Bible in 90 Days

²⁸ He said to them, “Follow me, because the Lord has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands.” So they pursued them, captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab, and let no one cross. ²⁹ At this time they struck down about ten thousand men of Moab, every one robust, each one a powerful warrior. Not one escaped. ³⁰ This is how Moab was humbled on that day under the hand of Israel, and the land was quiet for eighty years.

The Third Judge: Shamgar Versus the Philistines

³¹ After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. He struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox goad. He too delivered Israel.

The Fourth Judge: Deborah and Barak Versus the Canaanites

4 After Ehud died, once again the people of Israel committed evil in the eyes of the Lord. ² So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. ³ Again the people of Israel called out to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots. He brutally oppressed the people of Israel for twenty years.

⁴ Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth,^[a] was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She would sit under the Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel would come to her for judgment.

⁶ She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun. ⁷ I will lure Sisera, commander of the army of Jabin, to you at the stream Kishon along with his chariots and his horde, and I will give him into your hand.’”

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

⁹ She answered, “All right. I will go with you, but because of the way you are going about it, the honor will not be yours. The Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰ Barak called up the forces of Zebulun and Naphtali to meet at Kedesh. Ten thousand men went up on foot, and Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹ It happened that Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the other Kenites, who were the descendants of Hobab, the brother-in-law^[b] of Moses, and he had set up his tent out by the oak tree in Za’anannim^[c] near Kedesh.

¹² When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, ¹³ Sisera led out all his chariots (nine hundred iron chariots) and all the people who were with him from Harosheth Haggoyim, and they came to the stream Kishon.^[d]

¹⁴ Deborah said to Barak, “Get up! Today is the day that the Lord has given Sisera into your hands! Is not the Lord going ahead of you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men followed him.

¹⁵ The Lord threw Sisera, all his chariots, and all his troops into confusion with the edge^[e] of the sword of Barak. So Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶ Barak pursued the chariots and the troops as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. Sisera’s whole army fell by the edge of the sword. Not a single man was left.

¹⁷ Sisera meanwhile fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “This way, my lord. Come here to me! Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her, went into her tent, and she hid him with a covering.

¹⁹ He said to her, “Give me something to drink, please—just a little water, because I am thirsty.” She opened a skin of milk and gave him some milk to drink. Then she covered him up.

²⁰ After that, he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’”

²¹ But then Jael wife of Heber took a tent stake, and gripping a hammer in her hand, she came to Sisera quietly and drove the stake through his temple, right through into the ground. Sisera had been fast asleep, exhausted—now he was dead!

²² When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael came out to meet him. She said to him, “Come in, and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went with her, and there he was. Sisera was lying there dead, with the tent stake through his temple.

²³ So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the people of Israel, ²⁴ and the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan, until they cut down Jabin king of Canaan.

Deborah’s Song

5 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:^[f]

Then the land was quiet for forty years.

The Fifth Judge: Gideon Versus the Midianites

6 Again the people of Israel committed evil in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years. ² The hand of Midian was heavy upon Israel. Because of Midian, the people of Israel made hidden shelters^[s] for themselves, in the mountains, in caves, and other hideouts. ³ Whenever Israel planted crops, Midian and Amalek and the people of the East^[t] would go up against Israel. ⁴ They would set up camp against them and ruin the crops all the way to Gaza, so there was no source of livelihood left in Israel—not even a sheep, an ox, or a donkey. ⁵ When the Midianites would invade with their herds of cattle and their tents, they were as numerous as locusts, so it was impossible to count them and their camels. This is how they came up against the land to ruin it. ⁶ So Israel was laid low because of Midian, and the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.

⁷ When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord because of Midian, ⁸ the Lord sent a man, a prophet, to the people of Israel. The prophet said this to them:

¹¹ The Angel of the Lord^[u] came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² The Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

¹³ Gideon said to him, “Please tell me this, my lord: If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the wonderful acts our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Is it not the Lord who brought us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us, and he has given us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, “Go forward in this strength that is now yours, and you will deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”

¹⁵ He said to the Angel, “Pardon me, my lord,^[v] but how can I deliver Israel? Look! My clan is the lowliest in Manasseh, and I—I am the least in my father’s house.”

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

¹⁷ Gideon said to him, “If I have now found grace in your eyes, offer me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me. ¹⁸ Please do not leave this spot until I come back to you. I will bring my gift and set it before you.”

He said, “I will sit here until you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went and prepared a young goat, and he made unleavened bread from a half bushel^[w] of flour. He put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot. He then brought them out to the Angel under the oak, where he presented them.

²⁰ The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and set them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” So that is what he did. ²¹ The Angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread, and fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.

²² Gideon realized that this was the Angel of the Lord, and he said, “Oh, no! It is the Lord God! Yes, I have seen the Angel of the Lord face-to-face!”

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

²⁴ So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there, and he named it “The Lord Is Peace.” To this day it stands at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ On that same night the Lord said to him, “Take a bull from your father’s herd of cattle, the second bull, the one that is seven years old.^[x] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal. Then cut down the Asherah pole that is next to it. ²⁶ In its place, build an altar to the Lord your God in the proper way, on top of this stronghold.^[y] Then take the second bull and send up a burnt offering using the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.

²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants and carried out the word of the Lord. Yet because he was too afraid of the household of his father and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

²⁸ When the men of the city got up early in the morning, they were surprised to see that the altar of Baal had been thrown down, the Asherah pole next to it had been cut down, and the second bull was being offered up as a sacrifice upon the altar that had been built there.

²⁹ The people were asking each other, “Who did this?” They searched and investigated until they concluded, “Gideon son of Joash did this.”

³⁰ So the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he broke down the altar of Baal and because he cut down the Asherah pole next to it.”

³¹ But Joash said to all those who opposed him, “Will you contend for Baal? Will you save him? Whoever contends for him will be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself if someone broke down his altar.” ³² From that day on they called Gideon “Jerubbaal,”^[z] saying, “Let Baal contend with him, if he broke down his altar.”

³³ Then all the Midianites and Amalekites and the people of the East gathered together. They crossed over to Israelite territory and set up camp in the Valley of Jezre’el. ³⁴ The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon. He blew the ram’s horn, and the clan of Abiezer was called out to follow him. ³⁵ Gideon also sent messengers into all Manasseh, so Manasseh assembled behind Gideon. He also sent messengers into Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet the others.

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have said, ³⁷ look here, I am placing a woolen fleece on the threshing floor. If dew is found only on the fleece, but all the ground around it is dry, then I will know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said.”

³⁸ And that is exactly what happened! Gideon got up early in the morning and squeezed the fleece and wrung out dew from it—a bowlful of water!

³⁹ But again Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more. Please let me conduct just one more test with the fleece: This time let the fleece be dry, but let there be dew on the ground all around.” ⁴⁰ That night God did that very thing! Only the fleece was dry, and there was dew on the ground all around.

7 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him set out and camped by the Spring of Harod. The Midianite camp was north of him, in the valley below the Hill of Moreh.

² The Lord said to Gideon, “There are too many people with you for me to give Midian into your hands. If I did that, Israel would glorify itself at my expense and say, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ ³ So then, make an announcement for the people to hear: ‘Whoever is trembling with fear can return home and fly away from Mount Gilead.’”^[aa] Twenty-two thousand people turned and left. Only ten thousand remained.

⁴ The Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Lead them down to the water, and there I will refine them further for you. If I tell you, ‘This one will go with you,’ he may go with you, but if I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ he must not go.”

⁵ So Gideon led the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “Place everyone who laps water with his tongue, as a dog would lap, to one side. Place everyone who kneels down to drink on the other side.” ⁶ The number of those who lapped—those who put their hands to their mouths^[ab]—was three hundred men, while all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.

⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped, I will deliver you, and I will give Midian into your hand. As for all the other people, let each man go back to his place.”

⁸ The men who had been chosen took provisions in hand, along with their ram’s horns, but Gideon sent every other Israelite man back to his own tent. He kept only the three hundred men. The camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

⁹ That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the Midianite camp, for I have given them into your hand. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down to attack them, then go down to the camp with your young attendant Purah. ¹¹ Listen to what they say. After that your hands will be strengthened to go down to attack the camp.”

So Gideon and his young attendant Purah went down to the sentry posts at the edge of the camp.

¹² Meanwhile, the Midianites and Amalekites and the whole army of the eastern peoples were spread out in the valley, thick as locusts, and their camels were more than could be counted, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.

¹³ When Gideon went down, he arrived just as a man was telling his fellow soldier about a dream. He said, “Listen! I had a dream. I dreamed that a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling over and over into the Midianite camp. It crashed into a tent and struck it so that the tent fell down. It overturned the tent, and the tent collapsed!”

¹⁴ His companion responded, “What can that be but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”

¹⁵ So when Gideon heard the retelling of the dream and its meaning, he bowed down in worship and returned to the camp of Israel. He said, “Get up, because the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hand.” ¹⁶ He divided the three hundred men into three groups. He placed a ram’s horn into the hand of each one of them, as well as empty jars with torches inside them. ¹⁷ Then he said to them, “Watch me and do whatever I do. When you see me arrive at the edge of the camp, do whatever I do. ¹⁸ When I and all the men who are with me blow our ram’s horns, the rest of you, who are around the whole camp, also blow your ram’s horns and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

¹⁹ Gideon and the one hundred men with him went to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the Midianites had posted the guards. Gideon and his men blew their ram’s horns and shattered the jars that were in their hands. ²⁰ All three groups blew their ram’s horns and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hands, and in their right hands they held the ram’s horns that they were to blow. They shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ Each man stood at his station around the camp. The whole Midianite camp started running, raised the alarm, and fled.^[ac]

²² When the Israelites blew the three hundred ram’s horns,^[ad] the Lord turned the sword of each Midianite against the person next to him throughout the whole camp.

The Midianite army fled up to Beth Shittah, toward Zererah, up to the border of Abel Meholah, as far as Tabbath.

²³ Then all the men of Israel were summoned, from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. ²⁴ Gideon sent messengers throughout the entire hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Go down to confront Midian. Seize the waters^[ae] before them, all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan.” So all the Ephraimites who were called out seized the waters as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ They also captured Oreb and Ze’eb,^[af] the two generals of Midian. They killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb and Ze’eb at the Winepress of Ze’eb. Then they pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Ze’eb to Gideon by the crossing of the Jordan.

8 The men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “What kind of thing was that which you did to us by not inviting us when you went to fight against Midian?” They contended with him vigorously.

² Gideon said to them, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the whole grape harvest of Abiezer? ³ It was into your hands that God delivered Oreb and Ze’eb, the leaders of Midian. So what have I been able to accomplish compared to you?” Their anger against him died down when he said this.

⁴ Gideon then went to the Jordan and crossed over with the three hundred men who were with him. They were exhausted but kept pursuing the enemy.

⁵ Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the troops who are following right behind me, because they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”

⁶ But the leaders of Succoth said, “Are the cut-off hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands? Why then would we give bread to your army?”

⁷ Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the Lord gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with thorns from the wilderness and with briars.”

⁸ Then Gideon went up from there to Penuel^[ag] and made the same request, and the men of Penuel gave him the same answer that the men of Succoth had. ⁹ So Gideon said to the men of Penuel, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ In the meantime Zebah and Zalmunna had arrived in Karkor. Their armies were with them, but only about fifteen thousand men were left from all the forces of the peoples from the East. One hundred twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.

¹¹ Gideon went up by the route of the nomads who live in tents east of Nobah and Jogbehah. He struck the camp when it was not on alert. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but Gideon pursued them and captured Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian. This made the entire army tremble.

¹³ When Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres, ¹⁴ he captured a young man from Succoth. Gideon questioned the young man, who wrote down for him the names of the leaders of Succoth and of the town’s elders, seventy-seven men in all.

¹⁵ Gideon then went to the men of Succoth and said, “Look! Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands? Why then would we give bread to your exhausted men?’”

¹⁶ Then Gideon took the elders of the town, and he taught the men of Succoth a lesson with thorns from the wilderness and with briars. ¹⁷ He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about^[ah] the men you killed at Tabor?”

They said, “They were just like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.”

¹⁹ “They were my brothers,” Gideon answered, “the sons of my mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

²⁰ Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them right now.” But the young man did not draw his sword because he was afraid, because he was still just a youth.

²¹ Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You get up and strike us down yourself, for a man’s strength shows what kind of man he is.” Gideon stepped up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he collected the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you and your son and also your grandson—because you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.”

²³ But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. Only the Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴ But Gideon also said to them, “Let me ask you for one thing: that each man give me an earring from his plunder.” (The enemy wore gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

²⁵ They answered, “All right, we will give them to you.” Then they spread out a garment, and each man among them threw in an earring from his plunder. ²⁶ The weight of the gold earrings that he had requested was seventeen hundred shekels.^[ai] This was in addition to the crescents, the pendants, and the purple clothing that had been worn by the kings of Midian, and the ornaments that were on the necks of their camels. ²⁷ Gideon made the gold into a sacred breastplate.^[aj] He set it up in his town of Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

²⁸ In this way Midian was humbled before the people of Israel, and they did not raise their heads again.

The land was quiet for forty years during the days of Gideon.

²⁹ Jerubbaal son of Joash returned and lived in his own house. ³⁰ Gideon had seventy sons, who were his direct descendants from his own body, because he had many wives. ³¹ Also his concubine at Shechem bore him a son, and he named him Abimelek.^[ak]

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

³³ After Gideon died, the people of Israel again prostituted themselves to the Baals, and they set up Baal of the Covenant as their god. ³⁴ The people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who saved them from the hand of all their enemies around them. ³⁵ They were not loyal to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

The Rise of Abimelek

9 Abimelek son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to visit his mother’s brothers. He spoke to them and to the entire clan of his mother’s household, saying, ² “Please announce this in the hearing of all the citizens^[al] of Shechem: What is better for you? If seventy men—all of the sons of Jerubbaal—rule over you, or if one man rules over you? Also remember this—I am your own flesh and blood.”

³ His mother’s brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the hearing of all the citizens of Shechem. So their hearts were inclined toward Abimelek, because they said, “He is our brother.”

⁴ They gave him seventy pieces^[am] of silver from the house of Baal of the Covenant. With the money, Abimelek hired worthless, reckless men, who traveled with him. ⁵ He came to his father’s household at Ophrah, and he murdered his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal—seventy men slaughtered on one stone. Only one remained alive, Jotham son of Jerubbaal, the youngest, for he had hidden himself. ⁶ Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered together, and they went and crowned Abimelek as king by the oak tree next to the memorial pillar that was in Shechem.

⁷ When Jotham was told, he went and stood at the top of Mount Gerizim and called out with a loud voice, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, and God will listen to you.”

Jotham’s Parable

¹⁶ Jotham said, “So now, if you acted in truth and integrity when you made Abimelek king, and if you have treated Jerubbaal and his household well, and if you have dealt with him as his hands dealt with you— ¹⁷ My father waged war for you and put his life at grave risk and delivered you from the hand of Midian. ¹⁸ Yet you have risen up against the house of my father today, and you have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and you have crowned Abimelek, son of his concubine, as king over the citizens of Shechem, because he is your relative. ¹⁹ If you have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his household this day, rejoice in Abimelek, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰ But if not, may fire come out from Abimelek and consume the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and may fire come out from the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo and consume Abimelek.”

²¹ With that, Jotham fled and escaped to Be’er,^[an] where he remained because of Abimelek his brother.

The Fall of Abimelek

²² After Abimelek ruled over Israel three years, ²³ God sent an evil spirit between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem, who acted treacherously against Abimelek, ²⁴ so that the violence perpetrated against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal would come back on Abimelek, and their blood would be charged to their brother Abimelek, who killed them, and to the citizens of Shechem, who supported him when he killed his brothers.

²⁵ In opposition to Abimelek, the citizens of Shechem set up ambushes on the mountains, and they robbed everyone who went by along the road. This was reported to Abimelek.

²⁶ At this time Ga’al son of Ebed and his brothers had come to Shechem and settled there, and the citizens of Shechem put their trust in him.

²⁷ The people of Shechem went out into the fields and gathered grapes from their vineyards. They trod the grapes into wine and held a thanksgiving festival. They went to the house of their god and ate and drank, and they cursed Abimelek.

²⁸ Ga’al son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelek? Why should the city of Shechem serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? Isn’t Zebul his representative? Serve the descendants of Hamor, the founding father of Shechem, but why should we serve Abimelek? ²⁹ If only someone would give this people into my hand! I would remove Abimelek!”

So he said to Abimelek, “Get a bigger army and come out!”

³⁰ When Zebul, ruler of the city, heard the words of Ga’al son of Ebed, he was hot with anger. ³¹ He secretly sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, “Look, Ga’al son of Ebed and his brothers have been coming to Shechem, and now they are stirring up the city against you. ³² So now, get up tonight, you and the troops who are with you, and hide yourselves in the countryside. ³³ When morning comes, at sunrise, get up early and make an attack on the city. Then when Ga’al and the people with him come out against you, do to him whatever you can.”

³⁴ So Abimelek and all the troops who were with him set out in the middle of the night and set an ambush for Shechem, in four units.

³⁵ Ga’al son of Ebed came out and stood at the entrance to the city gate. Then Abimelek and the troops with him rose up from their hiding places.

³⁶ When Ga’al saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look! People are coming down from the mountains.”

But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing shadows on the mountains and mistaking them for men.”

³⁷ But Ga’al spoke up again. He said, “No, look! There are people coming down from the navel of the land,^[ao] and one unit is coming from the direction of the Oak of the Fortune Tellers.”

³⁸ Zebul said to him, “Where is your big mouth now? You said, ‘Who is Abimelek that we should serve him?’ Aren’t these the people you despised? Go out now, and fight against him!”

³⁹ So Ga’al went out in front of the citizens of Shechem and fought against Abimelek. ⁴⁰ Abimelek pursued him, and Ga’al fled from him. Many fell wounded all the way up to the entrance to the city’s gatehouse. ⁴¹ Abimelek remained in Arumah, but Zebul drove out Ga’al and his brothers, so that they could not stay in Shechem.

⁴² The next day, when the people went out into the countryside, this was reported to Abimelek. ⁴³ He took his people and divided them into three units and set up an ambush in the countryside.

As he kept watch, he saw people coming out of the city. He rose up against them and struck them down. ⁴⁴ Abimelek and the unit that was with him rushed forward and took a position in front of the entrance to the city’s gatehouse. The other two units attacked everyone who was still out in the open country and struck them down. ⁴⁵ Abimelek fought against the city all that day and captured it. He killed the people who were in it, and he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When all the citizens defending the citadel of Shechem realized what was happening, they went into the vault^[ap] of the temple of El^[aq] of the Covenant. ⁴⁷ When it was reported to Abimelek that all the citizens were gathered together in the citadel of Shechem, ⁴⁸ Abimelek went up to Mount Zalmon—he and all the people who were with him. Abimelek took an ax in his hand and cut brushwood. He picked up the brush and placed it on his shoulder. He told the people who were with him, “Quickly do exactly what you saw me do.” ⁴⁹ All the people, each man, also cut brushwood and followed Abimelek. They placed the branches against the vault and with the branches they set the vault on fire, and all the people in the citadel of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Abimelek then went to Thebez, besieged it, and captured it. ⁵¹ There was a strong tower in the middle of the city, and all the men and women and all the rulers of the city fled there. They shut it up tight behind them and went up to the roof of the tower. ⁵² Abimelek came up to the tower and attacked it. He approached the entrance of the tower to burn it down.

⁵³ A certain woman threw down an upper millstone onto the head of Abimelek, and she fractured his skull. ⁵⁴ He called quickly to the young man who carried his gear and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they do not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So this young man ran him through with his sword, and Abimelek died. ⁵⁵ When the men of Israel saw that Abimelek was dead, they all went back, each to his place.

⁵⁶ In this way God avenged the evil that Abimelek had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also returned all the evil done by the men of Shechem onto their own heads, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

The Sixth Judge: Tola

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

The Seventh Judge: Jair

³ After him Jair from Gilead arose. He judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys, and he also had thirty villages in the land of Gilead. People call them the Villages of Jair to this very day. ⁵ Jair also died and was buried in Kamon.

Israel Starts Another Cycle of Evil

⁶ Once again the people of Israel committed evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtartes,^[as] the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. In this way they forsook the Lord and did not serve him.

⁷ So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, ⁸ who shattered and crushed the people of Israel that year.

For the next eighteen years, the Ammonites oppressed all the people of Israel who were in the territory east of the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. ⁹ When the Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to wage war against Judah and Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, Israel suffered great distress.

¹⁰ Finally the people of Israel called out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, for we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.”

¹¹ At this, the Lord said to the people of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, from the Amorites, from the Ammonites, and from the Philistines? ¹² When the Sidonians and Amalek and Maon^[at] oppressed you, and you called out to me, I delivered you from their hands. ¹³ It is you who have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore, I will no longer deliver you. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen! Let them deliver you in the time of your distress!”

¹⁵ But the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever seems good in your eyes, but please save us today.” ¹⁶ When they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served the Lord, he could no longer refrain from relieving^[au] the misery of Israel.

¹⁷ Then the Ammonites were called to arms and set up camp in Gilead. The people of Israel also gathered and camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸ The army and the officers of Gilead said to each other, “Who is the man who will begin to wage war against the Ammonites? He will become head of all those who live in Gilead.”

The Eighth Judge: Jephthah Versus the Ammonites

11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a powerful warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife also bore sons for him, and when the wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away. They said to him, “You will not share the inheritance with our father’s household, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from the presence of his brothers. He lived in the Land of Tob, and a gang of worthless men gathered around him, and they went out on raids with him.

Jephthah and Gilead

⁴ Sometime later, the people of Ammon waged war against Israel. ⁵ No sooner did the Ammonites wage war against the Israelites than the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from Tob. ⁶ They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, and we will wage war against the Ammonites.”

⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of the house of my father? So why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?”

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is true, but now we have returned to you. Go with us and wage war against the Ammonites, and you will be the head over us and over everyone who lives in Gilead.”

⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to wage war against the Ammonites, and if the Lord hands them over to me, will I really become your head?”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “May the Lord be a witness between us if we do not do just as you have said.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him head and chief over them. Jephthah repeated all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.

Jephthah’s Negotiations With the Ammonites

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites. They said, “What is the problem between me and you? Why have you come against me to wage war against my land?”

¹³ The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah’s messengers, “The problem is that Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, my land between the Arnon and the Jabbok and extending to the Jordan. So now return the land peacefully.”

¹⁴ Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites. ¹⁵ This is what he said to the king:

²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the message that Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Battle With Ammon and His Vow

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh. Then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went out against the Ammonites.

³⁰ Jephthah had made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you indeed give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹ then whoever or whatever^[aw] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will offer it up as a whole burnt offering.”

³² So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to wage war against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³ Jephthah struck them down from Aroer all the way to the vicinity of Minnith, twenty cities, as far as Abel Keramim—a great slaughter. Thus the Ammonites were humbled before the people of Israel.

³⁴ But when Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to greet him with drums and dancing! She was his one and only child. Besides her, he had no son or daughter. ³⁵ So, as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothing and cried out, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have become a source of misery for me. I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take it back!”

³⁶ She said to him, “My father, since you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me exactly what came out of your mouth, since the Lord has carried out vengeance for you on your enemies, the Ammonites.” ³⁷ She also said to her father, “Do this one thing for me: Give me two months reprieve, so that I may go out into the mountains and weep for my virginity—I and my friends.”

³⁸ Her father said, “Go,” and he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went and wept over her virginity there on the mountains. ³⁹ When the two months came to an end, she returned to her father, and he carried out the vow that he had made regarding her. She never was intimate with a man.

This became a custom in Israel: ⁴⁰ From year to year the daughters of Israel go out to hold a memorial service for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days each year.

Jephthah’s Battle With Ephraim

12 At that time the men of Ephraim were called to arms. They crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to wage war against the Ammonites, but you did not invite us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you in it.”

² Jephthah said to them, “I was a man involved in a bitter dispute—I and my people against the Ammonites. I called you out to arms, but you did not rescue me from their hand. ³ When I saw that you were not coming to rescue me, I took my life into my hands. I crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. So why have you come up against me this day to wage war against me?”

⁴ So Jephthah summoned all the men of Gilead and waged war against Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck down Ephraim, because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are nothing but renegades^[ax] from Ephraim and Manasseh.”

⁵ The men of Gilead captured the fords across the Jordan that led to Ephraim. Whenever an Ephraimite fleeing from the battle said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶ they said to him, “Please say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But if he instead said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly,^[ay] they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time, forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

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

The Ninth Judge: Ibzan

⁸ After him Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹ He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He sent the thirty daughters outside his clan for marriage, and for his sons he brought in thirty wives from outside his clan. He judged Israel for seven years. ¹⁰ Then Ibzan died, and he was buried at Bethlehem.

The Tenth Judge: Elon

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

The Eleventh Judge: Abdon

¹³ After him Abdon son of Hillel from Pirathon judged 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 from Pirathon died, and he was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

The Twelfth Judge: Samson Versus the Philistines
Samson’s Birth

13 The people of Israel again committed evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

² Now there was a certain man from Zorah, from the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren. She had not given birth. ³ The Angel of the Lord^[az] appeared to the woman and said to her, “Listen, you are barren and have not given birth, but you will become pregnant and give birth to a son. ⁴ Now, please be careful. Do not drink wine or beer,^[ba] and do not eat anything unclean. ⁵ Listen, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from his mother’s womb. He will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶ The woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and he looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. ⁷ But he did say to me, ‘Listen! You will be pregnant and give birth to a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the young man will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from his mother’s womb until the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord, “Please, Lord, the man of God whom you sent—please let him come to us again, to teach us what we are to do for the young man who is to be born.”

⁹ God heard the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God returned to the woman while she was sitting in the field. Once again her husband Manoah was not with her. ¹⁰ The woman ran quickly and told her husband. She said to him, “Come, see! The man who appeared to me came to me again today.”

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

He answered, “I am.”

¹² Manoah said, “Now, when your words come true, what will be the rule for the young man and his actions?”

¹³ The Angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “The woman must be careful concerning everything that I said to her. ¹⁴ She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine. She must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat any unclean thing. Everything that I commanded her she must observe.”

¹⁵ Manoah then said to the Angel of the Lord, “May we persuade you to stay, so that we may prepare a young goat for you?”

¹⁶ But the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Even if you keep me here, I will not eat any of your food, but if you make a burnt offering, offer it up to the Lord.” (Manoah did not yet know that he was the Angel of the Lord.)

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

¹⁸ The Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask about my name? It is wonderful.”^[bb]

¹⁹ Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering, and he offered them on the rock to the Lord, who did something wonderful as Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰ As the flame rose from the altar toward the sky, the Angel of the Lord ascended upward from the altar in the flame. Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell facedown to the ground. ²¹ The Angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah and his wife again, but now Manoah knew that he was the Angel of the Lord.

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

²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, and he would not have shown us all these things, nor would he have let us hear this message at this time.”

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

Samson’s Feats

14 Samson went down to Timnah. There he saw a young woman who was a Philistine. ² He went back and told his father and his mother, “I saw a Philistine woman in Timnah. Now, get her for me as a wife.”

³ But his father and mother said to him, “Is there no suitable woman among the young women of your relatives and among all our people that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”

Samson insisted to his father, “No, get her for me—because, in my eyes, she is the right one.”

⁴ His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an opportunity to confront the Philistines, who were ruling Israel at this time.

⁵ So Samson and his father and mother went down to Timnah, and as they approached the vineyards at Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring to meet him. ⁶ At that moment the Spirit of the Lord powerfully rushed upon Samson, and he tore the young lion in two as if he were tearing apart a young goat. He did this with his bare hands. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. ⁷ He went down and spoke to the woman. In the eyes of Samson, she was the right one.

⁸ After some days, when he returned to take her as his wife, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion, and to his surprise there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion! ⁹ So Samson scraped out some honey with his hands, and he ate it as he walked along. As he walked alongside his father and mother, he gave them some of the honey and they ate, but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the carcass of the lion.

¹⁰ His father met with the woman, and Samson held a wedding feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. ¹¹ When the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty young men to serve as attendants.

¹² Samson said to them, “Allow me to tell you a riddle. If you figure out the solution and tell me within the seven days of the feast, I will give to you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. ¹³ But if you are not able to tell me, you will give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.”

So they said to him, “Tell your riddle. Let us hear it!”

¹⁴ Samson said to them,

But they were not able to solve the riddle for three days.

¹⁵ Then, on the fourth day,^[bc] they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband so that you can tell us the solution to the riddle, or we will set you on fire with the house of your father. You invited us in order to take our property, didn’t you?”

¹⁶ Samson’s wife cried on his shoulder and said, “You certainly hate me and do not love me. You told a riddle to my people, but you have not explained it to me!”

Samson said to her, “Look! I have not told even my father and my mother, and I should tell you?” ¹⁷ But she cried to him for the rest of the seven-day feast.^[bd] Finally on the seventh day he told her, because she kept nagging him. Then she explained the riddle to the Philistine young men.

¹⁸ So the men of the town said to Samson on the seventh day, just before the sun went down:

But he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.”

¹⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men from there. Then he took the clothing that he stripped off them and gave the clothing to the men who had solved the riddle. He was burning with anger as he went back to his father’s house. ²⁰ Meanwhile the Philistines gave Samson’s wife to one of the men who had attended him.

15 After a number of days, during the wheat harvest, Samson came to visit his wife and brought a kid goat with him. He said, “Let me go in to my wife’s room,” but her father did not let him go in.

² Her father said, “I was so convinced that you hated her that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister better than she is? Please take her for yourself instead of her older sister.”

³ Samson said to them, “I am not responsible for the harm I am about to do to the Philistines.” ⁴ Then Samson went and captured three hundred foxes,^[be] took torches, tied the foxes tail to tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ He set fire to the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up sheaves of grain, the standing grain, the vineyards, and the olive groves.

⁶ The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson, the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, did it, because the man took Samson’s wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.

⁷ At that, Samson said to them, “Since you would do something like this, I will take revenge on you. Then I will stop.” ⁸ He ripped them to pieces^[bf] in a devastating attack. Then he went down and stayed in the cleft in the Rock of Etam.

⁹ Meanwhile the Philistines went up, set up camp in Judah, and occupied the territory around Lehi. ¹⁰ The men of Judah asked, “Why have you come up against us?”

They said, “We have come up to tie up Samson—to do to him as he did to us.”

¹¹ So three thousand men from Judah went down to the cleft in the Rock of Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines are now ruling over us? So what is this you have done to us?”

Samson answered them, “As they did to me, so I did to them.”

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

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