁶ Israel became very poor because of the Midianites, so they cried out to the Lord.

⁷ When the Israelites cried out to the Lord against the Midianites, ⁸ the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery. ⁹ I saved you from the Egyptians and from all those who were against you. I forced the Canaanites out of their land and gave it to you. ¹⁰ Then I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. Live in the land of the Amorites, but do not worship their gods.’ But you did not obey me.”

The Angel of the Lord Visits Gideon

¹¹ The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak tree at Ophrah that belonged to Joash, one of the Abiezrite people. Gideon, Joash’s son, was separating some wheat from the chaff in a winepress to keep the wheat from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!”

¹³ Then Gideon said, “Sir, if the Lord is with us, why are we having so much trouble? Where are the miracles our ancestors told us he did when the Lord brought them out of Egypt? But now he has left us and has handed us over to the Midianites.”

¹⁴ The Lord turned to Gideon and said, “Go with your strength and save Israel from the Midianites. I am the one who is sending you.”

¹⁵ But Gideon answered, “Lord, how can I save Israel? My family group is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family.”

¹⁶ The Lord answered him, “I will be with you. It will seem as if the Midianites you are fighting are only one man.”

¹⁷ Then Gideon said to the Lord, “If you are pleased with me, give me proof that it is really you talking with me. ¹⁸ Please wait here until I come back to you. Let me bring my offering and set it in front of you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went in and cooked a young goat, and with twenty quarts of flour, made bread without yeast. Then he put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot. He brought them out and gave them to the angel under the oak tree.

²⁰ The angel of God said to Gideon, “Put the meat and the bread without yeast on that rock over there. Then pour the broth on them.” And Gideon did as he was told. ²¹ The angel of the Lord touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick that was in his hand. Then fire jumped up from the rock and completely burned up the meat and the bread! And the angel of the Lord disappeared! ²² Then Gideon understood he had been talking to the angel of the Lord. So Gideon cried out, “Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

²³ But the Lord said to Gideon, “Calm down! Don’t be afraid! You will not die!”

²⁴ So Gideon built an altar there to worship the Lord and named it The Lord Is Peace. It still stands at Ophrah, where the Abiezrites live.

Gideon Tears Down the Altar of Baal

²⁵ That same night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take the bull that belongs to your father and a second bull seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah idol beside it. ²⁶ Then build an altar to the Lord your God with its stones in the right order on this high ground. Kill and burn a second bull on this altar, using the wood from the Asherah idol.”

²⁷ So Gideon got ten of his servants and did what the Lord had told him to do. But Gideon was afraid that his family and the men of the city might see him, so he did it at night, not in the daytime.

²⁸ When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw that the altar for Baal had been destroyed and that the Asherah idol beside it had been cut down! They also saw the altar Gideon had built and the second bull that had been sacrificed on it. ²⁹ The men of the city asked each other, “Who did this?”

After they asked many questions, someone told them, “Gideon son of Joash did this.”

³⁰ So they said to Joash, “Bring your son out. He has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah idol beside it. He must die!”

³¹ But Joash said to the angry crowd around him, “Are you going to take Baal’s side? Are you going to defend him? Anyone who takes Baal’s side will be killed by morning! If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. It’s his altar that has been pulled down.” ³² So on that day Gideon got the name Jerub-Baal, which means “let Baal fight against him,” because Gideon pulled down Baal’s altar.

Gideon Defeats Midian

³³ All the Midianites, the Amalekites, and other peoples from the east joined together and came across the Jordan River and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ But the Spirit of the Lord entered Gideon, and he blew a trumpet to call the Abiezrites to follow him. ³⁵ He sent messengers to all of Manasseh, calling them to follow him. He also sent messengers to the people of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. So they also went up to meet Gideon and his men.

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “You said you would help me save Israel. ³⁷ I will put some wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the wool but all of the ground is dry, then I will know that you will use me to save Israel, as you said.” ³⁸ And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning and squeezed the wool, he got a full bowl of water from it.

³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Don’t be angry with me if I ask just one more thing. Please let me make one more test. Let only the wool be dry while the ground around it gets wet with dew.” ⁴⁰ That night God did that very thing. Just the wool was dry, but the ground around it was wet with dew.

7 Early in the morning Jerub-Baal (also called Gideon) and all his men set up their camp at the spring of Harod. The Midianites were camped north of them in the valley at the bottom of the hill called Moreh. ² Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men to defeat the Midianites. I don’t want the Israelites to brag that they saved themselves. ³ So now, announce to the people, ‘Anyone who is afraid may leave Mount Gilead and go back home.’” So twenty-two thousand men returned home, but ten thousand remained.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take the men down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say, ‘This man will go with you, he will go. But if I say, ‘That one will not go with you,’ he will not go.”

⁵ So Gideon led the men down to the water. There the Lord said to him, “Separate them into those who drink water by lapping it up like a dog and those who bend down to drink.” ⁶ There were three hundred men who used their hands to bring water to their mouths, lapping it as a dog does. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

⁷ Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Using the three hundred men who lapped the water, I will save you and hand Midian over to you. Let all the others go home.” ⁸ So Gideon sent the rest of Israel to their homes. But he kept three hundred men and took the jars and the trumpets of those who left.

Now the camp of Midian was in the valley below Gideon. ⁹ That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up. Go down and attack the camp of the Midianites, because I will give them to you. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, take your servant Purah with you. ¹¹ When you come to the camp of Midian, you will hear what they are saying. Then you will not be afraid to attack the camp.”

Gideon Is Encouraged

So Gideon and his servant Purah went down to the edge of the enemy camp. ¹² The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the peoples from the east were camped in that valley. There were so many of them they seemed like locusts. Their camels could not be counted because they were as many as the grains of sand on the seashore!

¹³ When Gideon came to the enemy camp, he heard a man telling his friend about a dream. He was saying, “I dreamed that a loaf of barley bread rolled into the camp of Midian. It hit the tent so hard that the tent turned over and fell flat!”

¹⁴ The man’s friend said, “Your dream is about the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel. God will hand Midian and the whole army over to him!”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard about the dream and what it meant, he worshiped God. Then Gideon went back to the camp of Israel and called out to them, “Get up! The Lord has handed the army of Midian over to you!” ¹⁶ Gideon divided the three hundred men into three groups. He gave each man a trumpet and an empty jar with a burning torch inside.

¹⁷ Gideon told the men, “Watch me and do what I do. When I get to the edge of the camp, do what I do. ¹⁸ Surround the enemy camp. When I and everyone with me blow our trumpets, you blow your trumpets, too. Then shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

Midian Is Defeated

¹⁹ So Gideon and the one hundred men with him came to the edge of the enemy camp just after they had changed guards. It was during the middle watch of the night. Then Gideon and his men blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. ²⁰ All three groups of Gideon’s men blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands. Then they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ Each of Gideon’s men stayed in his place around the camp, but the Midianites began shouting and running to escape.

²² When Gideon’s three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord made all the Midianites fight each other with their swords! The enemy army ran away to the city of Beth Shittah toward Zererah. They ran as far as the border of Abel Meholah, near the city of Tabbath. ²³ Then men of Israel from Naphtali, Asher, and all of Manasseh were called out to chase the Midianites. ²⁴ Gideon sent messengers through all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, “Come down and attack the Midianites. Take control of the Jordan River as far as Beth Barah before the Midianites can get to it.”

So they called out all the men of Ephraim, who took control of the Jordan River as far as Beth Barah. ²⁵ The men of Ephraim captured two princes of Midian named Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb, and they continued chasing the Midianites. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was east of the Jordan River.

8 The men of Ephraim asked Gideon, “Why did you treat us this way? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight against Midian?” They argued angrily with Gideon.

² But he answered them, “I have not done as well as you! The small part you did was better than all that my people of Abiezer did. ³ God let you capture Oreb and Zeeb, the princes of Midian. How can I compare what I did with what you did?” When the men of Ephraim heard Gideon’s answer, they were not as angry anymore.

Gideon Captures Two Kings

⁴ When Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan River, they were tired, but they chased the enemy across to the other side. ⁵ Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my soldiers some bread because they are very tired. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶ But the leaders of Succoth said, “Why should we give your soldiers bread? You haven’t caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet.”

⁷ Then Gideon said, “The Lord will surrender Zebah and Zalmunna to me. After that, I will whip your skin with thorns and briers from the desert.”

⁸ Gideon left Succoth and went to the city of Peniel and asked them for food. But the people of Peniel gave him the same answer as the people of Succoth. ⁹ So Gideon said to the men of Peniel, “After I win the victory, I will return and pull down this tower.”

¹⁰ Zebah and Zalmunna and their army were in the city of Karkor. About fifteen thousand men were left of the armies of the peoples of the east. Already one hundred twenty thousand soldiers had been killed. ¹¹ Gideon went up the road of those who live in tents east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the enemy army when they did not expect it. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian, ran away, but Gideon chased and captured them and frightened away their army.

¹³ Then Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres. ¹⁴ Gideon captured a young man from Succoth and asked him some questions. So the young man wrote down for Gideon the names of seventy-seven officers and elders of Succoth.

Gideon Punishes Succoth

¹⁵ When Gideon came to Succoth, he said to the people of that city, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You made fun of me by saying, ‘Why should we give bread to your tired men? You have not caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet.’” ¹⁶ So Gideon took the elders of the city and punished them with thorns and briers from the desert. ¹⁷ He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the people in that city.

¹⁸ Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were the men like that you killed on Mount Tabor?”

They answered, “They were like you. Each one of them looked like a prince.”

¹⁹ Gideon said, “Those were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As surely as the Lord lives, I would not kill you if you had spared them.” ²⁰ Then Gideon said to Jether, his oldest son, “Kill them.” But Jether was only a boy and was afraid, so he did not take out his sword.

²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on. Kill us yourself. As the saying goes, ‘It takes a man to do a man’s job.’” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna and took the decorations off their camels’ necks.

Gideon Makes an Idol

²² The people of Israel said to Gideon, “You saved us from the Midianites. Now, we want you and your son and your grandson to rule over us.”

²³ But Gideon told them, “The Lord will be your ruler. I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you.” ²⁴ He said, “I want you to do this one thing for me. I want each of you to give me a gold earring from the things you took in the fighting.” (The Ishmaelites^[a] wore gold earrings.)

²⁵ They said, “We will gladly give you what you want.” So they spread out a coat, and everyone threw down an earring from what he had taken. ²⁶ The gold earrings weighed about forty-three pounds. This did not count the decorations, necklaces, and purple robes worn by the kings of Midian, nor the chains from the camels’ necks. ²⁷ Gideon used the gold to make a holy vest, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. But all the Israelites were unfaithful to God and worshiped it, so it became a trap for Gideon and his family.

The Death of Gideon

²⁸ So Midian was under the rule of Israel; they did not cause trouble anymore. And the land had peace for forty years, as long as Gideon was alive.

²⁹ Gideon^[b] son of Joash went to his home to live. ³⁰ He had seventy sons of his own, because he had many wives. ³¹ He had a slave woman who lived in Shechem, and he had a son by her, whom he named Abimelech. ³² So Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age. He was buried in the tomb of Joash, his father, in Ophrah, where the Abiezrites live.

³³ As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel were again unfaithful to God and followed the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god. ³⁴ The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their enemies living all around them. ³⁵ And they were not kind to the family of Jerub-Baal, also called Gideon, for all the good he had done for Israel.

Abimelech Becomes King

9 Abimelech son of Gideon went to his uncles in the city of Shechem. He said to his uncles and all of his mother’s family group, ² “Ask the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for the seventy sons of Gideon to rule over you or for one man to rule?’ Remember, I am your relative.”

³ Abimelech’s uncles spoke to all the leaders of Shechem about this. And they decided to follow Abimelech, because they said, “He is our relative.” ⁴ So the leaders of Shechem gave Abimelech about one and three-quarter pounds of silver from the temple of the god Baal-Berith. Abimelech used the silver to hire some worthless, reckless men, who followed him wherever he went. ⁵ He went to Ophrah, the hometown of his father, and murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Gideon. He killed them all on one stone. But Gideon’s youngest son, Jotham, hid from Abimelech and escaped. ⁶ Then all of the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree standing in Shechem. There they made Abimelech their king.

Jotham’s Story

⁷ When Jotham heard this, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He shouted to the people: “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, so that God will listen to you! ⁸ One day the trees decided to appoint a king to rule over them. They said to the olive tree, ‘You be king over us!’

⁹ “But the olive tree said, ‘Men and gods are honored by my oil. Should I stop making it and go and sway over the other trees?’

¹⁰ “Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be king over us!’

¹¹ “But the fig tree answered, ‘Should I stop making my sweet and good fruit and go and sway over the other trees?’

¹² “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be king over us!’

¹³ “But the vine answered, ‘My new wine makes men and gods happy. Should I stop making it and go and sway over the trees?’

¹⁴ “Then all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be king over us.’

¹⁵ “But the thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to appoint me king over you, come and find shelter in my shade! But if not, let fire come out of the thornbush and burn up the cedars of Lebanon!’

¹⁶ “Now, were you completely honest and sincere when you made Abimelech king? Have you been fair to Gideon^[c] and his family? Have you treated Gideon as you should? ¹⁷ Remember, my father fought for you and risked his life to save you from the power of the Midianites. ¹⁸ But now you have turned against my father’s family and have killed his seventy sons on one stone. You have made Abimelech, the son of my father’s slave girl, king over the leaders of Shechem just because he is your relative! ¹⁹ So then, if you have been honest and sincere to Gideon and his family today, be happy with Abimelech as your king. And may he be happy with you! ²⁰ But if not, may fire come out of Abimelech and completely burn you leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo! Also may fire come out of the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo and burn up Abimelech!”

²¹ Then Jotham ran away and escaped to the city of Beer. He lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelech.

Abimelech Fights Against Shechem

²² Abimelech ruled Israel for three years. ²³ Then God sent an evil spirit to make trouble between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem so that the leaders of Shechem turned against him. ²⁴ Abimelech had killed Gideon’s^[d] seventy sons, his own brothers, and the leaders of Shechem had helped him. So God sent the evil spirit to punish them. ²⁵ The leaders of Shechem were against Abimelech then. They put men on the hilltops in ambush who robbed everyone going by. And Abimelech was told.

²⁶ A man named Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers moved into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ They went out to the vineyards to pick grapes, and they squeezed the grapes. Then they had a feast in the temple of their god, where they ate and drank and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸ Gaal son of Ebed said, “We are the men of Shechem. Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Isn’t he one of Gideon’s sons, and isn’t Zebul his officer? We should serve the men of Hamor, Shechem’s father. Why should we serve Abimelech? ²⁹ If you made me commander of these people, I would get rid of Abimelech. I would say to him, ‘Get your army ready and come out to battle.’”

³⁰ Now when Zebul, the ruler of Shechem, heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. ³¹ He sent secret messengers to Abimelech, saying, “Gaal son of Ebed and Gaal’s brothers have come to Shechem, and they are turning the city against you! ³² You and your men should get up during the night and hide in the fields outside the city. ³³ As soon as the sun comes up in the morning, attack the city. When Gaal and his men come out to fight you, do what you can to them.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all his soldiers got up during the night and hid near Shechem in four groups. ³⁵ Gaal son of Ebed went out and was standing at the entrance to the city gate. As he was standing there, Abimelech and his soldiers came out of their hiding places.

³⁶ When Gaal saw the soldiers, he said to Zebul, “Look! There are people coming down from the mountains!”

But Zebul said, “You are seeing the shadows of the mountains. The shadows just look like people.”

³⁷ But again Gaal said, “Look, there are people coming down from the center of the land, and there is a group coming from the fortune-tellers’ tree!”

³⁸ Zebul said to Gaal, “Where is your bragging now? You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ You made fun of these men. Now go out and fight them.”

³⁹ So Gaal led the men of Shechem out to fight Abimelech. ⁴⁰ Abimelech and his men chased them, and many of Gaal’s men were killed before they could get back to the city gate. ⁴¹ While Abimelech stayed at Arumah, Zebul forced Gaal and his brothers to leave Shechem.

⁴² The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields. When Abimelech was told about it, ⁴³ he separated his men into three groups and hid them in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he jumped up and attacked them. ⁴⁴ Abimelech and his group ran to the entrance gate to the city. The other two groups ran out to the people in the fields and struck them down. ⁴⁵ Abimelech and his men fought the city of Shechem all day until they captured it and killed its people. Then he tore it down and threw salt^[e] over the ruins.

The Tower of Shechem Burns

⁴⁶ When the leaders who were in the Tower of Shechem heard what had happened to Shechem, they gathered in the safest room of the temple of El Berith. ⁴⁷ Abimelech heard that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem had gathered there. ⁴⁸ So he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon, near Shechem. Abimelech took an ax and cut some branches and put them on his shoulders. He said to all those with him, “Hurry! Do what I have done!” ⁴⁹ So all those men cut branches and followed Abimelech and piled them against the safest room of the temple. Then they set them on fire and burned the people inside. So all the people who were at the Tower of Shechem also died—about a thousand men and women.

Abimelech’s Death

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to the city of Thebez. He surrounded the city, attacked it, and captured it. ⁵¹ But inside the city was a strong tower, so all the men, women, and leaders of that city ran to the tower. When they got inside, they locked the door behind them. Then they climbed up to the roof of the tower. ⁵² Abimelech came to the tower to attack it. He approached the door of the tower to set it on fire, ⁵³ but as he came near, a woman dropped a grinding stone on his head, crushing his skull.

⁵⁴ He quickly called to the officer who carried his armor and said, “Take out your sword and kill me. I don’t want people to say, ‘A woman killed Abimelech.’” So the officer stabbed Abimelech, and he died. ⁵⁵ When the people of Israel saw Abimelech was dead, they all returned home.

⁵⁶ In that way God punished Abimelech for all the evil he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also punished the men of Shechem for the evil they had done. So the curse spoken by Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon,^[f] came true.

Tola, the Judge

10 After Abimelech died, another judge came to save Israel. He was Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo. Tola was from the people of Issachar and lived in the city of Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. ² Tola was a judge for Israel for twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.

Jair, the Judge

³ After Tola died, Jair from the region of Gilead became judge. He was a judge for Israel for twenty-two years. ⁴ Jair had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. These thirty sons controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which are called the Towns of Jair to this day. ⁵ Jair died and was buried in the city of Kamon.

The Ammonites Trouble Israel

⁶ Again the Israelites did what the Lord said was wrong. They worshiped Baal and Ashtoreth, the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, and Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. The Israelites left the Lord and stopped serving him. ⁷ So the Lord was angry with them and handed them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites. ⁸ In the same year those people destroyed the Israelites who lived east of the Jordan River in the region of Gilead, where the Amorites lived. So the Israelites suffered for eighteen years. ⁹ The Ammonites then crossed the Jordan River to fight the people of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, causing much trouble to the people of Israel. ¹⁰ So the Israelites cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you. We left our God and worshiped the Baal idols.”

¹¹ The Lord answered the Israelites, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, ¹² Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites were cruel to you, you cried out to me, and I saved you. ¹³ But now you have left me again and have worshiped other gods. So I refuse to save you again. ¹⁴ You have chosen those gods. So go call to them for help. Let them save you when you are in trouble.”

¹⁵ But the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do to us whatever you want, but please save us today!” ¹⁶ Then the Israelites threw away the foreign gods among them, and they worshiped the Lord again. So he felt sorry for them when he saw their suffering.

¹⁷ The Ammonites gathered for war and camped in Gilead. The Israelites gathered and camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸ The leaders of the people of Gilead said, “Who will lead us to attack the Ammonites? He will become the head of all those who live in Gilead.”

Jephthah Is Chosen as Leader

11 Jephthah was a strong soldier from Gilead. His father was named Gilead, and his mother was a prostitute. ² Gilead’s wife had several sons. When they grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave his home, saying to him, “You will not get any of our father’s property, because you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There some worthless men began to follow him.

⁴ After a time the Ammonites fought against Israel. ⁵ When the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah to bring him back from Tob. ⁶ They said to him, “Come and lead our army so we can fight the Ammonites.”

⁷ But Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me? You forced me to leave my father’s house. Why are you coming to me now that you are in trouble?”

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “It is because of those troubles that we come to you now. Please come with us and fight against the Ammonites. You will be the ruler over everyone who lives in Gilead.”

⁹ Then Jephthah answered, “If you take me back to Gilead to fight the Ammonites and the Lord helps me win, I will be your ruler.”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to him, “The Lord is listening to everything we are saying. We promise to do all that you tell us to do.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander of their army. Jephthah repeated all of his words in front of the Lord at Mizpah.

Jephthah Sends Messengers to the Ammonite King

¹² Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, asking, “What have you got against Israel? Why have you come to attack our land?”

¹³ The king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, “We are fighting Israel because you took our land when you came up from Egypt. You took our land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River to the Jordan River. Now give our land back to us peacefully.”

¹⁴ Jephthah sent the messengers to the Ammonite king again. ¹⁵ They said:

“This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of the people of Moab or Ammon. ¹⁶ When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they went into the desert to the Red Sea and then to Kadesh. ¹⁷ Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Let the people of Israel go across your land.’ But the king of Edom refused. We sent the same message to the king of Moab, but he also refused. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “Then the Israelites went into the desert around the borders of the lands of Edom and Moab. Israel went east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River, the border of Moab. They did not cross it to go into the land of Moab.

¹⁹ “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of the city of Heshbon, asking, ‘Let the people of Israel pass through your land to go to our land.’ ²⁰ But Sihon did not trust the Israelites to cross his land. So he gathered all of his people and camped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.

²¹ “But the Lord, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and his army over to Israel. All the land of the Amorites became the property of Israel. ²² So Israel took all the land of the Amorites from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, from the desert to the Jordan River.

²³ “It was the Lord, the God of Israel, who forced out the Amorites ahead of the people of Israel. So do you think you can make them leave? ²⁴ Take the land that your god Chemosh has given you. We will live in the land the Lord our God has given us!

²⁵ “Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel or fight with the people of Israel? ²⁶ For three hundred years the Israelites have lived in Heshbon and Aroer and the towns around them and in all the cities along the Arnon River. Why have you not taken these cities back in all that time? ²⁷ I have not sinned against you, but you are sinning against me by making war on me. May the Lord, the Judge, decide whether the Israelites or the Ammonites are right.”

²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites ignored this message from Jephthah.

Jephthah’s Promise

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord entered Jephthah. Jephthah passed through Gilead and Manasseh and the city of Mizpah in Gilead to the land of the Ammonites. ³⁰ Jephthah made a promise to the Lord, saying, “If you will hand over the Ammonites to me, ³¹ I will give you as a burnt offering the first thing that comes out of my house to meet me when I return from the victory. It will be the Lord’s.”

³² Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to him. ³³ In a great defeat Jephthah struck them down from the city of Aroer to the area of Minnith, and twenty cities as far as the city of Abel Keramim. So the Ammonites were defeated by the Israelites.

³⁴ When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, his daughter was the first one to come out to meet him, playing a tambourine and dancing. She was his only child; he had no other sons or daughters. ³⁵ When Jephthah saw his daughter, he tore his clothes to show his sorrow. He said, “My daughter! You have made me so sad because I made a promise to the Lord, and I cannot break it!”

³⁶ Then his daughter said, “Father, you made a promise to the Lord. So do to me just what you promised, because the Lord helped you defeat your enemies, the Ammonites.” ³⁷ She also said, “But let me do one thing. Let me be alone for two months to go to the mountains. Since I will never marry, let me and my friends go and cry together.”

³⁸ Jephthah said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months. She and her friends stayed in the mountains and cried for her because she would never marry. ³⁹ After two months she returned to her father, and Jephthah did to her what he had promised. Jephthah’s daughter never had a husband.

From this came a custom in Israel that ⁴⁰ every year the young women of Israel would go out for four days to remember the daughter of Jephthah from Gilead.

Jephthah and Ephraim

12 The men of Ephraim called all their soldiers together and crossed the river to the town of Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why didn’t you call us to help you fight the Ammonites? We will burn your house down with you in it.”

² Jephthah answered them, “My people and I fought a great battle against the Ammonites. I called you, but you didn’t come to help me. ³ When I saw that you would not help me, I risked my own life and went against the Ammonites. The Lord handed them over to me. So why have you come to fight against me today?”

⁴ Then Jephthah called the men of Gilead together and fought the men of Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You men of Gilead are nothing but deserters from Ephraim—living between Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ The men of Gilead captured the crossings of the Jordan River that led to the country of Ephraim. A person from Ephraim trying to escape would say, “Let me cross the river.” Then the men of Gilead would ask him, “Are you from Ephraim?” If he replied no, ⁶ they would say to him, “Say the word ‘Shibboleth.’” The men of Ephraim could not say that word correctly. So if the person from Ephraim said, “Sibboleth,” the men of Gilead would kill him at the crossing. So forty-two thousand people from Ephraim were killed at that time.

⁷ Jephthah was a judge for Israel for six years. Then Jephthah, the man from Gilead, died and was buried in a town in Gilead.

Ibzan, the Judge

⁸ After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem was a judge for Israel. ⁹ He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He let his daughters marry men who were not in his family group, and he brought thirty women who were not in his tribe to be wives for his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years. ¹⁰ Then he died and was buried in Bethlehem.

Elon, the Judge

¹¹ After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun was a judge for Israel. He judged Israel for ten years. ¹² Then Elon, the man of Zebulun, died and was buried in the city of Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Abdon, the Judge

¹³ After Elon died, Abdon son of Hillel from the city of Pirathon was a judge for Israel. ¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years. ¹⁵ Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mountains where the Amalekites lived.

The Birth of Samson

13 Again the people of Israel did what the Lord said was wrong. So he handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

² There was a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan, who lived in the city of Zorah. He had a wife, but she could not have children. ³ The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and said, “You have not been able to have children, but you will become pregnant and give birth to a son. ⁴ Be careful not to drink wine or beer or eat anything that is unclean, ⁵ because you will become pregnant and have a son. You must never cut his hair, because he will be a Nazirite, given to God from birth. He will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

⁶ Then Manoah’s wife went to him and told him what had happened. She said, “A man from God came to me. He looked like an angel from God; his appearance was frightening. I didn’t ask him where he was from, and he didn’t tell me his name. ⁷ But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and will have a son. Don’t drink wine or beer or eat anything that is unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from his birth until the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, I beg you to let the man of God come to us again. Let him teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born to us.”

⁹ God heard Manoah’s prayer, and the angel of God came to Manoah’s wife again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. ¹⁰ So she ran to tell him, “He is here! The man who appeared to me the other day is here!”

¹¹ Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

The man said, “I am.”

¹² So Manoah asked, “When what you say happens, what kind of life should the boy live? What should he do?”

¹³ The angel of the Lord said, “Your wife must be careful to do everything I told her to do. ¹⁴ She must not eat anything that grows on a grapevine, or drink any wine or beer, or eat anything that is unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

¹⁵ Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay awhile so we can cook a young goat for you.”

¹⁶ The angel of the Lord answered, “Even if I stay awhile, I would not eat your food. But if you want to prepare something, offer a burnt offering to the Lord.” (Manoah did not understand that the man was really the angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name? Then we will honor you when what you have said really happens.”

¹⁸ The angel of the Lord said, “Why do you ask my name? It is too amazing for you to understand.” ¹⁹ So Manoah sacrificed a young goat on a rock and offered some grain as a gift to the Lord. Then an amazing thing happened as Manoah and his wife watched. ²⁰ The flames went up to the sky from the altar. As the fire burned, the angel of the Lord went up to heaven in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw that, they bowed facedown on the ground. ²¹ The angel of the Lord did not appear to them again. Then Manoah understood that the man was really the angel of the Lord. ²² Manoah said, “We have seen God, so we will surely die.”

²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our burnt offering or grain offering. He would not have shown us all these things or told us all this.”

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew, and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ The Spirit of the Lord began to work in Samson while he was in the city of Mahaneh Dan, between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson’s First Marriage

14 Samson went down to the city of Timnah where he saw a Philistine woman. ² When he returned home, he said to his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman in Timnah. I want you to get her for me so I can marry her.”

³ His father and mother answered, “Surely there is a woman from Israel you can marry. Do you have to marry a woman from the Philistines, who are not circumcised?”

But Samson said, “Get that woman for me! She is the one I want!” ⁴ (Samson’s parents did not know that the Lord wanted this to happen because he was looking for a way to challenge the Philistines, who were ruling over Israel at this time.) ⁵ Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, as far as the vineyard near there. Suddenly, a young lion came roaring toward Samson! ⁶ The Spirit of the Lord entered Samson with great power, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands. For him it was as easy as tearing apart a young goat. But Samson did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ Then he went down to the city and talked to the Philistine woman, and he liked her.

⁸ Several days later Samson went back to marry her. On his way he went over to look at the body of the dead lion and found a swarm of bees and honey in it. ⁹ Samson got some of the honey with his hands and walked along eating it. When he came to his parents, he gave some to them. They ate it, too, but Samson did not tell them he had taken the honey from the body of the dead lion.

¹⁰ Samson’s father went down to see the Philistine woman. And Samson gave a feast, as was the custom for the bridegroom. ¹¹ When the people saw him, they sent thirty friends to be with him.

Samson’s Riddle

¹² Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. Try to find the answer during the seven days of the feast. If you can, I will give you thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of clothes. ¹³ But if you can’t, you must give me thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of clothes.”

So they said, “Tell us your riddle so we can hear it.”

¹⁴ Samson said,

After three days, they had not found the answer.

¹⁵ On the fourth^[g] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Did you invite us here to make us poor? Trick your husband into telling us the answer to the riddle. If you don’t, we will burn you and everyone in your father’s house.”

¹⁶ So Samson’s wife went to him, crying, and said, “You hate me! You don’t really love me! You told my people a riddle, but you won’t tell me the answer.”

Samson said, “I haven’t even told my father or mother. Why should I tell you?”

¹⁷ Samson’s wife cried for the rest of the seven days of the feast. So he finally gave her the answer on the seventh day, because she kept bothering him. Then she told her people the answer to the riddle.

¹⁸ Before sunset on the seventh day of the feast, the Philistine men had the answer. They came to Samson and said,

Then Samson said to them,

¹⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord entered Samson and gave him great power. Samson went down to the city of Ashkelon and killed thirty of its men and took all that they had and gave the clothes to the men who had answered his riddle. Then he went to his father’s house very angry. ²⁰ And Samson’s wife was given to his best man.

Samson Troubles the Philistines

15 At the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, taking a young goat with him. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room,” but her father would not let him go in.

² He said to Samson, “I thought you really hated your wife, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more beautiful. Take her instead.”

³ But Samson said to them, “This time no one will blame me for hurting you Philistines!” ⁴ So Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. He took two foxes at a time, tied their tails together, and then tied a torch to the tails of each pair of foxes. ⁵ After he lit the torches, he let the foxes loose in the grainfields of the Philistines so that he burned up their standing grain, the piles of grain, their vineyards, and their olive trees.

⁶ The Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

Someone told them, “Samson, the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, did because his father-in-law gave his wife to his best man.”

So the Philistines burned Samson’s wife and her father to death. ⁷ Then Samson said to the Philistines, “Since you did this, I won’t stop until I pay you back!” ⁸ Samson attacked the Philistines and killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.

⁹ The Philistines went up and camped in the land of Judah, near a place named Lehi. ¹⁰ The men of Judah asked them, “Why have you come here to fight us?”

They answered, “We have come to make Samson our prisoner, to pay him back for what he did to our people.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “What have you done to us? Don’t you know that the Philistines rule over us?”

Samson answered, “I only paid them back for what they did to me.”

¹² Then they said to him, “We have come to tie you up and to hand you over to the Philistines.”

Samson said to them, “Promise me you will not hurt me yourselves.”