Judges
1:1It happened after the death of
Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, Who shall go up
for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? 1:2Yahweh said, Judah shall go up:
behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. 1:3Judah said
to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight
against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot. So
Simeon went with him. 1:4Judah went up; and Yahweh
delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they
struck of them in Bezek ten thousand men. 1:5They found
Adoni-bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck the
Canaanites and the Perizzites. 1:6But Adoni-bezek fled; and they
pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great
toes. 1:7Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy
kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their
food under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me."
They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. 1:8The children
of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it with the
edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 1:9Afterward
the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived
in the hill-country, and in the South, and in the lowland. 1:10Judah went against the Canaanites
who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba); and
they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. 1:11From there
he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir before
was Kiriath Sepher.) 1:12Caleb said, He who strikes
Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as
wife. 1:13Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's
younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 1:14It happened, when she came to
him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she alighted
from off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, What would you? 1:15She said to him, Give me a
blessing; for that you have set me in the land of the South, give me also
springs of water. Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
1:16The children of the Kenite,
Moses' brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the
children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of
Arad; and they went and lived with the people. 1:17Judah went
with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited
Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.
1:18Also Judah took Gaza with the
border of it, and Ashkelon with the border of it, and Ekron with the
border of it. 1:19Yahweh was with Judah; and drove
out the inhabitants of the hill-country; for he could not drive out
the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 1:20They gave Hebron to Caleb, as
Moses had spoken: and he drove out there the three sons of Anak. 1:21The children of Benjamin did not
drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell
with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. 1:22The house of Joseph, they also
went up against Bethel; and Yahweh was with them. 1:23The house
of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was
Luz.) 1:24The watchers saw a man come forth
out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, we pray you, the entrance
into the city, and we will deal kindly with you. 1:25He shown
them the entrance into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of
the sword; but they let the man go and all his family. 1:26The man went into the land of the
Hittites, and built a city, and called the name of it Luz, which is the
name of it to this day. 1:27Manasseh did not drive out the
inhabitants of Beth-shean and its towns, nor of Taanach and its
towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of
Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but
the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 1:28It
happened, when Israel had grown strong, that they put the Canaanites to
forced labor, and did not utterly drive them out. 1:29Ephraim
didn't drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites
lived in Gezer among them. 1:30Zebulun didn't drive out the
inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites
lived among them, and became subject to forced labor. 1:31Asher didn't drive out the
inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of
Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob; 1:32but the
Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for
they did not drive them out. 1:33Naphtali didn't drive out the
inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he
lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the
inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced
labor. 1:34The Amorites forced the children
of Dan into the hill-country; for they would not allow them to come down
to the valley; 1:35but the Amorites would dwell in
Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of
Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor. 1:36The border of the Amorites was
from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.
2:1The angel of Yahweh came up from
Gilgal to Bochim. He said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have
brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will
never break my covenant with you: 2:2and you
shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break
down their altars. But you have not listened to my voice: why have you
done this? 2:3Therefore I also said, I will not
drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your
sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you. 2:4It happened,
when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the children of Israel,
that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 2:5They called
the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to Yahweh. 2:6Now when Joshua had sent the
people away, the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to
possess the land. 2:7The people served Yahweh all the
days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who
had seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had worked for Israel. 2:8Joshua the son of Nun, the servant
of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old. 2:9They buried
him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country
of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. 2:10Also all
that generation were gathered to their fathers: and there arose another
generation after them, who didn't know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he
had worked for Israel. 2:11The children of Israel did that
which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baals; 2:12and they forsook Yahweh, the God
of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed
other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were round about them, and
bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked Yahweh to anger. 2:13They forsook Yahweh, and served
Baal and the Ashtaroth. 2:14The anger of Yahweh was kindled
against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers who
despoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round
about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. 2:15Wherever they went out, the hand
of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as Yahweh
had sworn to them: and they were sore distressed. 2:16Yahweh
raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled
them. 2:17Yet they didn't listen to their
judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed
themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which
their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Yahweh; but they
didn't do so. 2:18When Yahweh raised them up
judges, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of
their enemies all the days of the judge: for it grieved Yahweh because of
their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and vexed them. 2:19But it happened, when the judge
was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their
fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them;
they didn't cease from their doings, nor from their stubborn way. 2:20The anger of Yahweh was kindled
against Israel; and he said, Because this nation have transgressed my
covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to my
voice; 2:21I also will not henceforth drive
out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died; 2:22that by them I may prove Israel,
whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk therein, as their fathers
did keep it, or not. 2:23So Yahweh left those nations,
without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand
of Joshua.
3:1Now these are the nations which
Yahweh left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had
not known all the wars of Canaan; 3:2only that
the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war,
at the least such as before knew nothing of it: 3:3namely, the five lords of
the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the
Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance
of Hamath. 3:4They were left, to prove
Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of
Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses. 3:5The children
of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and
the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: 3:6and they
took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to
their sons and served their gods. 3:7The children
of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and forgot
Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth. 3:8Therefore the anger of Yahweh was
kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan
Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan
Rishathaim eight years. 3:9When the children of Israel cried
to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved
them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 3:10The Spirit of Yahweh came on him,
and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan
Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed
against Cushan Rishathaim. 3:11The land had rest forty years.
Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 3:12The children of Israel again did
that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh strengthened Eglon
the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil
in the sight of Yahweh. 3:13He gathered to him the children
of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the
city of palm trees. 3:14The children of Israel served
Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. 3:15But when
the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised them up a savior,
Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed. The children of
Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 3:16Ehud made him a sword which had
two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his
right thigh. 3:17He offered the tribute to Eglon
king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man. 3:18When he had
made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people who bore the
tribute. 3:19But he himself turned back from
the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to you,
king. He said, Keep silence. All who stood by him went out from him. 3:20Ehud came to him; and he was
sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, I have a
message from God to you. He arose out of his seat. 3:21Ehud put
forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust
it into his body: 3:22and the haft also went in after
the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn't draw the sword
out of his body; and it came out behind. 3:23Then Ehud
went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him,
and locked them. 3:24Now when he was gone out, his
servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the upper room were
locked; and they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper
chamber. 3:25They waited until they were
ashamed; and, behold, he didn't open the doors of the upper room:
therefore they took the key, and opened them, and, behold, their
lord was fallen down dead on the earth. 3:26Ehud
escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to
Seirah. 3:27It happened, when he had come,
that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of
Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he before them. 3:28He said to them, Follow after me;
for Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. They
went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the
Moabites, and didn't allow a man to pass over. 3:29They struck
of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every
man of valor; and there escaped not a man. 3:30So Moab was
subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The land had rest eighty years.
3:31After him was Shamgar the son of
Anath, who struck of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: and
he also saved Israel.
4:1The children of Israel again did
that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, when Ehud was dead. 4:2Yahweh sold them into the hand of
Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was
Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 4:3The children
of Israel cried to Yahweh: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and
twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. 4:4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the
wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 4:5She lived
under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the
hill-country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for
judgment. 4:6She sent and called Barak the son
of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Hasn't Yahweh, the God
of Israel, commanded, saying, Go and draw to Mount Tabor, and take
with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children
of Zebulun? 4:7I will draw to you, to the river
Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his
multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand. 4:8Barak said
to her, If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go
with me, I will not go. 4:9She said, I will surely go with
you: notwithstanding, the journey that you take shall not be for your
honor; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Deborah
arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. 4:10Barak
called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten
thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him. 4:11Now Heber the Kenite had
separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the
brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in
Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh. 4:12They told Sisera that Barak the
son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. 4:13Sisera
gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron,
and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to
the river Kishon. 4:14Deborah said to Barak, Up; for
this is the day in which Yahweh has delivered Sisera into your hand;
hasn't Yahweh gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor,
and ten thousand men after him. 4:15Yahweh
confused Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of
the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot, and fled
away on his feet. 4:16But Barak pursued after the
chariots, and after the host, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the
host of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left. 4:17However Sisera fled away on his
feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace
between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 4:18Jael went out to meet Sisera, and
said to him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don't be afraid. He came in
to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 4:19He said to her, Please give me a
little water to drink; for I am thirsty. She opened a bottle of milk, and
gave him drink, and covered him. 4:20He said to
her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man does
come and inquire of you, and say, Is there any man here? that you shall
say, No. 4:21Then Jael Heber's wife took a
tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and
struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground;
for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died. 4:22Behold, as
Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come,
and I will show you the man whom you seek. He came to her; and, behold,
Sisera lay dead, and the tent-pin was in his temples. 4:23So God subdued on that day Jabin
the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. 4:24The hand of
the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of
Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
5:1Then sang Deborah and Barak the
son of Abinoam on that day, saying,
5:2For that the leaders took the lead
in Israel,
For that the people offered themselves willingly,
Bless you Yahweh.
5:3Hear, you kings; give ear, you
princes;
I, even I, will sing to Yahweh;
I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
5:4Yahweh, when you went forth out of
Seir,
When you marched out of the field of Edom,
The earth trembled, the sky also dropped,
Yes, the clouds dropped water.
5:5The mountains quaked at the
presence of Yahweh,
Even yon Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
5:6In the days of Shamgar the son of
Anath,
In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied,
The travelers walked through byways.
5:7The rulers ceased in Israel, they
ceased,
Until that I Deborah arose,
That I arose a mother in Israel.
5:8They chose new gods;
Then was war in the gates:
Was there a shield or spear seen
Among forty thousand in Israel?
5:9My heart is toward the governors
of Israel,
Who offered themselves willingly among the people:
Bless you Yahweh.
5:10Tell of it, you who ride
on white donkeys,
You who sit on rich carpets,
You who walk by the way.
5:11Far from the noise of archers, in
the places of drawing water,
There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of Yahweh,
Even the righteous acts of his rule in Israel.
Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates.
5:12Awake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, utter a song:
Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.
5:13Then came down a remnant of the
nobles and the people;
Yahweh came down for me against the mighty.
5:14Out of Ephraim came down
they whose root is in Amalek;
After you, Benjamin, among your peoples;
Out of Machir came down governors,
Out of Zebulun those who handle the marshal's staff.
5:15The princes of Issachar were with
Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet.
By the watercourses of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
5:16Why sat you among the sheepfolds,
To hear the whistling for the flocks?
At the watercourses of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
5:17Gilead abode beyond the Jordan:
Dan, why did he remain in ships?
Asher sat still at the haven of the sea,
Abode by his creeks.
5:18Zebulun was a people that
jeopardized their lives to the death,
Naphtali, on the high places of the field.
5:19The kings came and fought;
Then fought the kings of Canaan.
In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo:
They took no gain of money.
5:20From the sky the stars fought,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
5:21The river Kishon swept them away,
That ancient river, the river Kishon.
My soul, march on with strength.
5:22Then did the horse hoofs stamp
By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones.
5:23Curse you Meroz, said the angel
of Yahweh.
Curse you bitterly the inhabitants of it,
Because they didn't come to the help of Yahweh,
To the help of Yahweh against the mighty.
5:24Blessed above women shall Jael be,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
5:25He asked water, and she
gave him milk;
She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
5:26She put her hand to the tent-pin,
Her right hand to the workmen's hammer;
With the hammer she struck Sisera, she struck through his head;
Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples.
5:27At her feet he bowed, he fell, he
lay;
At her feet he bowed, he fell;
Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.
5:28Through the window she looked
forth, and cried,
The mother of Sisera cried through the lattice,
Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why do the wheels of his chariots wait?
5:29Her wise ladies answered her,
Yes, she returned answer to herself,
5:30Have they not found, have they
not divided the spoil?
A lady, two ladies to every man;
To Sisera a spoil of dyed garments,
A spoil of dyed garments embroidered,
Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the
spoil?
5:31So let all your enemies perish,
Yahweh:
But let those who love him be as the sun when he goes forth in
his might.
The land had rest forty years.
6:1The children of Israel did that
which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh delivered them into the
hand of Midian seven years. 6:2The hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made them the
dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. 6:3So it was, when Israel had sown,
that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the
east; they came up against them; 6:4and they
encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you
come to Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor
donkey. 6:5For they came up with their cattle
and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and
their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy
it. 6:6Israel was brought very low
because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to Yahweh. 6:7It happened, when the children of
Israel cried to Yahweh because of Midian, 6:8that Yahweh
sent a prophet to the children of Israel: and he said to them, Thus says
Yahweh, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you
forth out of the house of bondage; 6:9and I
delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all
who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their
land; 6:10and I said to you, I am Yahweh
your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you
dwell. But you have not listened to my voice. 6:11The angel
of Yahweh came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained
to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the
winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 6:12The angel
of Yahweh appeared to him, and said to him, Yahweh is with you, you mighty
man of valor. 6:13Gideon said to him, Oh, my lord,
if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? and where are
all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not
Yahweh bring us up from Egypt? but now Yahweh has cast us off, and
delivered us into the hand of Midian. 6:14Yahweh
looked at him, and said, Go in this your might, and save Israel from the
hand of Midian: have not I sent you? 6:15He said to
him, Oh, Lord, with which shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the
poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 6:16Yahweh said to him, Surely I will
be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. 6:17He said to him, If now I have
found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk
with me. 6:18Please don't go away, until I
come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you. He said, I
will wait until you come again. 6:19Gideon went
in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the
flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it
out to him under the oak, and presented it. 6:20The angel
of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them
on this rock, and pour out the broth. He did so. 6:21Then the
angel of Yahweh put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and
touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of
the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel
of Yahweh departed out of his sight. 6:22Gideon saw
that he was the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said, Alas, Lord Yahweh!
because I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face. 6:23Yahweh said to him, Peace be to
you; don't be afraid: you shall not die. 6:24Then Gideon
built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it Yahweh-shalom: to this day
it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 6:25It happened
the same night, that Yahweh said to him, Take your father's bull, even the
second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your
father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it; 6:26and build
an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly
manner, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood
of the Asherah which you shall cut down. 6:27Then Gideon
took ten men of his servants, and did as Yahweh had spoken to him: and it
happened, because he feared his father's household and the men of the
city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. 6:28When the men of the city arose
early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the
Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on
the altar that was built. 6:29They said one to another, Who has
done this thing? When they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son
of Joash has done this thing. 6:30Then the men of the city said to
Joash, Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the
altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it. 6:31Joash said to all who stood
against him, Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? he who will
contend for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning:
if he be a god, let him contend for himself, because one has broken down
his altar. 6:32Therefore on that day he named
him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken
down his altar. 6:33Then all the Midianites and the
Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and
they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 6:34But the Spirit of Yahweh came on
Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after
him. 6:35He sent messengers throughout all
Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent
messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to
meet them. 6:36Gideon said to God, If you will
save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken, 6:37behold, I
will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there be dew on the
fleece only, and it be dry on all the ground, then shall I know that you
will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken. 6:38It was so;
for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and
wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. 6:39Gideon said to God, Don't let
your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: Please
let me make a trial just this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only
on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew. 6:40God did so that night: for it was
dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
7:1Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and
all the people who were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the
spring of Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by
the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 7:2Yahweh said
to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for me to give the
Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me,
saying, My own hand has saved me. 7:3Now
therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful
and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead. There returned
of the people twenty-two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 7:4Yahweh said to Gideon, The people
are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for
you there: and it shall be, that of whom I tell you, This shall go with
you, the same shall go with you; and of whoever I tell you, This shall not
go with you, the same shall not go. 7:5So he
brought down the people to the water: and Yahweh said to Gideon, Everyone
who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him shall you set by
himself; likewise everyone who bows down on his knees to drink. 7:6The number of those who lapped,
putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest
of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water. 7:7Yahweh said to Gideon, By the
three hundred men who lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites
into your hand; and let all the people go every man to his place. 7:8So the people took food in their
hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man to
his tent, but retained the three hundred men: and the camp of Midian was
beneath him in the valley. 7:9It happened the same night, that
Yahweh said to him, Arise, get you down into the camp; for I have
delivered it into your hand. 7:10But if you fear to go down, go
you with Purah your servant down to the camp: 7:11and you
shall hear what they say; and afterward shall your hands be strengthened
to go down into the camp. Then went he down with Purah his servant to the
outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp. 7:12The Midianites and the Amalekites
and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for
multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is on
the sea-shore for multitude. 7:13When Gideon had come, behold,
there was a man telling a dream to his fellow; and he said, Behold, I
dreamed a dream; and, behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp
of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned
it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. 7:14His fellow
answered, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash,
a man of Israel: into his hand God has delivered Midian, and all the host.
7:15It was so, when Gideon heard the
telling of the dream, and the interpretation of it, that he worshiped; and
he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, Arise; for Yahweh has
delivered into your hand the host of Midian. 7:16He divided
the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of
all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the
pitchers. 7:17He said to them, Look on me, and
do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp,
it shall be that, as I do, so shall you do. 7:18When I blow
the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow you the trumpets also on
every side of all the camp, and say, For Yahweh and for Gideon. 7:19So Gideon, and the hundred men
who were with him, came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning
of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew
the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.
7:20The three companies blew the
trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left
hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they
cried, The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon. 7:21They stood
every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran; and
they shouted, and put them to flight. 7:22They blew
the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every man's sword against his
fellow, and against all the host; and the host fled as far as Beth-shittah
toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. 7:23The men of Israel were gathered
together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and
pursued after Midian. 7:24Gideon sent messengers throughout
all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and
take before them the waters, as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan. So all
the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and took the waters as far as
Beth Barah, even the Jordan. 7:25They took the two princes of
Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb
they killed at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian: and they brought
the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.
8:1The men of Ephraim said to him,
Why have you served us thus, that you didn't call us, when you went to
fight with Midian? They did chide with him sharply. 8:2He said to
them, What have I now done in comparison with you? Isn't the gleaning of
the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 8:3God has delivered into your hand
the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in
comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had
said that. 8:4Gideon came to the Jordan,
and passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him,
faint, yet pursuing. 8:5He said to the men of Succoth,
Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me; for they are
faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. 8:6The princes of Succoth said, Are
the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give
bread to your army? 8:7Gideon said, Therefore when Yahweh
has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh
with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. 8:8He went up
there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner; and the men of Penuel
answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. 8:9He spoke
also to the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will
break down this tower. 8:10Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in
Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who
were left of all the host of the children of the east; for there fell one
hundred twenty thousand men who drew sword. 8:11Gideon went
up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and
Jogbehah, and struck the host; for the host was secure. 8:12Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he
pursued after them; and he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and
Zalmunna, and confused all the host. 8:13Gideon the
son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres. 8:14He caught a young man of the men
of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described for him the princes of
Succoth, and the elders of it, seventy-seven men. 8:15He came to
the men of Succoth, and said, See Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you
did taunt me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your
hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary? 8:16He took the elders of the city,
and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men
of Succoth. 8:17He broke down the tower of
Penuel, and killed the men of the city. 8:18Then said
he to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom you killed at
Tabor? They answered, As you are, so were they; each one resembled the
children of a king. 8:19He said, They were my brothers,
the sons of my mother: as Yahweh lives, if you had saved them alive, I
would not kill you. 8:20He said to Jether his firstborn,
Up, and kill them. But the youth didn't draw his sword; for he feared,
because he was yet a youth. 8:21Then Zebah and Zalmunna said,
Rise you, and fall on us; for as the man is, so is his strength. Gideon
arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on
their camels' necks. 8:22Then the men of Israel said to
Gideon, Rule you over us, both you, and your son, and your son's son also;
for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian. 8:23Gideon said
to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you:
Yahweh shall rule over you. 8:24Gideon said to them, I would make
a request of you, that you would give me every man the ear-rings of his
spoil. (For they had golden ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 8:25They answered, We will willingly
give them. They spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the
ear-rings of his spoil. 8:26The weight of the golden
ear-rings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred
shekels of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the
purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains
that were about their camels' necks. 8:27Gideon made
an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel
played the prostitute after it there; and it became a snare to Gideon, and
to his house. 8:28So Midian was subdued before the
children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. The land had
rest forty years in the days of Gideon. 8:29Jerubbaal
the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. 8:30Gideon had
seventy sons conceived from his body; for he had many wives. 8:31His concubine who was in Shechem,
she also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. 8:32Gideon the
son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash
his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 8:33It
happened, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned
again, and played the prostitute after the Baals, and made Baal Berith
their god. 8:34The children of Israel didn't
remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all
their enemies on every side; 8:35neither shown they kindness to
the house of Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, according to all the
goodness which he had shown to Israel.
9:1Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal
went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, and spoke with them, and with
all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, 9:2Please speak in the ears of all
the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, that all the sons of
Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over
you? Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. 9:3His mother's brothers spoke of him
in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts
inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother. 9:4They gave him seventy
pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which
Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him. 9:5He went to his father's house at
Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy
persons, on one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left;
for he hid himself. 9:6All the men of Shechem assembled
themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made
Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem. 9:7When they told it to Jotham, he
went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and
cried, and said to them, Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may
listen to you. 9:8The trees went forth on a time to
anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive tree, Reign you over
us. 9:9But the olive tree said to them,
Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honor God and man, and go
to wave back and forth over the trees? 9:10The trees
said to the fig tree, Come you, and reign over us. 9:11But the fig
tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go
to wave back and forth over the trees? 9:12The trees
said to the vine, Come you, and reign over us. 9:13The vine
said to them, Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go
to wave back and forth over the trees? 9:14Then said
all the trees to the bramble, Come you, and reign over us. 9:15The bramble said to the trees, If
in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my
shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars
of Lebanon. 9:16Now therefore, if you have dealt
truly and righteously, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you
have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him
according to the deserving of his hands 9:17(for my
father fought for you, and adventured his life, and delivered you out of
the hand of Midian: 9:18and you are risen up against my
father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one
stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king over the
men of Shechem, because he is your brother); 9:19if you then
have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house this
day, then rejoice you in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: 9:20but if not, let fire come out
from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and
let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo,
and devour Abimelech. 9:21Jotham ran away, and fled, and
went to Beer, and lived there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. 9:22Abimelech was prince over Israel
three years. 9:23God sent an evil spirit between
Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt
treacherously with Abimelech: 9:24that the violence done to the
seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid
on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem,
who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. 9:25The men of
Shechem set liers-in-wait for him on the tops of the mountains, and they
robbed all who came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech. 9:26Gaal the son of Ebed came with
his brothers, and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their
trust in him. 9:27They went out into the field, and
gathered their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and held festival,
and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed
Abimelech. 9:28Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is
Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn't he the son
of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve you the men of Hamor the father
of Shechem: but why should we serve him? 9:29Would that
this people were under my hand! then would I remove Abimelech. He said to
Abimelech, Increase your army, and come out. 9:30When Zebul
the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger
was kindled. 9:31He sent messengers to Abimelech
craftily, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers are come
to Shechem; and, behold, they constrain the city to take part
against you. 9:32Now therefore, up by night, you
and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field: 9:33and it shall be, that in the
morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early, and rush on the
city; and, behold, when he and the people who are with him come out
against you, then may you do to them as you shall find occasion. 9:34Abimelech rose up, and all the
people who were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in
four companies. 9:35Gaal the son of Ebed went out,
and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up,
and the people who were with him, from the ambush. 9:36When Gaal
saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the
tops of the mountains. Zebul said to him, You see the shadow of the
mountains as if they were men. 9:37Gaal spoke again and said,
Behold, there come people down by the middle of the land, and one company
comes by the way of the oak of Meonenim. 9:38Then said
Zebul to him, Where is now your mouth, that you said, Who is Abimelech,
that we should serve him? is not this the people that you have despised?
go out now, I pray, and fight with them. 9:39Gaal went
out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. 9:40Abimelech chased him, and he fled
before him, and there fell many wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.
9:41Abimelech lived at Arumah: and
Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, that they should not dwell in
Shechem. 9:42It happened on the next day, that
the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. 9:43He took the people, and divided
them into three companies, and laid wait in the field; and he looked, and,
behold, the people came forth out of the city; He rose up against them,
and struck them. 9:44Abimelech, and the companies that
were with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of
the city: and the two companies rushed on all who were in the field, and
struck them. 9:45Abimelech fought against the city
all that day; and he took the city, and killed the people who were
therein: and he beat down the city, and sowed it with salt. 9:46When all the men of the tower of
Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of
Elberith. 9:47It was told Abimelech that all
the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. 9:48Abimelech got him up to Mount
Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an axe
in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid
it on his shoulder: and he said to the people who were with him, What you
have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done. 9:49All the
people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and
put them to the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire on them; so
that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men
and women. 9:50Then went Abimelech to Thebez,
and encamped against Thebez, and took it. 9:51But there
was a strong tower within the city, and there fled all the men and women,
and all they of the city, and shut themselves in, and got them up to the
roof of the tower. 9:52Abimelech came to the tower, and
fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with
fire. 9:53A certain woman cast an upper
millstone on Abimelech's head, and broke his skull. 9:54Then he
called hastily to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, Draw
your sword, and kill me, that men not say of me, A woman killed him. His
young man thrust him through, and he died. 9:55When the
men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his
place. 9:56Thus God requited the wickedness
of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in killing his seventy brothers;
9:57and all the wickedness of the men
of Shechem did God requite on their heads: and on them came the curse of
Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.
10:1After Abimelech there arose to
save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and
he lived in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim. 10:2He judged
Israel twenty-three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. 10:3After him arose Jair, the
Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. 10:4He had
thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty cities,
which are called Havvoth Jair to this day, which are in the land of
Gilead. 10:5Jair died, and was buried in
Kamon. 10:6The children of Israel again did
that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baals, and the
Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of
Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the
Philistines; and they forsook Yahweh, and didn't serve him. 10:7The anger of Yahweh was kindled
against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and
into the hand of the children of Ammon. 10:8They vexed
and oppressed the children of Israel that year: eighteen years
oppressed they all the children of Israel that were beyond the
Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 10:9The children of Ammon passed over
the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against
the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed. 10:10The children of Israel cried to
Yahweh, saying, We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken
our God, and have served the Baals. 10:11Yahweh
said to the children of Israel, Didn't I save you from the Egyptians, and
from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
10:12The Sidonians also, and the
Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and you cried to me, and I
saved you out of their hand. 10:13Yet you have forsaken me, and
served other gods: therefore I will save you no more. 10:14Go and cry to the gods which you
have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress. 10:15The children of Israel said to
Yahweh, We have sinned: do you to us whatever seems good to you; only
deliver us, we pray you, this day. 10:16They put
away the foreign gods from among them, and served Yahweh; and his soul was
grieved for the misery of Israel. 10:17Then the
children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. The
children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpah.
10:18The people, the princes of
Gilead, said one to another, What man is he who will begin to fight
against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants
of Gilead.
11:1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a
mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a prostitute: and Gilead became
the father of Jephthah. 11:2Gilead's wife bore him sons; and
when his wife's sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said to him,
You shall not inherit in our father's house; for you are the son of
another woman. 11:3Then Jephthah fled from his
brothers, and lived in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain
fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him. 11:4It happened
after a while, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 11:5It was so, that when the children
of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get
Jephthah out of the land of Tob; 11:6and they
said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the
children of Ammon. 11:7Jephthah said to the elders of
Gilead, Didn't you hate me, and drive me out of my father's house? and why
are you come to me now when you are in distress? 11:8The elders
of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore are we turned again to you now, that
you may go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon; and you shall be
our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. 11:9Jephthah
said to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me home again to fight with the
children of Ammon, and Yahweh deliver them before me, shall I be your
head? 11:10The elders of Gilead said to
Jephthah, Yahweh shall be witness between us; surely according to your
word so will we do. 11:11Then Jephthah went with the
elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them: and
Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah. 11:12Jephthah sent messengers to the
king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have you to do with me, that
you are come to me to fight against my land? 11:13The king
of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because
Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon
even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan: now therefore restore those
lands again peaceably. 11:14Jephthah sent messengers again
to the king of the children of Ammon; 11:15and he
said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel didn't take away the land of Moab,
nor the land of the children of Ammon, 11:16but when
they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red
Sea, and came to Kadesh; 11:17then Israel sent messengers to
the king of Edom, saying, Please let me pass through your land; but the
king of Edom didn't listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab;
but he would not: and Israel abode in Kadesh. 11:18Then they
went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the
land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they
encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn't come within the
border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 11:19Israel sent messengers to Sihon
king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us
pass, we pray you, through your land to my place. 11:20But Sihon
didn't trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his
people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 11:21Yahweh, the God of Israel,
delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they
struck them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the
inhabitants of that country. 11:22They possessed all the border of
the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness
even to the Jordan. 11:23So now Yahweh, the God of
Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and
should you possess them? 11:24Won't you possess that which
Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has
dispossessed from before us, them will we possess. 11:25Now are
you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he
ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? 11:26While Israel lived in Heshbon
and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are
along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; why didn't you
recover them within that time? 11:27I
therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against
me: Yahweh, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel
and the children of Ammon. 11:28However the king of the children
of Ammon didn't listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him. 11:29Then the Spirit of Yahweh came
on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over
Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the children
of Ammon. 11:30Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh,
and said, If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
11:31then it shall be, that whatever
comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace
from the children of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh's, and I will offer it up
for a burnt offering. 11:32So Jephthah passed over to the
children of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh delivered them into
his hand. 11:33He struck them from Aroer until
you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very
great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children
of Israel. 11:34Jephthah came to Mizpah to his
house; and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and
with dances: and she was his only child; besides her he had neither son
nor daughter. 11:35It happened, when he saw her,
that he tore his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! you have brought me
very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my
mouth to Yahweh, and I can't go back. 11:36She said
to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to Yahweh; do to me
according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, because Yahweh
has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of
Ammon. 11:37She said to her father, Let this
thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may depart and go
down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions. 11:38He said, Go. He sent her away
for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her
virginity on the mountains. 11:39It happened at the end of two
months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to his
vow which he had vowed: and she was a virgin. It was a custom in Israel,
11:40that the daughters of Israel
went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days
in a year.
12:1The men of Ephraim were gathered
together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you
pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn't call us to go
with you? we will burn your house on you with fire. 12:2Jephthah
said to them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of
Ammon; and when I called you, you didn't save me out of their hand. 12:3When I saw that you didn't save
me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of
Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand: why then are you come up to
me this day, to fight against me? 12:4Then
Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim;
and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, You are fugitives
of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, and in the
midst of Manasseh. 12:5The Gileadites took the fords of
the Jordan against the Ephraimites. It was so, that when any of the
fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him,
Are you an Ephraimite? If he said, No; 12:6then said
they to him, Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth; for he couldn't
manage to pronounce it right: then they laid hold on him, and killed him
at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time of Ephraim forty-two
thousand. 12:7Jephthah judged Israel six years.
Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the
cities of Gilead. 12:8After him Ibzan of Bethlehem
judged Israel. 12:9He had thirty sons; and thirty
daughters he sent abroad, and thirty daughters he brought in from abroad
for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. 12:10Ibzan
died, and was buried at Bethlehem. 12:11After him
Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years. 12:12Elon the Zebulunite died, and
was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 12:13After him
Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 12:14He had forty sons and thirty
sons' sons, who rode on seventy donkey colts: and he judged Israel eight
years. 12:15Abdon the son of Hillel the
Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in
the hill-country of the Amalekites.
13:1The children of Israel again did
that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh; and Yahweh delivered them into
the hand of the Philistines forty years. 13:2There was a
certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah;
and his wife was barren, and didn't bear. 13:3The angel
of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and said to her, See now, you are barren,
and don't bear; but you shall conceive, and bear a son. 13:4Now therefore please beware and
drink no wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing: 13:5for, behold, you shall conceive,
and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shall
be a Nazirite to God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out
of the hand of the Philistines. 13:6Then the
woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his
face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome; and I didn't ask
him whence he was, neither did he tell me his name: 13:7but he said
to me, Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine
nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a
Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death. 13:8Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and
said, Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you did send come again to
us, and teach us what we shall do to the child who shall be born. 13:9God listened to the voice of
Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the
field: but Manoah, her husband, wasn't with her. 13:10The woman
made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said to him, Behold, the
man has appeared to me, who came to me the other day. 13:11Manoah arose, and went after his
wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are you the man who spoke to
the woman? He said, I am. 13:12Manoah said, Now let your words
happen: what shall be the ordering of the child, and how shall we
do to him? 13:13The angel of Yahweh said to
Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. 13:14She may not eat of anything that
comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any
unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe. 13:15Manoah said to the angel of
Yahweh, I pray you, let us detain you, that we may make ready a kid for
you. 13:16The angel of Yahweh said to
Manoah, Though you detain me, I won't eat of your bread; and if you will
make ready a burnt offering, you must offer it to Yahweh. For Manoah
didn't know that he was the angel of Yahweh. 13:17Manoah
said to the angel of Yahweh, What is your name, that when your words
happen, we may honor you? 13:18The angel of Yahweh said to him,
Why do you ask after my name, seeing it is wonderful? 13:19So Manoah took the kid with the
meal-offering, and offered it on the rock to Yahweh: and the angel
did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. 13:20For it
happened, when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, that
the angel of Yahweh ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his
wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. 13:21But the angel of Yahweh did no
more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the
angel of Yahweh. 13:22Manoah said to his wife, We
shall surely die, because we have seen God. 13:23But his
wife said to him, If Yahweh were pleased to kill us, he wouldn't have
received a burnt offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would
he have shown us all these things, nor would at this time have told such
things as these. 13:24The woman bore a son, and named
him Samson: and the child grew, and Yahweh blessed him. 13:25The Spirit of Yahweh began to
move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
14:1Samson went down to Timnah, and
saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 14:2He came up, and told his father
and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters
of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me as wife. 14:3Then his father and his mother
said to him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of your brothers,
or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised
Philistines? Samson said to his father, Get her for me; for she pleases me
well. 14:4But his father and his mother
didn't know that it was of Yahweh; for he sought an occasion against the
Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel. 14:5Then went Samson down, and his
father and his mother, to Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah:
and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 14:6The Spirit
of Yahweh came mightily on him, and he tore him as he would have torn a
kid; and he had nothing in his hand: but he didn't tell his father or his
mother what he had done. 14:7He went down, and talked with the
woman, and she pleased Samson well. 14:8After a
while he returned to take her; and he turned aside to see the carcass of
the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion,
and honey. 14:9He took it into his hands, and
went on, eating as he went; and he came to his father and mother, and gave
to them, and they ate: but he didn't tell them that he had taken the honey
out of the body of the lion. 14:10His father went down to the
woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. 14:11It happened, when they saw him,
that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 14:12Samson
said to them, Let me now put forth a riddle to you: if you can declare it
to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will
give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing; 14:13but if you can't declare it to
me, then shall you give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of
clothing. They said to him, Put forth your riddle, that we may hear it. 14:14He said to them,
Out of the eater came forth food,
Out of the strong came forth sweetness.
They couldn't in three days declare the riddle. 14:15It
happened on the seventh day, that they said to Samson's wife, Entice your
husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your
father's house with fire: have you called us to impoverish us? is it not
so? 14:16Samson's wife wept before him,
and said, You do but hate me, and don't love me: you have put forth a
riddle to the children of my people, and haven't told it me. He said to
her, Behold, I haven't told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell
you? 14:17She wept before him the seven
days, while their feast lasted: and it happened on the seventh day, that
he told her, because she pressed him sore; and she told the riddle to the
children of her people. 14:18The men of the city said to him
on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey?
and what is stronger than a lion? He said to them,
If you hadn't plowed with my heifer,
You wouldn't have found out my riddle.
14:19The Spirit of Yahweh came
mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of
them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes of clothing to
those who declared the riddle. His anger was kindled, and he went up to
his father's house. 14:20But Samson's wife was
given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
15:1But it happened after a while, in
the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he
said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father wouldn't
allow him to go in. 15:2Her father said, I most assuredly
thought that you had utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your
companion: isn't her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take
her, instead. 15:3Samson said to them, This time
shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I do them a
mischief. 15:4Samson went and caught three
hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a
firebrand in the midst between every two tails. 15:5When he had
set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the
Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also
the olive groves. 15:6Then the Philistines said, Who
has done this? They said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because
he has taken his wife, and given her to his companion. The Philistines
came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. 15:7Samson said
to them, If you do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and
after that I will cease. 15:8He struck them hip and thigh with
a great slaughter: and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of
Etam. 15:9Then the Philistines went up, and
encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. 15:10The men of
Judah said, Why are you come up against us? They said, To bind Samson are
we come up, to do to him as he has done to us. 15:11Then three
thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said
to Samson, "Don't you know that the Philistines are rulers over us?
What then is this that you have done to us?" He said to them, As they
did to me, so have I done to them. 15:12They said
to him, We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the
hand of the Philistines. Samson said to them, Swear to me that you will
not fall on me yourselves. 15:13They spoke to him, saying, No;
but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand: but surely we
will not kill you. They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up
from the rock. 15:14When he came to Lehi, the
Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of Yahweh came
mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that
was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands. 15:15He found a fresh jawbone of a
donkey, and put forth his hand, and took it, and struck a thousand men
therewith. 15:16Samson said, With the jawbone of
a donkey, heaps on heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a
thousand men. 15:17It happened, when he had made an
end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; and that
place was called Ramath Lehi. 15:18He was very thirsty, and called
on Yahweh, and said, You have given this great deliverance by the hand of
your servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of
the uncircumcised. 15:19But God split the hollow place
that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit
came again, and he revived: therefore the name of it was called En
Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day. 15:20He judged
Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
16:1Samson went to Gaza, and saw
there a prostitute, and went in to her. 16:2It was
told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come here. They compassed him in,
and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet
all the night, saying, Let be until morning light, then we will
kill him. 16:3Samson lay until midnight, and
arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and
the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his
shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before
Hebron. 16:4It came to pass afterward, that
he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 16:5The lords of the Philistines came
up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in which his great
strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may
bind him to afflict him: and we will each give you of us eleven hundred
pieces of silver. 16:6Delilah said to Samson, Tell me,
Please, in which your great strength lies, and with which you might be
bound to afflict you. 16:7Samson said to her, If they bind
me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak,
and be as another man. 16:8Then the lords of the Philistines
brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she
bound him with them. 16:9Now she had liers-in-wait abiding
in the inner chamber. She said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson.
He broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire.
So his strength was not known. 16:10Delilah
said to Samson, Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me,
Please, with which you might be bound. 16:11He said to
her, If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done,
then shall I become weak, and be as another man. 16:12So Delilah
took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Philistines
are on you, Samson. The liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber.
He broke them off his arms like a thread. 16:13Delilah
said to Samson, Hitherto you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me
with which you might be bound. He said to her, If you weave the seven
locks of my head with the web. 16:14She
fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are on you,
Samson. He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the
beam, and the web. 16:15She said to him, How can you
say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? you have mocked me these
three times, and have not told me in which your great strength lies. 16:16It happened, when she pressed
him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed to death.
16:17He told her all his heart, and
said to her, "No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a
Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength
will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other man."
16:18When Delilah saw that he had
told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the
Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.
Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in
their hand. 16:19She made him sleep on her knees;
and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and
she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 16:20She said, The Philistines are on
you, Samson. He awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at
other times, and shake myself free. But he didn't know that Yahweh had
departed from him. 16:21The Philistines laid hold on
him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound
him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house. 16:22However the hair of his head
began to grow again after he was shaved. 16:23The lords
of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice to
Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, Our god has delivered
Samson our enemy into our hand. 16:24When the
people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, Our god has
delivered into our hand our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who
has slain many of us. 16:25It happened, when their hearts
were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.
They called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made sport before
them. They set him between the pillars: 16:26and Samson
said to the boy who held him by the hand, Allow me that I may feel the
pillars whereupon the house rests, that I may lean on them. 16:27Now the house was full of men
and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were
on the roof about three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson made
sport. 16:28Samson called to Yahweh, and
said, Lord Yahweh, remember me, Please, and strengthen me, Please, only
this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my
two eyes. 16:29Samson took hold of the two
middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with
his right hand, and the other with his left. 16:30Samson
said, Let me die with the Philistines. He bowed himself with all his
might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were
therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who
he killed in his life. 16:31Then his brothers and all the
house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and
buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Manoah his
father. He judged Israel twenty years.
17:1There was a man of the
hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 17:2He said to
his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken
from you, about which you did utter a curse, and did also speak it in my
ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. His mother said, Blessed
be my son of Yahweh. 17:3He restored the eleven hundred
pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I most
assuredly dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make
an engraved image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it to
you. 17:4When he restored the money to his
mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them
to the founder, who made of it an engraved image and a molten image: and
it was in the house of Micah. 17:5The man Micah had a house of
gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons,
who became his priest. 17:6In those days there was no king
in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. 17:7There was a young man out of
Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he
sojourned there. 17:8The man departed out of the city,
out of Bethlehem Judah, to sojourn where he could find a place, and
he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he
traveled. 17:9Micah said to him, Whence come
you? He said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I go to sojourn
where I may find a place. 17:10Micah said
to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give
you ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of clothing, and
your food. So the Levite went in. 17:11The Levite
was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of
his sons. 17:12Micah consecrated the Levite,
and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 17:13Then said Micah, Now know I that
Yahweh will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
18:1In those days there was no king
in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an
inheritance to dwell in; for to that day their inheritance had not
fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. 18:2The
children of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number, men
of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search
it; and they said to them, Go, search the land. They came to the
hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 18:3When they were by the house of
Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; and they turned
aside there, and said to him, Who brought you here? and what do you in
this place? and what have you here? 18:4He said to
them, Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I am
become his priest. 18:5They said to him, Ask counsel, we
pray you, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be
prosperous. 18:6The priest said to them, Go in
peace: before Yahweh is your way wherein you go. 18:7Then the
five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were therein,
how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and
secure; for there was none in the land, possessing authority, that might
put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the
Sidonians, and had no dealings with any man. 18:8They came
to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brothers said to them,
What say you? 18:9They said, Arise, and let us go
up against them; for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good:
and are you still? don't be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the
land. 18:10When you go, you shall come to a
people secure, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand,
a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth. 18:11There set forth from there of
the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred
men girt with weapons of war. 18:12They went up, and encamped in
Kiriath Jearim, in Judah: therefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan, to
this day; behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim. 18:13They
passed there to the hill-country of Ephraim, and came to the house of
Micah. 18:14Then the five men who went to
spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, Do you
know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and an engraved
image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what you have to do. 18:15They turned aside there, and
came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah,
and asked him of his welfare. 18:16The six hundred men girt with
their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the
entrance of the gate. 18:17The five men who went to spy out
the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, and the
ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood by the
entrance of the gate with the six hundred men girt with weapons of war. 18:18When these went into Micah's
house, and fetched the engraved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and
the molten image, the priest said to them, What do you? 18:19They said to him, Hold your
peace, lay your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father
and a priest: is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man,
or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? 18:20The
priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the
engraved image, and went in the midst of the people. 18:21So they turned and departed, and
put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them. 18:22When they were a good way from
the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near to Micah's house
were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. 18:23They cried to the children of
Dan. They turned their faces, and said to Micah, What ails you, that you
come with such a company? 18:24He said, you have taken away my
gods which I made, and the priest, and are gone away, and what have I
more? and how then say you to me, What ails you? 18:25The
children of Dan said to him, "Don't let your voice be heard among us,
lest angry fellows fall on you, and you lose your life, with the lives of
your household." 18:26The children of Dan went their
way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and
went back to his house. 18:27They took that which Micah had
made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and
secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burnt the
city with fire. 18:28There was no deliverer, because
it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any man; and it was
in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived
therein. 18:29They called the name of the city
Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: however
the name of the city was Laish at the first. 18:30The
children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image: and Jonathan,
the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests to the
tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 18:31So they set them up Micah's
engraved image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in
Shiloh.
19:1It happened in those days, when
there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on
the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim, who took to him a
concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. 19:2His
concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her
father's house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there the space of four months.
19:3Her husband arose, and went after
her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with
him, and a couple of donkeys: and she brought him into her father's house;
and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 19:4His father-in-law, the young
lady's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they ate
and drink, and lodged there. 19:5It happened on the fourth day,
that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart: and the
young lady's father said to his son-in-law, Strengthen your heart with a
morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way. 19:6So they sat down, and ate and
drink, both of them together: and the young lady's father said to the man,
Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry. 19:7The man rose up to depart; but
his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again. 19:8He arose early in the morning on
the fifth day to depart; and the young lady's father said, Please
strengthen your heart and stay until the day declines; and they ate, both
of them. 19:9When the man rose up to depart,
he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young
lady's father, said to him, Behold, now the day draws toward evening,
please stay all night: behold, the day grows to an end, lodge here, that
your heart may be merry; and tomorrow get you early on your way, that you
may go home. 19:10But the man wouldn't stay that
night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus (the same
is Jerusalem): and there were with him a couple of donkeys saddled; his
concubine also was with him. 19:11When they were by Jebus, the day
was far spent; and the servant said to his master, Please come and let us
turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. 19:12His master said to him, We won't
turn aside into the city of a foreigner, that is not of the children of
Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah. 19:13He said to
his servant, Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will
lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah. 19:14So they passed on and went their
way; and the sun went down on them near to Gibeah, which belongs to
Benjamin. 19:15They turned aside there, to go
in to lodge in Gibeah: and he went in, and sat him down in the street of
the city; for there was no man who took them into his house to lodge. 19:16Behold, there came an old man
from his work out of the field at even: now the man was of the
hill-country of Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah; but the men of the
place were Benjamites. 19:17He lifted up his eyes, and saw
the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, Where
go you? and whence come you? 19:18He said to him, We are passing
from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim;
from there am I, and I went to Bethlehem Judah: and I am now going
to the house of Yahweh; and there is no man who takes me into his house.
19:19Yet there is both straw and
provender for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and
for your handmaid, and for the young man who is with your servants: there
is no want of anything. 19:20The old man said, Peace be to
you; howsoever let all your wants lie on me; only don't lodge in the
street. 19:21So he brought him into his
house, and gave the donkeys fodder; and they washed their feet, and ate
and drink. 19:22As they were making their hearts
merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house
round about, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the
house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man who came into your house,
that we may know him. 19:23The man, the master of the
house, went out to them, and said to them, No, my brothers, please don't
act so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, don't do this
folly. 19:24Behold, here is my daughter a
virgin, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble you them,
and do with them what seems good to you: but to this man don't do any such
folly. 19:25But the men wouldn't listen to
him: so the man laid hold on his concubine, and brought her forth to them;
and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and
when the day began to spring, they let her go. 19:26Then came
the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the
man's house where her lord was, until it was light. 19:27Her lord
rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to
go his way; and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the
door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 19:28He said to
her, Up, and let us be going; but none answered: then he took her up on
the donkey; and the man rose up, and got him to his place. 19:29When he was come into his house,
he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by
limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of
Israel. 19:30It was so, that all who saw it
said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children
of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day: consider it, take
counsel, and speak.
20:1Then all the children of Israel
went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to
Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah. 20:2The chiefs of all the people,
even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of
the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword. 20:3(Now the children of Benjamin
heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of
Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass? 20:4The Levite, the husband of the
woman who was murdered, answered, I came into Gibeah that belongs to
Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. 20:5The men of
Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night; me
they thought to have slain, and my concubine they forced, and she is dead.
20:6I took my concubine, and cut her
in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of
Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. 20:7Behold, you children of Israel,
all of you, give here your advice and counsel. 20:8All the
people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent,
neither will we any of us turn to his house. 20:9But now
this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against
it by lot; 20:10and we will take ten men of one
hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one
thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get food for the people,
that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all
the folly that they have worked in Israel. 20:11So all the
men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. 20:12The tribes of Israel sent men
through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is
happen among you? 20:13Now therefore deliver up the
men, the base fellows, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death,
and put away evil from Israel. But Benjamin would not listen to the voice
of their brothers the children of Israel. 20:14The
children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to
Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. 20:15The children of Benjamin were
numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew
the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven
hundred chosen men. 20:16Among all this people there were
seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a
hair-breadth, and not miss. 20:17The men of Israel, besides
Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all
these were men of war. 20:18The children of Israel arose,
and went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God; and they said, Who shall
go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin? Yahweh
said, Judah shall go up first. 20:19The
children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. 20:20The men of Israel went out to
battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array
against them at Gibeah. 20:21The children of Benjamin came
forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on
that day Twenty-two thousand men. 20:22The
people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again
in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day. 20:23The children of Israel went up
and wept before Yahweh until even; and they asked of Yahweh, saying, Shall
I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?
Yahweh said, Go up against him. 20:24The
children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second
day. 20:25Benjamin went forth against them
out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the
children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
20:26Then all the children of Israel,
and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there
before Yahweh, and fasted that day until even; and they offered
burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Yahweh. 20:27The
children of Israel asked of Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant of God was
there in those days, 20:28and Phinehas, the son of
Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, Shall I
yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or
shall I cease? Yahweh said, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into
your hand. 20:29Israel set liers-in-wait against
Gibeah round about. 20:30The children of Israel went up
against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in
array against Gibeah, as at other times. 20:31The
children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from
the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people, as at other
times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to
Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 20:32The
children of Benjamin said, They are struck down before us, as at the
first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them away
from the city to the highways. 20:33All the
men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at
Baal Tamar: and the liers-in-wait of Israel broke forth out of their
place, even out of Maareh Geba. 20:34There came
over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the
battle was sore; but they didn't know that evil was close on them. 20:35Yahweh struck Benjamin before
Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day
twenty-five thousand one hundred men: all these drew the sword. 20:36So the children of Benjamin saw
that they were struck; for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin,
because they trusted to the liers-in-wait whom they had set against
Gibeah. 20:37The liers-in-wait hurried, and
rushed on Gibeah; and the liers-in-wait drew themselves along, and struck
all the city with the edge of the sword. 20:38Now the
appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers-in-wait was that
they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city. 20:39The men of Israel turned in the
battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about
thirty persons; for they said, Surely they are struck down before us, as
in the first battle. 20:40But when the cloud began to
arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked
behind them; and, behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to the
sky. 20:41The men of Israel turned, and
the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil had come on
them. 20:42Therefore they turned their
backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the
battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities
destroyed them in the midst of it. 20:43They
enclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and
trod them down at their resting-place, as far as over against
Gibeah toward the sunrise. 20:44There fell of Benjamin eighteen
thousand men; all these were men of valor. 20:45They
turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they
gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after
them to Gidom, and struck of them two thousand men. 20:46So that
all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew
the sword; all these were men of valor. 20:47But six
hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon,
and abode in the rock of Rimmon four months. 20:48The men of
Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the
edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they
found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.
21:1Now the men of Israel had sworn
in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin
as wife. 21:2The people came to Bethel, and
sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept
sore. 21:3They said, Yahweh, the God of
Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be today one
tribe lacking in Israel? 21:4It happened on the next day that
the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt
offerings and peace-offerings. 21:5The children of Israel said, Who
is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn't come up in the assembly
to Yahweh? For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn't come
up to Yahweh to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death. 21:6The children of Israel grieved
for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from
Israel this day. 21:7How shall we do for wives for
those who remain, seeing we have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give
them of our daughters to wives? 21:8They said,
What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn't come up to Yahweh to
Mizpah? Behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the
assembly. 21:9For when the people were
numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead
there. 21:10The congregation sent there
twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, Go
and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword,
with the women and the little ones. 21:11This is
the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and
every woman who has lain by man. 21:12They found
among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins, who had
not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to
Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 21:13The whole
congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the
rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. 21:14Benjamin
returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved
alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead: and yet so they weren't enough for
them. 21:15The people grieved for Benjamin,
because that Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 21:16Then the elders of the
congregation said, How shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing
the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? 21:17They said,
There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a
tribe not be blotted out from Israel. 21:18However we
may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had
sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin. 21:19They said, Behold, there is a
feast of Yahweh from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of
Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to
Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 21:20They
commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the
vineyards, 21:21and see, and, behold, if the
daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come you out of
the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of
Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 21:22It shall
be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we
will say to them, Grant them graciously to us, because we didn't take for
each man his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else would
you now be guilty. 21:23The children of Benjamin did so,
and took them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom
they carried off: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and
built the cities, and lived in them. 21:24The
children of Israel departed there at that time, every man to his tribe and
to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.
21:25In those days there was no king
in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
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