Judges 7; Judges 8; Judges 9; Judges 10; Judges 11; Judges 12; Judges 13; Judges 14; Judges 15; Judges 16; Judges 17; Judges 18

Judges 7

1 Then Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, and all of the people with him rose early and set up camp beside the Harod spring; Midian's camp was north of theirs, in the valley by the Moreh hill.

2 The LORD said to Gideon: "You have too many people on your side. If I were to hand Midian over to them, the Israelites might claim credit for themselves rather than for me, thinking, We saved ourselves.

3 So now, announce in the people's hearing, ‘Anyone who is afraid or unsteady may return home from Gideon's mountain.'" At this, twenty-two thousand people went home, and ten thousand were left.

4 The LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will weed them out for you there. Whenever I tell you, ‘This one will go with you,' he should go with you; but whenever I tell you, ‘This one won't go with you,' he should not go."

5 So he took the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "Set aside those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, from those who bend down on their knees to drink."

6 The number of men who lapped was three hundred, and all the rest of the people bent down on their knees to drink water, with their hands to their mouths.

7 Then the LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men who lapped I will rescue you and hand over the Midianites to you. Let everyone else go home."

8 So the people gathered their supplies and trumpets, and Gideon sent all the Israelites home, but kept the three hundred. Now Midian's camp was below Gideon in the valley.

9 That night the LORD said to him, "Get up and attack the camp, because I've handed it over to you.

10 But if you're afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah,

11 and you'll hear what they are saying. May you then get the courage to attack the camp." So he went down with his servant Purah to the outpost of the armies that were in the camp.

12 The Midianites, Amalekites, and other easterners were spread across the valley like a swarm of locusts; their camels were too many to count, like the grains of sand on the seashore.

13 Just when Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, "Get this! I had a dream that a loaf of barley bread was rolling into the Midianite camp. It came to a tent and hit it, and the tent collapsed. In fact, it rolled the tent over upside down, so it fell flat."

14 His friend replied, "Can this be anything other than the sword of the Israelite Gideon, Joash's son? God has handed over Midian and its entire camp to him!"

15 When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its meaning, he worshipped. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and said, "Get up! The LORD has handed over the Midianite camp to you."

16 He divided the three hundred men into three units and equipped every man with a trumpet and an empty jar, with a torch inside each jar.

17 "Now watch me," he ordered them, "and do what I do. When I get to the outpost of the camp, do just what I do.

18 When I blow the trumpet, along with all who are with me, then you blow the trumpets, all of you surrounding the whole camp. And then shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!'"

19 Gideon and one hundred of his men moved to the outpost of the camp at the middle watch of the night, when they had just changed the guards. Then they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.

20 So the three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars, holding the torches with their left hands and blowing the trumpets in their right hands. And they called out, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

21 Each man stood fast in his position around the camp, and the entire camp took off running, shouting, and fleeing.

22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD turned the swords of fellow soldiers against each other throughout the whole camp. The camp fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, to the border of Abel-meholah, beside Tabbath.

23 The Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and all of Manasseh were called out, and they chased after the Midianites.

24 Then Gideon sent messengers into all of the Ephraim highlands, saying, "Go down to meet the Midianites and take control of the Jordan's waters as far as Beth-barah." So all the Ephraimite men were called out, and they took control of the Jordan's waters as far as Beth-barah.

25 They also captured two Midianite officers, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at Oreb's Rock, and killed Zeeb at Zeeb's Winepress. Then they went on chasing the Midianites, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

Judges 8

1 Then the Ephraimites said to him, "Why did you offend us this way by not calling us when you went to fight the Midianites?" And they argued with him fiercely.

2 But he said to them, "What have I done now, compared to you? Aren't Ephraim's leftovers better than Abiezer's main harvest?

3 God handed you the Midianite officers Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do compared to you?" When he said this, their anger against him passed.

4 Then Gideon came to the Jordan. As he and the three hundred men with him crossed over, they were exhausted but still giving chase.

5 So he said to the people of Succoth, "Please give some loaves of bread to those who are on foot, because they're exhausted, but I'm chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."

6 But the officials of Succoth replied, "Haven't you already almost gotten your hands on Zebah and Zalmunna? Why should we give food to your army now?"

7 "Just for that," Gideon said, "when the LORD has handed over Zebah and Zalmunna to me, I'm going to beat your skin with desert thorns and briars!"

8 From there he went up to Penuel and made the same request. And the people of Penuel responded in the same way the people of Succoth had.

9 So he also told the people of Penuel, "When I return in victory, I'll break down this tower!"

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their camp, about fifteen thousand men, all the ones who were left from the easterners' entire camp. One hundred twenty thousand armed men had fallen.

11 Gideon marched up the caravan road east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the camp while it was off-guard.

12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he chased after them. He captured the two Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna and threw the entire army into panic.

13 Then Gideon, Joash's son, returned from the battle by the Heres Pass.

14 He captured a young man from the people of Succoth and interrogated him. He listed for Gideon the seventy-seven officials and elders of Succoth.

15 So Gideon went to the people of Succoth and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna! You made fun of me because of them by saying, ‘Haven't you already almost gotten your hands on Zebah and Zalmunna? Why should we give food to your exhausted men now?'"

16 Then he seized the city's elders, and he beat the people of Succoth with desert thorns and briars.

17 He also broke down Penuel's tower, and killed the city's people.

18 Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were those whom you killed at Tabor?" They replied, "They were just like you; each one looked like a king's son."

19 "They were my brothers," Gideon said, "my own mother's sons. As surely as the LORD lives, I promise that if you had let them live, I wouldn't kill you!"

20 So he ordered his oldest son Jether, "Stand up and kill them." But the young man didn't draw his sword because he was afraid, since he was still young.

21 So Zebah and Zalmunna said, "You stand up and strike us yourself, because as they say, ‘A man is measured by his strength!'" So Gideon stood up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels' necks.

22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you and then your son and then your grandson, because you've rescued us from Midian's power."

23 Gideon replied to them, "I'm not the one who will rule over you, and my son won't rule over you either. The LORD rules over you."

24 But Gideon said to them, "May I make one request of you? Everyone give me the earrings from their loot"; the Midianites had worn gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.

25 "We'll gladly give them," they replied. And they spread out a piece of cloth, and everyone pitched in the earrings from their loot.

26 The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, not counting the crescents, the pendants, and the purple robes worn by the Midianite kings, or the collars that were on their camels' necks.

27 Gideon fashioned a priestly vest out of it, and put it in his hometown of Ophrah. All Israel became unfaithful there because of it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his household.

28 So Midian was brought down before the Israelites and no longer raised its head. The land was peaceful for forty years during Gideon's time.

29 Jerubbaal, Joash's son, went home to live with his own household.

30 Gideon had seventy sons of his own because he had many wives.

31 His secondary wife who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

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

33 Right after Gideon died, the Israelites once again acted unfaithfully by worshipping the Baals, setting up Baal-berith as their god.

34 The people of Israel didn't remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the power of all their enemies on every side.

35 Nor did they act loyally toward the household of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in return for all the good that he had done on Israel's behalf.

Judges 9

1 Abimelech, Jerubbaal's son, went to his mother's brothers in Shechem. He spoke to them and to the entire clan of the household to which his mother belonged:

2 "Ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which do you think is better to have ruling over you: seventy men—all of Jerubbaal's sons—or one man?' And remember that I'm your flesh and blood!"

3 So his mother's brothers spoke all these words on his behalf to all the leaders of Shechem. They decided to follow Abimelech because they said, "He's our relative."

4 They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men, who became his posse.

5 He went to his household in Ophrah and killed all seventy of his brothers, Jerubbaal's sons, on a single stone. Only Jotham the youngest of Jerubbaal's sons survived, because he had hidden himself.

6 Then all the leaders of Shechem and all Beth-millo assembled and proceeded to make Abimelech king by the oak at the stone pillar in Shechem.

7 When Jotham was told about this, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He raised his voice and called out, "Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!

8 “Once the trees went out to anoint a king over themselves. So they said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!'

9 “But the olive tree replied to them, ‘Should I stop producing my oil, which is how gods and humans are honored, so that I can go to sway over the trees?'

10 “So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be king over us!'

11 “The fig tree replied to them, ‘Should I stop producing my sweetness and my delicious fruit, so that I can go to sway over the trees?'

12 “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and be king over us!'

13 “But the vine replied to them, ‘Should I stop providing my wine that makes gods and humans happy, so that I can go to sway over the trees?'

14 “Finally, all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘You come and be king over us!'

15 “And the thornbush replied to the trees, ‘If you're acting faithfully in anointing me king over you, come and take shelter in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the thornbush and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.'

16 "So now, if you acted faithfully and innocently when you made Abimelech king, and if you've done right by Jerubbaal and his household, and have treated him as his actions deserve—

17 my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from Midian's power,

18 but today you've risen up against my father's household, killed his seventy sons on a single stone, and made Abimelech, his female servant's son, king over the leaders of Shechem, because he's your relative—

19 so if you've acted faithfully and innocently toward Jerubbaal and his household today, then be happy with Abimelech and let him be happy with you.

20 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and burn up the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and burn up Abimelech."

21 Then Jotham ran away. He fled to Beer and stayed there for fear of his brother Abimelech.

22 Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years.

23 Then God stirred up ill will between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and they acted like traitors toward Abimelech.

24 This occurred because of the violence done to Jerubbaal's seventy sons. Their blood came back on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the leaders of Shechem, who supported him when he killed his brothers.

25 As an act against him, the leaders of Shechem set ambushes on the hilltops that robbed everyone who passed by them on the road. This was reported to Abimelech.

26 Then Gaal, Ebed's son, and his relatives came passing through Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem shifted their allegiance to him.

27 They went out into the field, cut off clusters from their vineyards, trampled them out, and had a celebration. They entered their god's temple and ate, drank, and made fun of Abimelech.

28 Gaal, Ebed's son, said, "Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem that we ought to serve him? Didn't this son of Jerubbaal and his deputy Zebul once serve the men of Hamor, Shechem's father? Why should we of all people serve him?

29 If only this people were under my command! I would push Abimelech aside! I would tell Abimelech, ‘Build up your army and march out for battle.'"

30 When Zebul the city's ruler heard the words of Gaal, Ebed's son, he became angry.

31 He sent messengers to Abimelech at Arumah to say, "Watch out! Gaal, Ebed's son, and his relatives have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.

32 Now, you and the men who are with you: Get up tonight and set an ambush in the fields.

33 Then in the morning, at sunrise, rise early and rush on the city. Just as he and the men with him are marching out to face you, you can do to him whatever you wish."

34 So Abimelech and all the men who were with him got up that night and set an ambush around Shechem in four companies.

35 When Gaal, Ebed's son, came out and stood in the entrance of the city's gate, Abimelech and the men with him sprang up from the ambush.

36 Gaal saw the men and said to Zebul, "Look! People are coming down from the hilltops." Zebul replied to him, "The shadows on the hills just look like persons to you."

37 But Gaal spoke up again, "Look! People are coming down from Tabbur-erez, and one company is coming from the direction of Elon-meonenim."

38 Then Zebul replied to him, "Where's all your talk now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we ought to serve him?' Aren't these the men you despised? Now march out and fight them!"

39 So Gaal marched out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech.

40 Abimelech routed him, and he ran away. Many fell wounded, all the way up to the entrance of the gate.

41 Afterward, Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove away Gaal and his relatives so they couldn't stay in Shechem.

42 The next day, the men of Shechem went out into the fields. When it was reported to Abimelech,

43 he took his men, divided them into three companies, and set an ambush in the fields. As soon as he saw the men coming from the city, he sprang upon them and attacked them.

44 Abimelech and his company charged forward and took a position at the entrance of the city's gate, while the other two companies charged at all those in the fields and attacked them.

45 Abimelech fought against the city that entire day. He captured the city and killed its people. Then he leveled the city and scattered salt over it.

46 When all the leaders in the Tower of Shechem heard about this, they entered the side rooms in the El-berith temple.

47 It was reported to Abimelech that all the leaders from the Tower of Shechem had gathered in one place.

48 So Abimelech and all the men who were with him went up on Mount Zalmon. He grabbed an ax, cut off a bundle of branches, and hoisted them onto his shoulder. Then he ordered the men who were with him, "Hurry up and do what you've seen me do!"

49 Each one of the men cut off a bundle as well and followed Abimelech. They piled them up against the side rooms and set fire to the side rooms above them. So all the people in the Tower of Shechem died too, about one thousand men and women.

50 Then Abimelech moved on to Thebez, set up camp against it, and captured it.

51 But there was a strong tower inside the city. All the men and women and all the city's leaders had fled there, shut themselves inside, and climbed to the tower's roof.

52 Abimelech came to the tower to storm it. But when he approached the tower's entrance to set it on fire,

53 a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and cracked his skull.

54 He quickly cried out to the servant who carried his armor, "Draw your sword and kill me. Don't let it be said of me, ‘A woman killed him.'" So his servant stabbed him, and he died.

55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.

56 Thus God paid back Abimelech for the evil he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers.

57 God also paid back the people of Shechem for their evil. The curse of Jotham, Jerubbaal's son, had come upon them.

Judges 10

1 After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah and grandson of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to rescue Israel. He lived in Shamir in the Ephraim highlands.

2 For twenty-three years he led Israel; then he died and was buried in Shamir.

3 After Tola, Jair from Gilead arose, and he led Israel for twenty-two years.

4 He had thirty sons who were mounted on thirty donkeys and controlled thirty towns in the land of Gilead—these are still known as Havvoth-jair today.

5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

6 Then the Israelites again did things that the LORD saw as evil. They served the Baals and the Astartes, as well as the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They went away from the LORD and didn't serve him.

7 The LORD became angry with Israel and handed them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites.

8 Starting that year and for the next eighteen years, they beat and bullied the Israelites, especially all the Israelites who lived on the east side of Jordan in the territory of the Ammonites in Gilead.

9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to make raids into Judah, Benjamin, and the households of Ephraim. So Israel was greatly distressed.

10 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We've sinned against you, for we went away from our God and served the Baals."

11 The LORD replied to the Israelites, "When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines,

12 Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you and you cried out to me, didn't I rescue you from their power?

13 But you have gone away from me and served other gods, so I won't rescue you anymore!

14 Go cry out to the gods you've chosen. Let them rescue you in the time of your distress."

15 The Israelites responded to the LORD, "We've sinned. Do to us whatever you see as right, but please save us this time."

16 They put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD. And the LORD could no longer stand to see Israel suffer.

17 The Ammonites called out their army and made camp in Gilead, while the Israelites gathered and set up their camp at Mizpah.

18 Gilead's rulers said to each other, "Whoever is willing to launch the attack against the Ammonites will become the leader over all those living in Gilead."

Judges 11

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. Gilead was his father, but he was a prostitute's son.

2 Gilead's wife gave birth to other sons for him, and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away. They told him, "You won't get an inheritance in our father's household because you're a different woman's son."

3 So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Worthless men gathered around Jephthah and became his posse.

4 Sometime afterward, the Ammonites made war against Israel.

5 And when the Ammonites attacked Israel, Gilead's elders went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob.

6 They said to him, "Come be our commander so we can fight against the Ammonites."

7 But Jephthah replied to Gilead's elders, "Aren't you the ones who hated me and drove me away from my father's household? Why are you coming to me now when you're in trouble?"

8 Gilead's elders answered Jephthah, "That may be, but now we're turning back to you, so come with us and fight the Ammonites. Then you'll become the leader over us and everyone who lives in Gilead."

9 And Jephthah said to Gilead's elders, "If you bring me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them over to me, I alone will be your leader."

10 Gilead's elders replied to him, "The LORD is our witness; we will surely do what you've said."

11 So Jephthah went with Gilead's elders, and the people made him leader and commander over them. At Mizpah before the LORD, Jephthah repeated everything he had said.

12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying, "What is the problem between us that you've come against me to make war in my land?"

13 The Ammonite king responded to Jephthah's messengers, "When the Israelites were coming up from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peacefully!"

14 Then Jephthah again sent messengers to the Ammonite king

15 and said to him, “Jephthah states: Israel didn't seize the land of the Moabites or the land of the Ammonites.

16 When they were coming up from Egypt, the Israelites went through the desert to the Reed Sea and came to Kadesh.

17 Then the Israelites sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please allow us to pass through your land'; but the Edomite king refused. They sent the same request to the king of Moab, and he was unwilling. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.

18 “Later they journeyed into the desert but went around the lands of Edom and Moab, arriving on the east side of the land of Moab and setting up camp on the other side of the Arnon. They never entered Moabite territory, because the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

19 Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites and king of Heshbon and said to him, ‘Please allow us to pass through your land to our own place.'

20 Yet Sihon didn't trust the Israelites to pass through his territory. He assembled his entire army, set up camp at Jahaz, and went to war with the Israelites.

21 The LORD, Israel's God, handed over Sihon and his entire army to the Israelites, and they defeated Sihon. So the Israelites took possession of all the land of the Amorites who were living in that area.

22 They took possession of all the Amorite territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

23 "So now that the LORD, Israel's God, has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, will you take possession of their land?

24 Shouldn't you possess what Chemosh your god has given you to possess? And shouldn't we possess everything that the LORD our God has given us to possess?

25 Do you now have a better case than Moab's King Balak, Zippor's son? Did he make an accusation against the Israelites or go to war with them?

26 Why didn't you take back this territory while the Israelites lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the branches of the Arnon for three hundred years?

27 I haven't sinned against you, but you're doing me wrong by making war against me. Let the LORD, who is the judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites!"

28 But the Ammonite king refused to listen to the message that Jephthah sent to him.

29 Then the LORD's spirit came on Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he crossed over to the Ammonites.

30 Jephthah made a solemn promise to the LORD: "If you will decisively hand over the Ammonites to me,

31 then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return victorious from the Ammonites will be given over to the LORD. I will sacrifice it as an entirely burned offering."

32 Jephthah crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD handed them over to him.

33 It was an exceptionally great defeat; he defeated twenty towns from Aroer to the area of Minnith, and on as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were brought down before the Israelites.

34 But when Jephthah came to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was an only child; he had no other son or daughter except her.

35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Oh no! My daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You are my agony! For I opened my mouth to the LORD, and I can't take it back."

36 But she replied to him, "My father, you've opened your mouth to the LORD, so you should do to me just what you've promised. After all, the LORD has carried out just punishment for you on your enemies the Ammonites."

37 Then she said to her father, "Let this one thing be done for me: hold off for two months and let me and my friends wander the hills in sadness, crying over the fact that I never had children."

38 "Go," he responded, and he sent her away for two months. She and her friends walked on the hills and cried because she would never have children.

39 When two months had passed, she returned to her father, and he did to her what he had promised. She had not known a man intimately. But she gave rise to a tradition in Israel where

40 for four days every year Israelite daughters would go away to recount the story of the Gileadite Jephthah's daughter.

Judges 12

1 The Ephraimites were called up for battle and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight the Ammonites and not call us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over you!"

2 Jephthah replied to them, "My people and I were in a great conflict with the Ammonites. But when I cried out to you, you didn't rescue me from their power.

3 When I saw that you weren't going to rescue me, I risked my own life and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD handed them over to me. So why have you marched against me today to fight me?"

4 So Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought the Ephraimites. The Gileadites defeated the Ephraimites, because they had said, "You are fugitives from Ephraim! Gilead stands within Ephraim and Manasseh."

5 The Gileadites took control of the Jordan's crossing points into Ephraim. Whenever one of the Ephraimite fugitives said, "Let me cross," the Gileadites would ask him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No,"

6 they would tell him, "Then say shibboleth." But he would say, "sibboleth," because he couldn't pronounce it correctly. So they would seize him and kill him at the Jordan's crossing points. Forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell at that time.

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

8 After Jephthah, Ibzan from Bethlehem led Israel.

9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He married his thirty daughters to those outside his clan, and brought in thirty young women from outside for his sons. He led Israel for seven years.

10 Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

11 After Ibzan, Elon from Zebulun led Israel; he did so for ten years.

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

13 After Elon, Abdon, Hillel's son from Pirathon, led Israel.

14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons mounted on seventy donkeys. He led Israel for eight years.

15 Then Abdon, Hillel's son from Pirathon, died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the Amalekite highlands.

Judges 13

1 The Israelites again did things that the LORD saw as evil, and he handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, from the Danite clan, whose name was Manoah. His wife was unable to become pregnant and had not given birth to any children.

3 The LORD's messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, "Even though you've been unable to become pregnant and haven't given birth, you are now pregnant and will give birth to a son!

4 Now be careful not to drink wine or brandy or to eat anything that is ritually unclean,

5 because you are pregnant and will give birth to a son. Don't allow a razor to shave his head, because the boy is going to be a nazirite for God from birth. He'll be the one who begins Israel's rescue from the power of the Philistines."

6 Then the woman went and told her husband, "A man of God came to me, and he looked like God's messenger—very scary! I didn't ask him where he was from, and he didn't tell me his name.

7 He said to me, ‘You are pregnant and will give birth to a son, so don't drink wine or brandy or eat anything that is ritually unclean, because the boy is going to be a nazirite for God from birth until the day he dies.'"

8 Manoah asked the LORD, "Please, my Lord," he said, "let the man of God whom you sent come back to us once more, so he can teach us how we should treat the boy who is to be born."

9 God listened to Manoah, and God's messenger came once more to the woman. She was sitting in the field, but her husband Manoah wasn't with her.

10 So the woman hurriedly ran and informed her husband. She said to him, "The man who came to me the other day has just appeared to me."

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

12 Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what should be the rules for the boy and how he should act?"

13 The LORD's messenger answered Manoah, "The woman should be careful to do everything that I told her.

14 She must not consume anything that comes from the grapevine, drink wine or brandy, or eat anything that is ritually unclean. She must be careful to do everything I have commanded her."

15 Manoah said to the LORD's messenger, "Please let us persuade you to stay so we can prepare a young goat for you."

16 But the LORD's messenger replied to Manoah, "If you persuaded me to stay, I wouldn't eat your food. If you prepare an entirely burned offering, offer it to the LORD." Indeed, Manoah didn't know that he was the LORD's messenger.

17 Manoah said to the LORD's messenger, "What's your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?"

18 The LORD's messenger responded to him, "Why do you ask my name? You couldn't understand it."

19 So Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. While Manoah and his wife were looking, an amazing thing happened:

20 as the flame from the altar went up toward the sky, the LORD's messenger went up in the altar's flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground.

21 The LORD's messenger didn't reappear to Manoah or his wife, and Manoah then realized that it had been the LORD's messenger.

22 Manoah said to his wife, "We are certainly going to die, because we've seen God!"

23 But his wife replied to him, "If the LORD wanted to kill us, he wouldn't have accepted the entirely burned offering and grain offering from our hands. He wouldn't have shown us all these things or told us all of this now."

24 The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew up, and the LORD blessed him.

25 The LORD's spirit began to move him when he was in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges 14

1 Samson traveled down to Timnah. While he was in Timnah, a Philistine woman caught his eye.

2 He went back home and told his father and mother, "A Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye; now get her for me as a wife!"

3 But his father and mother replied to him, "Is there no woman among your own relatives or among all our people that you have to go get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" Yet Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she's the one I want!"

4 His father and mother didn't know that the LORD was behind this. He was looking for an opening with the Philistines, because they were ruling over Israel at that time.

5 Then Samson traveled down to Timnah with his father and mother. When he came to the vineyards in Timnah, suddenly a lone young lion came roaring to meet him.

6 The LORD's spirit rushed over him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one might tear apart a young goat. But he didn't tell his father or mother what he had done.

7 Then he traveled down and talked with the woman; she was the one Samson wanted.

8 After a while, he came back again to marry her. He turned aside to look at the lion's remains, and there was a swarm of bees with honey inside the lion's skeleton.

9 He scooped the honey into his hands, eating it as he continued along. When he got to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it too. But he didn't tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion's skeleton.

10 His father traveled down to the woman, and Samson put on a feast there, as was the custom for young men.

11 When the townspeople saw him, they selected thirty companions to be with him.

12 Then Samson said to them, "Let me tell you a riddle. If you can figure it out and tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I'll give you thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes.

13 But if you can't tell me the answer, then it's you who have to give me thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes." So they replied to him, "Tell your riddle; let's hear it."

14 He said to them, "Out of the eater there came something to eat. Out of the strong there came something sweet." For three days they couldn't tell the answer to the riddle.

15 On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Seduce your husband so he'll tell us the answer to the riddle, or else we'll set fire to you and your household. Were we invited here just to become poor?"

16 So Samson's wife cried on his shoulder and said, "You hate me! You don't love me! You told a riddle to my people but didn't tell me the answer." He replied to her, "Look, I haven't even told the answer to my father and mother. Why should I tell it to you?"

17 But she cried on his shoulder for the rest of the seven days of the feast. Finally, on the seventh day, he told her the answer, for she had nagged him. And she told her people the answer to the riddle.

18 So on the seventh day, before the sun set, the townspeople said to him, "What's sweeter than honey? What's stronger than a lion?" He replied to them, "If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have figured out my riddle!"

19 Then the LORD's spirit rushed over him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty of their men, stripped them of their gear, and gave the sets of clothes to the ones who had told the answer to the riddle. In anger, he went back up to his father's household.

20 And Samson's wife married one of those who had been his companions.

Judges 15

1 Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, bringing along a young goat. He said, "Let me go into my wife's bedroom." But her father wouldn't allow him to go in.

2 Her father said, "I was so sure that you had completely rejected her that I gave her in marriage to one of your companions. Don't you think her younger sister is even better? Let her be your wife instead."

3 Samson replied, "No one can blame me now for being ready to bring down trouble on the Philistines!"

4 Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails.

5 He lit the torches and released the foxes into the Philistines' grain fields. So he burned the stacked grain, standing grain, vineyards, and olive orchards.

6 The Philistines inquired, "Who did this?" So it was reported, "Samson the Timnite's son-in-law did it, because his father-in-law gave his wife in marriage to one of his companions." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.

7 Samson then responded to them, "If this is how you act, then I won't stop until I get revenge on you!"

8 He struck them hard, taking their legs right out from under them. Then he traveled down and stayed in a cave in the rock at Etam.

9 The Philistines marched up, made camp in Judah, and released their forces on Lehi.

10 The people of Judah asked, "Why have you marched up against us?" "We've marched up to take Samson prisoner," they replied, "and to do to him just what he did to us."

11 So three thousand people from Judah traveled down to the cave in the rock at Etam and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?" But he told them, "I did to them just what they did to me."

12 Then the people of Judah said to him, "We've come down to take you prisoner so we can turn you over to the Philistines." Samson responded to them, "Just promise that you won't attack me yourselves."

13 "We won't," they said to him. "We'll only take you prisoner so we can turn you over to them. We won't kill you." Then they tied him up with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

14 When Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines met him and came out shouting. The LORD's spirit rushed over him, the ropes on his arms became like burned-up linen, and the ties melted right off his hands.

15 He found a donkey's fresh jawbone, picked it up, and used it to attack one thousand men.

16 Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone, stacks on stacks! With a donkey's jawbone, I've killed one thousand men."

17 When he finished speaking, he tossed away the jawbone. So that place became known as Ramath-lehi.

18 Now Samson was very thirsty, so he called out to the LORD, "You are the one who allowed this great victory to be accomplished by your servant's hands. Am I now going to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"

19 So God split open the hollow rock in Lehi, and water flowed out of it. When Samson drank, his energy returned and he was recharged. Thus that place is still called by the name En-hakkore in Lehi today.

20 Samson led Israel for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.

Judges 16

1 One day Samson traveled to Gaza. While there, he saw a prostitute and had sex with her.

2 The word spread among the people of Gaza, "Samson has come here!" So they circled around and waited in ambush for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night long, thinking, We'll kill him at the first light in the morning.

3 But Samson slept only half the night. He got up in the middle of the night, grabbed the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, and pulled them up with the bar still across them. He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the hill that is beside Hebron.

4 Some time after this, in the Sorek Valley, Samson fell in love with a woman whose name was Delilah.

5 The rulers of the Philistines confronted her and said to her, "Seduce him and find out what gives him such great strength and what we can do to overpower him, so that we can tie him up and make him weak. Then we'll each pay you eleven hundred pieces of silver."

6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what gives you such great strength and how you can be tied up and made weak."

7 Samson replied to her, "If someone ties me up with seven fresh bowstrings that aren't dried out, I'll become weak. I'll be like any other person."

8 So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that weren't dried out, and she tied him up with them.

9 While an ambush was waiting for her signal in an inner room, she called out to him, "Samson, the Philistines are on you!" And he snapped the bowstrings like a thread of fiber snaps when it touches a flame. So the secret of his strength remained unknown.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You made a fool out of me and lied to me. Now please tell me how you can really be tied up!"

11 He replied to her, "If someone ties me up with new ropes that haven't been used for work, I'll become weak. I'll be like any other person."

12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them. Then she called out to him, "Samson, the Philistines are on you!" Once again, an ambush was waiting in an inner room. Yet he snapped them from his arms like thread.

13 And Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now, you've made a fool out of me and lied to me. Tell me how you can be tied up!" He responded to her, "If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on a loom and pull it tight with a pin, then I'll become weak. I'll be like any other person."

14 So she got him to fall asleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on a loom, and pulled it tight with a pin. Then she called out to him, "Samson, the Philistines are on you!" He woke up from his sleep and pulled loose the pin, the loom, and the fabric.

15 Delilah said to him, "How can you say, ‘I love you,' when you won't trust me? Three times now you've made a fool out of me and not told me what gives you such great strength!"

16 She nagged him with her words day after day and begged him until he became worn out to the point of death.

17 So he told her his whole secret. He said to her, "No razor has ever touched my head, because I've been a nazirite for God from the time I was born. If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me, and I'll become weak. I'll be like every other person."

18 When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come one more time, for he has told me his whole secret." The rulers of the Philistines came up to her and brought the silver with them.

19 She got him to fall asleep with his head on her lap. Then she called a man and had him shave off the seven braids of Samson's hair. He began to weaken, and his strength left him.

20 She called out, "Samson, the Philistines are on you!" He woke up from his sleep and thought, I'll escape just like the other times and shake myself free. But he didn't realize that the LORD had left him.

21 So the Philistines captured him, put out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze chains, and he worked the grinding mill in the prison.

22 But the hair on his head began to grow again right after it had been shaved.

23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered together to make a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to hold a celebration. They cheered, "Our god has handed us Samson our enemy!"

24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has handed us our enemy, the very one who devastated our land and killed so many of our people."

25 At the height of the celebration, they said, "Call for Samson so he can perform for us!" So they called Samson from the prison, and he performed in front of them. Then they had him stand between the pillars.

26 Samson said to the young man who led him by the hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that hold up the temple, so I can lean on them."

27 Now the temple was filled with men and women. All the rulers of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand more men and women were on the roof watching as Samson performed.

28 Then Samson called out to the LORD, "LORD God, please remember me! Make me strong just this once more, God, so I can have revenge on the Philistines, just one act of revenge for my two eyes."

29 Samson grabbed the two central pillars that held up the temple. He leaned against one with his right hand and the other with his left.

30 And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" He strained with all his might, and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people who were in it. So it turned out that he killed more people in his death than he did during his life.

31 His brothers and his father's entire household traveled down, carried him back up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had led Israel for twenty years.

Judges 17

1 Once there was a man named Micah who lived in the Ephraim highlands.

2 He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you led you to declare a curse and even to repeat it when I could hear. I have that silver. I'm the one who took it, and now I'll give it back to you." His mother replied, "May the LORD bless you, my son!"

3 When he gave the eleven hundred pieces of silver back to his mother, she said, "I wholeheartedly devote this silver to the LORD, to be made into a sculpted image and a molded image for my son."

4 So he gave the silver back to his mother, and she took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used it for a sculpted image and a molded image. And they were placed in Micah's house.

5 This man Micah had his own sanctuary. He made a priestly vest and divine images and appointed one of his sons to be his personal priest.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel; each person did what they thought to be right.

7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the area of the Judahite clan. He was a Levite residing there as an immigrant.

8 The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle as an immigrant wherever he could find a place. He came to Micah's house in the Ephraim highlands while he was making his way.

9 "Where are you from?" Micah asked him. He replied, "I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm looking to settle as an immigrant anywhere I can find a place."

10 So Micah said to him, "Stay with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I'll give you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your basic needs."

11 The Levite agreed to stay with him; and the young man became like one of his own sons.

12 Micah appointed the Levite so that the young man became his personal priest and lived in Micah's sanctuary.

13 And Micah said to himself, Now I know that the LORD will give me good things, because a Levite has become my priest.

Judges 18

1 In those days there was no king in Israel. Also in those days the tribe of Dan was searching for a territory of their own to live in, since no permanent territory had been assigned to them among the tribes of Israel up to that point.

2 The Danites sent five men from their whole clan, strong men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy on the land and explore it. They told them, "Go explore the land." So they went into the Ephraim highland as far as Micah's house, and they spent the night there.

3 When they were in the area of Micah's house, they recognized the accent of the young Levite. They turned in there and said to him, "Who brought you here? What are you doing in these parts? What is there for you here?"

4 "Micah has done a lot for me," he replied to them. "He hired me to be his personal priest."

5 They said to him, "Ask for an answer from God so we can know whether we'll be successful on this trip we've taken."

6 The priest replied to them, "Go in peace. The LORD is watching over you on this trip you've taken."

7 So the five men journeyed on until they reached Laish. There they saw that its people were living without worry in the same way as the Sidonians, undisturbed and secure. Nobody held back anything in the land, so no one had to hoard. Yet they lived far away from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone else.

8 When the men came back to their relatives at Zorah and Eshtaol, they asked them, "What did you find?"

9 "Come on," they replied, "let's march up against them! Indeed, we've seen the land, and it's very good. Right now you're doing nothing! Don't hold back from going and taking possession of the land.

10 When you arrive, you'll come upon a secure people and a wide-open land, because God has given to you a place where nothing on earth is lacking."

11 At this, six hundred men from the Danite clan at Zorah and Eshtaol set out armed for battle.

12 They marched up and made camp at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath-jearim is still known as Dan's Camp today.

13 From there they crossed into the Ephraim highlands and came to Micah's house.

14 Then the five men who had gone to spy on the land around Laish reported to their relatives, "Did you know that there is a priestly vest, divine images, a sculpted image, and a molded image in these buildings? Now think about what you should do!"

15 So they turned in there and went to the young Levite's house in Micah's compound and greeted him.

16 While the six hundred Danites armed for battle stood at the entrance of the gate,

17 the five men who had gone to spy on the land moved up, went inside, and took the sculpted image, the priestly vest, the divine images, and the molded image. The priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed for battle

18 when these five entered Micah's sanctuary and took the sculpted image, the priestly vest, the divine images, and the molded image. The priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

19 "Shut up!" they said to him. "Put your hand over your mouth! Come with us and be a father and a priest for us. Would you rather be a priest for one man's household or a priest for a tribe and a clan in Israel?"

20 The priest was convinced, so he took the priestly vest, the divine images, and the sculpted image and went along with the people.

21 They headed back on their way, but they put the children, the livestock, and the prized possessions in front of them.

22 After they had gone a good distance away from Micah's house, the men who were in the houses around Micah's home were summoned for battle and caught up to the Danites.

23 They called out to the Danites, who turned around and said to Micah, "Why have you summoned men for battle?"

24 Micah replied, "You've taken my gods that I made, and the priest, and have gone off! What do I have left? How can you ask me what is wrong?"

25 But the Danites said to him, "Don't raise your voice with us or else hotheaded men will attack you, and you and your household will lose your lives."

26 Then the Danites went on their way. When Micah realized that they were too strong for him, he turned around and went home.

27 The Danites took along the things that Micah had made, as well as the priest who had been with him, and came to Laish, to a people who were undisturbed and secure. They killed the people and burned down the city.

28 No one was there to rescue them because the city was far away from Sidon and had no dealings with anyone else. It was in the Beth-rehob Valley. They rebuilt the city and settled in it.

29 They renamed the city Dan, after their ancestor Dan who had been one of Israel's sons; but in fact, the original name of the city was Laish.

30 The Danites set up the sculpted image for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom and grandson of Moses, and his sons became priests for the Danite tribe until the land went into exile.

31 They kept for themselves the sculpted image that Micah had made throughout the whole time that God's sanctuary was in Shiloh.