The Book of
JUDGES
-- Literal Translation of the Holy Bible - Copyright © 1976 - 2000 --

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Judges 1
1 ¶ And it happened after the death of Joshua, the sons of Israel inquired of Jehovah, saying, Who shall first go up for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?
2 And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand.
3 And Judah said to his brother Simeon, Go up with me into my lot, and we shall fight against the Canaanites. And I also will go with you into your lot. And Simeon went with him.
4 And Judah went up, and Jehovah delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. And they struck them in Bezek, ten thousand men.
5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek, and fought against him, and struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6 And Adoni-bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
7 And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to be gathering scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 And the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and captured it, and struck it with the mouth of the sword, and set the city on fire.
9 ¶ And afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the mountains, and the Negeb, and the lowlands.
10 And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (and the name of Hebron was formerly City of Arba) and they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.
11 And from there he went against the ones living in Debir, and the name of Debir formerly was City of Sepher.
12 And Caleb said, He who strikes the City of Sepher and captures it, I shall give my daughter Achsah to him for a wife.
13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, the younger one, captured it. And he gave his daughter Achsah to him for a wife.
14 And it happened as she came, she persuaded him to ask a field from her father. And she dismounted from the ass. And Caleb said to her, What do you desire?
15 And she said to him, Give a blessing to me. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, also you shall give springs of water to me. And Caleb gave the upper springs and the lower springs to her.
16 And the sons of the Kenite, the father-in-law of Moses, had gone up out of the city of palms with the sons of Judah to the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad. And they went and lived with the people.
17 And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath and destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.
18 And Judah captured Gaza and its border, and Ashkelon and its border, and Ekron and its border.
19 And Jehovah was with Judah, and he dispossessed the hills, but did not dispossess the ones living in the valley, for they had chariots of iron.
20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. And He dispossessed the three sons of Anak from there.
21 ¶ And the sons of Benjamin did not dispossess the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. And the Jebusites live with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this day.
22 And the house of Joseph went up, they also against Bethel. And Jehovah was with them.
23 And the house of Joseph sent to spy around Bethel, and the name of the city formerly was Luz.
24 And those keeping watch saw a man coming out from the city and said to him, Let us see the entrance of the city, and we will deal with you with mercy.
25 And he showed them the entrance of the city. And they struck the city with the mouth of the sword; and they sent away the man and all his family.
26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and called its name Luz; it is its name to this day.
27 And Manasseh had not dispossessed Beth-shean and its daughter-villages, or Taanach and its daughter-villages nor struck the ones living in Dor and its daughter-villages, or the ones living in Ibleam and its daughter-villages; or the ones living in Megiddo and its daughter-villages. For the Canaanites desired to live in that land.
28 But it happened when Israel became strong, it happened that they put the Canaanites to tribute, but did not completely dispossess them.
29 And Ephraim did not dispossess the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, and the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.
30 Zebulun did not dispossess the inhabitants of Kitron, and the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and they became forced-laborers.
31 And Asher did not dispossess the ones living in Accho, and the ones living in Sidon, and Ahlab, and Achzib, and Helbah, and Aphik, and Rehob.
32 And the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the ones living in the land, for they did not dispossess them.
33 Naphtali did not dispossess the ones living in Beth-shemesh, and the ones living in Beth-anath, and they lived among the Canaanites, the ones living in the land. But the ones living in Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced-laborers to them.
34 And the Amorites pressed the sons of Dan into the hills, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley.
35 But the Amorites were determined to live in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. Yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became forced-laborers.
36 And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock and upward.

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Judges 2
1 ¶ And the Angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to The Place of Weeping, and said, I caused you to come up out of Egypt and brought you into the land which I had sworn to your fathers, and said, I will not break My covenant with you forever.
2 And you, you shall cut no covenant with the ones living in this land. You shall break down their altars. Yet you have not listened to My voice. What is this you have done?
3 And I also have said, I shall not dispossess them before you, and they shall become adversaries to you; and their gods shall become a snare to you.
4 And it happened when the Angel of Jehovah spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept.
5 And they called the name of that place Bochim: and sacrificied to Jehovah there.
6 ¶ And Joshua sent the people away, and the sons of Israel each went to his inheritance, to possess the land.
7 And the people served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who prolonged their days after Joshua, who saw all the great work of Jehovah which He had done for Israel.
8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died, being a son of a hundred and ten years.
9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hills of Ephraim on the north of Mount Gaash.
10 And also all that generation was gathered to their fathers, and another generation arose after them who had not known Jehovah, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.
11 And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baals.
12 And they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them out from the land of Egypt. And they went after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and angered Jehovah.
13 Yea, they forsook Jehovah, and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14 And the anger of Jehovah glowed against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of plunderers; and they plundered them. And He sold them into the hand of their enemies all around, and they were not able to stand before their enemies any longer.
15 Wherever they went, the hand of Jehovah was against them for evil, as Jehovah had spoken, and as Jehovah had sworn to them. And it distressed them very much.
16 And Jehovah raised up judges, and they saved them from the hand of their plunderers.
17 But they also did not listen to their judges, but went whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves to them. They quickly turned aside out of the way in which their fathers walked to obey the commands of Jehovah. They did not do so.
18 And when Jehovah raised up judges to them, then Jehovah was with the judge, and rescued them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For Jehovah took pity because of their groaning before their oppressors, and those that crushed them.
19 And at the death of the judge, it happened that they would turn and act more corruptly than their fathers, to go after other gods, to serve them, and to bow themselves to them. And they did not fall away from their own doings, and from their stubborn way.
20 And the anger of Jehovah glowed against Israel. And He said, Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice,
21 I also from now on will not dispossess any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died;
22 so that by them I may test Israel, whether they are keeping the way of Jehovah, to go in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.
23 And Jehovah left those nations without dispossessing them quickly. And He did not deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

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Judges 3
1 ¶ And these are the nations which Jehovah left in order to test Israel by them, all who did not know all the wars of Canaan;
2 only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, only those who did not before know them:
3 five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that lived in Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to the entering of Hamath.
4 And they existed to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commands of Jehovah, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 And the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
6 And they took their daughters to themselves for wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.
7 And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and forgot Jehovah their God, and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
8 ¶ And the anger of Jehovah glowed against Israel. And He gave them over into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. And the sons of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.
9 And when the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, Jehovah raised up a deliverer to the sons of Israel, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, who saved them.
10 And the Spirit of Jehovah was put on him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to war, and Jehovah gave Chushan-rishathaim the king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand had power over Chushan-rishathaim.
11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12 ¶ And the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of Jehovah. And Jehovah made Eglon the king of Moab strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of Jehovah.
13 And he gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and went and struck Israel. And they possessed the city of palm trees.
14 And the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15 And the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, even Jehovah raised up a deliverer to them, Ehud the son of Gera, a son of the Benjamite, a man with his right hand impeded. And the sons of Israel sent a present by his hand to Eglon the king of Moab.
16 And Ehud made a sword for himself, and it had two edges, a cubit in length. And he girded it under his long robe, on his right thigh.
17 And he brought the present to Eglon the king of Moab; and Eglon was a very fat man.
18 And it happened, when he had finished offering the present, he sent away the people, the bearers of the present.
19 And he himself turned back from the carved images at Gilgal, and said, I have a secret word for you, O king. And he said, Be silent! And all those standing beside him went out from him.
20 And Ehud came to him. And he was sitting by himself in the cool roof room which was his. And Ehud said, I have a word from God to you. And he rose out of his seat.
21 And Ehud put out his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon's belly.
22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade; for he did not draw the sword out of his belly. And it came out behind.
23 Then Ehud went out to the porch, and shut the doors of the roof room on him, and locked them.
24 And when he had gone out, his servants came. And they looked, and, behold, the doors of the roof room were locked. And they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the cool roof room.
25 And they waited until they were ashamed. And, behold! He did not open the doors of the room. So they took the key and opened them. And, behold, their master had fallen down to the earth dead.
26 And Ehud escaped while they waited. And he had passed by the images, and had slipped away to Seirath.
27 And it happened, when he had come, he blew a horn in the hills of Ephraim. And the sons of Israel came down with him from the hills, and he before them.
28 And he said to them, Follow me, for Jehovah has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites. And they did not allow a man to pass over.
29 And they struck about ten thousand men of Moab at that time, every lusty man, all mighty men. And not a man escaped.
30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.
31 ¶ And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. And he also delivered Israel.

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Judges 4
1 ¶ And the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of Jehovah when Ehud was dead.
2 And Jehovah sold them into the hand of Jabin the king of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. And his army commander was Sisera; and he lived in Harosheth of the nations.
3 And the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron. And he mightily oppressed the sons of Israel twenty years.
4 ¶ And Deborah the wife of Lapidoth, a woman prophetess, was judging Israel at that time.
5 And she lived under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel, in the hills of Ephraim. And the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment.
6 And she sent and called for Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kadesh in Naphtali, and said to him, Has not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded? Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali, and of the sons of Zebulun with you.
7 And I will draw to you at the Kishon River, Sisera, the army commander of Jabin, and his chariots, and his multitude, and shall give him into your hands.
8 And Barak said to her, If you go with me, then I will go. And if you will not go with me, I will not go.
9 And she said, I will certainly go with you; only, your glory shall surely not be on the way which you are going, for Jehovah shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah rose up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 ¶ And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. And he went up with ten thousand men at his feet. And Deborah went up with him.
11 And Heber the Kenite had broken away from the Kenites, he being of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses. And he pitched his tent by the oak in Zaanaim, near Kedesh.
12 And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13 And Sisera mustered all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people with him, from Harosheth of the nations, to the Kishon River.
14 And Deborah said to Barak, Rise up, for this is the day in which Jehovah has given Sisera into your hand. Has not Jehovah gone out before you? And Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15 And Jehovah routed Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the army, by the mouth of the sword, before Barak. And Sisera came down from the chariot and fled on his feet.
16 And Barak pursued the chariots and went after the army, to Harosheth of the nations. And all the army of Sisera fell by the mouth of the sword; there was not even one left.
17 ¶ And Sisera fled 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.
18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not fear. And he turned in to her into the tent; and she covered him with a rug.
19 And he said to her, Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a skin of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
20 And he said to her, Stand at the door of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes in and asks you, and says, Is there a man here? Then you shall say, There is not.
21 And Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went to him quietly. And she drove the peg into his temple, and she beat it into the ground. And he had been fast asleep, and faint; and he died.
22 And, behold, as Barak followed Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking. And he came in to her, and, behold! Sisera had fallen dead with the peg in his temple.
23 And on that day God humbled Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.
24 And the hand of the sons of Israel went on, going on and pressing hard on Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had cut off Jabin the king of Canaan.

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Judges 5
1 ¶ And Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, sang on that day, saying:
2 For the loosing of locks of hair in Israel; for the willing offering of the people, bless Jehovah!
3 Listen, O kings; give ear, O princes. I, even I, will sing to Jehovah; I will sing praise to Jehovah the God of Israel.
4 O Jehovah, when You went forth out of Seir, when You marched out of the fields of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped. Yea, the clouds dropped water.
5 The mountains quaked before the face of Jehovah, this Sinai quaked from before Jehovah the God of Israel.
6 ¶ In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways ceased, and those going in the paths traveled in byways.
7 The leaders ceased in Israel; they ceased until I, Deborah, arose; I arose as a mother in Israel.
8 They chose new gods; then war was at the gates! Neither a shield nor a spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart was toward the lawgivers of Israel, who freely offered themselves among the people; bless Jehovah!
10 You that ride on white asses, you that sit on rich carpets, and you going on the way, sing out!
11 Louder than the voice of the dividers between the watering places there, they shall tell of the righteous acts of Jehovah, the righteous acts of His leaders in Israel. Then the people of Jehovah went down to the gates.
12 ¶ Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Rise, Barak, and lead your captives captive, son of Abinoam.
13 Then He caused me to tread on the remnant of the noble ones of the people; Jehovah trod for me among the warriors.
14 Out of Ephraim they came, those whose root was against Amalek. After you, Benjamin, among your peoples; and out of Machir came down commanders; and out of Zebulun the ones that hold the staff of the scribe.
15 And my commanders in Issachar were with Deborah; as was Issachar, so was Barak. They were sent into the valley at his feet. Among the divisions of Reuben resolves of heart were great!
16 Why did you sit between the sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of flocks? At the divisions of Reuben searchings of heart were great!
17 Gilead remained beyond the Jordan; and why did Dan stay in ships? Asher sat at the shore by the water, and remained by his havens.
18 Zebulun, a people who despised his life, even to death; also Naphtali on the high places of the field.
19 Kings came; they fought; then the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of silver.
20 The stars fought from the heavens; from their courses they fought with Sisera.
21 The Kishon torrent swept them away, the ancient river, the Kishon torrent. You trod, my soul, in strength.
22 Then did the hooves of horses beat from the galloping, galloping of his mighty stallions.
23 Curse Meroz, said the Angel of Jehovah; curse the ones living in it bitterly, because they did not come to the help of Jehovah, to the help of Jehovah against the warriors.
24 ¶ Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. She is blessed among women in the tent.
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk; in a lordly bowl she brought curd.
26 She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and she hammered Sisera; she smashed his head; she struck through and pierced his temple.
27 Between her feet he bowed; he fell; he lay down. Between her feet he bowed; he fell! Where he bowed, there he fell down ruined.
28 Through the window she looked out; yea, she cried out, the mother of Sisera, through the lattice; Why does his chariot delay to come? Why have the steps of his chariot tarried?
29 The wise ones of her princesses answered her; yea, she returned her words to herself:
30 Do they not find and divide the plunder? A womb, two wombs to each man's head; a plunder of dyed garments to Sisera, a plunder of embroidered dyed garments, two embroidered dyed garments for the necks of the plunderers?
31 So all Your enemies shall perish, O Jehovah, and those who love Him shall be as the sun when it goes forth in its might. And the land had rest forty years.

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Judges 6
1 ¶ And the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
2 And the hand of Midian was strong against Israel. And the sons of Israel made dens for themselves before the faces of Midian, in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.
3 And it happened after Israel had sown crops, Midian, and Amalek, and the sons of the east came; and they came against them,
4 and camped against them, and destroyed the produce of the land until you enter Gaza. And they left no food in Israel, either sheep, or ox, or ass.
5 For they came up with their livestock, and with their tents. They came in like locusts for number, and there was no number to them, to their camels. And they came into the land to destroy it.
6 And Israel was brought very low before Midian. And the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah.
7 ¶ And it happened when the sons of Israel had cried to Jehovah about Midian,
8 Jehovah sent a man, a prophet, to the sons of Israel. And he said to them, So says Jehovah the God of Israel, I have brought you up out of Egypt; and I have brought you out from a house of slaves.
9 And I have delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all your oppressors; and I have driven them out before you; and I have given you their land.
10 And I said to you, I am Jehovah your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorite among whom you are dwelling in their land. But you have not listened to My voice.
11 ¶ And the Angel of Jehovah came and sat under the oak which is in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. And his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the eyes of Midian.
12 And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him, Jehovah is with you, mighty warrior.
13 And Gideon said to Him, Oh my Lord, if Jehovah is with us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders which our fathers recounted to us, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up out of Egypt? And now Jehovah has left us, and has given us into the hands of Midian.
14 And Jehovah turned to him and said, Go in this strength of yours, and you shall deliver Israel out of the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?
15 And he said to Him, Oh my Lord, with what shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I the least in my father's house.
16 And Jehovah said to him, Because I am with you, you shall strike Midian as one man.
17 And he said to Him, Please, if I have found grace in Your eyes, then You shall do for me a sign that You are speaking with me.
18 Please do not move from here until I come to You and bring my food offering and lay it before You. And He said, I will stay until you come back.
19 And Gideon went in and prepared a kid of the goats, and unleavened bread of an ephah of flour. He put the flesh in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot. And he brought it out to Him, under the oak, and offered it.
20 And the Angel of Jehovah said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened bread and place them on this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
21 And the Angel of Jehovah put forth the end of the staff in His hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened bread. And the fire rose up out of the rock and burned up the flesh and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of Jehovah went out of his sight.
22 And Gideon saw that He was the Angel of Jehovah. And Gideon said, Alas, Lord Jehovah! Because I have seen the Angel of Jehovah face to face!
23 And Jehovah said to him, Peace to you, fear not. You shall not die.
24 And Gideon built an altar to Jehovah there, and called it Peace of Jehovah. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites until today.
25 ¶ And it happened on that night, Jehovah said to him, Take your father's bull, and the second bull of seven years; and you shall throw down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and you shall cut down the pillar beside it.
26 And you shall build an altar to Jehovah your God on the top of this stronghold, in an orderly way, and shall take the second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the pillar which you have cut down.
27 And Gideon took ten men from his servants and did as Jehovah had spoken to him. And it happened, since he feared his father's house and the men of the city, to do it by day, that he did it by night.
28 And the men of the city rose early in the morning. And, behold, the altar of Baal had been smashed, and the pillar beside it had been cut down. And the second bull had been offered on the altar which was built.
29 And they each said to his neighbor, Who has done this thing? And they asked and sought. And they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.
30 And the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son, and he shall die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the pillar beside it.
31 And Joash said to all that stood against him, You, will you contend for Baal? Or you, will you save him? He who contends for him shall be killed by the morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because one has smashed his altar.
32 And on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him, because he has smashed his altar.
33 ¶ And all Midian and Amalek, and the sons of the east, were gathered together, and crossed over, and camped in the valley of Jezreel.
34 And the Spirit of Jehovah clothed Gideon with Himself, and he blew with a ram's horn. And the Abiezrites were called after him.
35 And he sent messengers to all Manasseh, and it also was called after him. And he sent messengers to Asher and Zebulun, and to Naphtali. And they came up to meet them.
36 And Gideon said to God, If You are to deliver Israel by my hand, as You have spoken,
37 behold, I am placing the fleece of wool on the grain floor; if the dew is on the fleece only, and dryness on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel by my hand, as You have spoken.
38 And it was so. And he rose early on the next day and wrung the fleece, and drained dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
39 And Gideon said to God, Let not Your anger glow against me, and I shall speak only this time. Please let me try only this time with the fleece; please let there be dryness on the fleece alone; and let there be dew on all the ground.
40 And God did so on that night, and there was dryness only on the fleece, and there was dew on all the ground.

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Judges 7
1 ¶ And Jerubbaal (he is Gideon) rose early, and all the people with him. And they camped by the spring of Harod, and the army of Midian was north of him on Mount Moreh, in the valley.
2 And Jehovah said to Gideon, The people with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, that Israel not glorify itself against Me, saying, My hand has delivered me.
3 And now then, cry in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and leave Mount Gilead. And twenty two thousand of the people returned. And ten thousand were left.
4 And Jehovah said to Gideon, The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will refine them for you there. And it shall be, he of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, he shall go with you. And any of whom I shall say to you, This one shall not go with you, he shall not go.
5 And he brought the people down to the water. And Jehovah said to Gideon, Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set him apart. And everyone who bows on his knees to drink, set apart.
6 And the number of those lapping with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men. And all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water.
7 And Jehovah said to Gideon, I will deliver you by the three hundred men who lapped, and shall give Midian into your hand. And all the people shall go, each to his place.
8 And the people took the food in their hand, and their rams' horns; and he sent away every man of Israel, each to his tent. But he kept hold on the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9 ¶ And it happened on that night, Jehovah said to him, Rise up, go down to the camp, for I have given it into your hand.
10 And if you are afraid to go down, you and your young man Phurah go down to the camp.
11 And you shall hear what they say. And afterward your hand shall be made stronger, and you shall go down against the army. And he went down, he and his young man Phurah, to the edge of the battle alignment in the camp.
12 And Midian and Amalek, and all the sons of the east, were lying in the valley, as the locusts for multitude. And there was no number of their camels being as the sand on the lip of the sea for multitude.
13 And Gideon came; and, behold, a man was telling a dream to his companion. And he said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream. And, behold, a cake of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian. And it came to the tent and struck it, and it fell, and turned it upside down; and the tent fell down.
14 And his companion answered and said, This is nothing but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and all the army into his hand.
15 And it happened when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the army of Israel and said, Rise up, for Jehovah has given the army of Midian into your hand.
16 ¶ And he divided the three hundred men into three companies. And he put a ram's horn in the hand of all of them, and empty jars, and torches inside the jars.
17 And he said to them, Look at me, and do this; even behold, I am coming to the edge of the camp. And it shall be, as I do, so you shall do.
18 And I shall blow with a ram's horn, I and all who are with me. And you shall blow with the ram's horns, you also all around the camp, and shall shout, For Jehovah and for Gideon!
19 And Gideon came, and the hundred men with him, to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch. Only newly rising up they had made rise the watching ones. And they blew with the ram's horns, and shattered the jars in their hand.
20 And the three companies blew with their ram's horns, and broke the jars, and held the torches in their left hand; and in their right hand the ram's horns, and they cried out, A sword for Jehovah and for Gideon!
21 And they each one stood in his place, all around the army. And all the army ran, and they shouted, and they fled.
22 And the three hundred blew the ram's horns, and Jehovah set a man's sword against his companion even in all the army. And the army fled to Beth-shittah, at Zererath, to the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
23 ¶ And the men of Israel were called from Naphtali, and from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and chased Midian.
24 And Gideon had sent messengers to all the hills of Ephraim, saying, Come down to meet Midian, and capture the waters before them as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. And every man of Ephraim was called up, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.
25 And they captured the two rulers of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And Oreb was slain at the rock of Oreb; and they killed Zeeb at the winevat of Zeeb. And they pursued to Midian. And they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

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Judges 8
1 ¶ And the men of Ephraim said to him, What is this thing you have done to us, not to call us when you went out to fight against Midian? And they contended with him sharply.
2 And he said to them, What have I done now in comparison to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
3 God has given the rulers of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hand. And what was I able to do like you? Then their spirit was abated toward him when he said this word.
4 ¶ And Gideon came to the Jordan, he crossing over, and three hundred who were with him, being weary, yet pursuing.
5 And he said to the men of Succoth, Please give loaves of bread to the people at my feet, for they are weary; and I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.
6 And the rulers of Succoth said, Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?
7 And Gideon said, Because of this, when Jehovah has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I shall thresh your flesh with thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
8 And he went up from there to Penuel, and spoke to them in this same way. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.
9 And he also spoke to the men of Penuel, saying, When I come back in peace, I will break down this tower.
10 And Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand, all who were left of all the army of the sons of the east. And those who fell were a hundred and twenty thousand men drawing sword.
11 And Gideon went up the way of those who live in tents, on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the army; for the army was at ease.
12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he chased them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. And he caused all the army to tremble.
13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle, at the ascent of Mount Heres.
14 And he captured a young man of the men of Succoth, and questioned him; and he wrote out to him the rulers of Succoth, and its elders, seventy seven men.
15 And he came in to the men of Succoth, and said, Behold, Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand that we should give bread to your weary men?
16 And he took the elders of the city, and the thorns of the wilderness, and the briers, and taught the men of Succoth with them.
17 And he broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city.
18 ¶ And he said to Zebah and to Zalmunna, How were the men whom you killed in Tabor? And they said, As you are, so they; each one as a king's son in appearance.
19 And he said, They were my brothers, sons of my mother. As Jehovah lives, if you had kept them alive, I would not have killed you.
20 And he said to his first-born, Jether, Rise up, kill them. But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, for he was still a youth.
21 And Zebah and Zalmunna said, You rise up and fall on us, for as the man, so is his might. And Gideon rose up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the moon crescents which were on the necks of their camels.
22 ¶ And the men of Israel said to Gideon, rule over us, both you and your son, and your son's son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.
23 And Gideon said to them, I shall not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you.
24 And Gideon said to them, Let me ask of you a request, that each man give to me a ring from his plunder; for they had gold rings, because they were Ishmaelites.
25 And they said, We will certainly give. And they spread out a garment and each threw a ring from their plunder there.
26 And the weight of the rings of gold which he asked was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the ornaments, and the pendants, and the purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian; also apart from the necklaces on the necks of their camels.
27 And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah. And all Israel went whoring after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.
28 And Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads any more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
29 ¶ And Jerubbaal the son of Joash departed and lived in his own house.
30 And seventy sons were born to Gideon, coming out of his loins; for he had many wives.
31 And his concubine in Shechem bore a son to him, she also; and he called his name Abimelech.
32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the burial place of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 And it happened, when Gideon was dead, the sons of Israel rebelled and went whoring after the Baals, and appointed Baal-berith for a god for themselves.
34 And the sons of Israel did not remember Jehovah their God who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies all around;
35 nor did they act with kindness on the house of Jerubbaal, Gideon, according to all the good which he did with Israel.

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Judges 9
1 ¶ And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother's brothers, and spoke with them, and to all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,
2 Please speak in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, Which is best for you, seventy men ruling over you, all the sons of Jerubbaal, or one man ruling over you? And you should remember that I am your bone and your flesh.
3 And his mother's brothers spoke all these words about him in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their heart inclined after Abimelech. For they said, He is our brother.
4 And they gave to him seventy silverlings out of the house of Baal-berith. And Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men with them; and they went after him.
5 And he went into his father's house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men on one stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, was left; for he had hidden.
6 And all the leaders of Shechem were gathered together, and all the house of Millo. And they came and caused Abimelech to reign as king at the oak of the outpost which is in Shechem.
7 ¶ And they told Jotham, and he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. And he lifted up his voice and cried, and said to them, Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, and God shall listen to you.
8 Going the trees went forth to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive, Reign over us.
9 And the olive said to them, Should I cease from my fatness, by which they honor God and man, and go to hold sway over the trees?
10 And the trees said to the fig, You come, reign over us.
11 And the fig said to them, Should I cease from my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to hold sway over the trees?
12 And the trees said to the vine, You come, reign over us.
13 And the vine said to them, Should I cease from my new wine, which rejoices God and men, and go to hold sway over the trees?
14 And all the trees said to the bramble bush, You come, reign over us.
15 And the bramble bush said to the trees, If you truly anoint me king over you, come seek refuge in my shade. And if not, let fire come out of the bramble bush and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.
16 And now if you have acted in truth and integrity when you made Abimelech king; and if you have done well with Jerubbaal and his house; and you have done to him as his hands did,
17 in which my father fought for you, and cast aside his life, and delivered you from the hand of Midian;
18 and you have today risen against my father's house and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech the son of his slave-girl king over the leaders of Shechem, because he is your brother,
19 yea, if in truth and in integrity you have acted toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, rejoice in Abimelech; and he shall rejoice, he and you.
20 If not, fire shall come out from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and the house of Millo. And fire shall come out from the leaders of Shechem and from the house of Millo and consume Abimelech.
21 And Jotham hurried and fled, and went to Beer and lived there, away from the face of his brother Abimelech.
22 ¶ And Abimelech ruled over Israel three years.
23 And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. And the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech;
24 that the violence against Jerubbaal's seventy sons, even their blood, might be put on their brother Abimelech who killed them, and on the leaders of Shechem, who made his hands strong to kill his brothers.
25 And the leaders of Shechem set men in ambush at the tops of the mountains; and they robbed all who passed by them on the highway. And it was told to Abimelech.
26 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers came. And they passed on into Shechem. And the leaders of Shechem trusted in him.
27 And they went out into the fields and gathered their vineyards, and trod out, and made a festival, and went into the house of their god and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.
28 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul his commander? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem! And why should we serve him?
29 And who will give this people in my hand? Then I would remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Multiply your army and come out.
30 And Zebul, the leader of the city, heard the words of Gaal, the son of Ebed; and his anger glowed.
31 And craftily he sent messengers to Abimelech, saying, Behold, Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers have come to Shechem. And, behold, they are fortifying the city against you.
32 And now rise up by night, you and the people with you, and lie in wait in the field.
33 And it shall be, in the morning, about the sunrise, you shall rise early and charge against the city. And, behold, he and the people with him will come out to you; and you shall do to him as you find your hand able to do.
34 And Abimelech rose up by night, and all the people with him; and they lay in wait against Shechem in four companies.
35 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, went out and stood at the opening of the gate of the city. And Abimelech and the people with him rose up from the ambush.
36 And Gaal saw the people, and he said to Zebul, Behold, people are coming down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said to him, You are seeing the shadow of the mountains like men.
37 And Gaal spoke again and said, Behold, people are coming down from the high part of the land, and one company is coming by the way of the Sorcerers' Oak.
38 And Zebul said to him, Now where is your mouth with which you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Is this not the people you despised? Now go out now and fight against it.
39 And Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought against Abimelech.
40 And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him. And many fell down wounded, to the opening of the gate.
41 And Abimelech remained in Arumah. And Zebul threw Gaal and his brothers out from living in Shechem.
42 And it happened on the next day, the people went out in the field and told Abimelech.
43 And he took the people and divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in a field and watched. And, behold, the people were coming out from the city. And he rose up against them and struck them.
44 And Abimelech and the companies with him rushed forward and stood in the opening of the gate of the city. And the two companies charged against all who were in the field, and struck them.
45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and captured the city. And he killed the people in it; and he broke down the city and sowed it with salt.
46 And all the leaders of the tower of Shechem heard, and went into the high place of the house of the god Berith.
47 And it was told to Abimelech that all the leaders of the tower of Shechem had gathered.
48 And Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people with him. And Abimelech took the axes in his hand and cut off a bough of the trees, and lifted it up, and set it on his shoulder. And he said to the people with him, You have seen what I have done; you hasten and do the same.
49 And all the people also, each man, cut down his bough, and went after Abimelech, and set them at the stronghold, and kindled the stronghold with fire over them. And all the men of the tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.
50 ¶ And Abimelech went to Thebez and camped against Thebez, and captured it.
51 And a strong tower was in the middle of the city. And all the leaders of the city, and all the men and women fled there. And they shut it behind them, and went up on the roof of the tower.
52 And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it. And he drew near to the door of the tower in order to burn it with fire.
53 And a certain woman threw a piece of a riding millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull.
54 And he quickly called to the young man bearing his weapons, and said to him, Draw your sword and cause me to die, that they not say of me, A woman killed him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.
55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, then each one went to his place.
56 And God returned the evil of Abimelech which he did to his father, to kill his seventy brothers.
57 And all the evil of the men of Shechem God turned back on their heads. And the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.

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Judges 10
1 ¶ And after Abimelech, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, rose up to save Israel. And he lived in Shamir, in the hills of Ephraim.
2 And he judged Israel twenty three years. And he died and was buried in Shamir.
3 And after him Jair, a Gileadite, rose up. And he judged Israel twenty two years.
4 And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty ass colts. And they had thirty cities, which are called The Towns of Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.
5 And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.
6 ¶ And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah again, and served the Baals, and the Ashtoroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook Jehovah and did not serve Him.
7 And the anger of Jehovah glowed against Israel. And He sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hand of the sons of Ammon.
8 And they crushed and oppressed the sons of Israel in that year, for eighteen years, all the sons of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
9 And the sons of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim. And Israel was greatly distressed.
10 ¶ And the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, saying, We have sinned against You, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals.
11 And Jehovah said to the sons of Israel, Did I not save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
12 And the Sidonians, and Amalek, and Maon have oppressed you, and you cried to Me, and I saved you out of their hand.
13 Yet you have forsaken Me, and served other gods; therefore, I did not save you again.
14 Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.
15 And the sons of Israel said to Jehovah, We have sinned. Do to us whatever may be good in Your eyes; only please deliver us this day.
16 And they removed the gods of the alien from among them, and served Jehovah. And His soul was grieved with the misery of Israel.
17 And the sons of Ammon were called together, and camped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel were gathered, and camped in Mizpeh.
18 And the people said, The chief men of Gilead, each man to his neighbor, Who will be the man who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He shall be head over all the people of Gilead.

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Judges 11
1 ¶ And Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. And he was the son of a harlot woman; and Gilead fathered Jephthah.
2 And the wife of Gilead bore sons to him. And the sons of the wife grew up, and they threw Jephthah out, and said to him, You shall not inherit in the house of your father, for you are the son of another woman.
3 And Jephthah fled from the face of his brothers, and lived in the land of Tob. And worthless men were gathered to Jephthah, and went out with him.
4 ¶ And it happened after some time, the sons of Ammon fought with Israel.
5 And it happened when the sons of Ammon fought with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.
6 And they said to Jephthah, Come, and you shall be our commander, that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.
7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Have you not hated me? Yea, you threw me out from my father's house. Why have you come to me when you are in distress?
8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, For this reason we have come back to you now; and you shall go with us and fight against the sons of Ammon. And you shall be our head, to all the people of Gilead.
9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you take me back to fight against the sons of Ammon, and Jehovah gives them up before me, shall I be your head?
10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Jehovah shall be witness between us; surely we will do according to your word.
11 And Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him head over them, and as commander. And Jephthah spoke all his words before Jehovah in Mizpeh.
12 ¶ And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, What have you to do with me, that you have come in to me to fight in my land?
13 And the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took my land when he came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. And now, restore them in peace.
14 And Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon,
15 and said to him, So says Jephthah, Israel did not take the land of Moab, and the land of the sons of Ammon.
16 For when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went in the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds, and came in at Kadesh.
17 And Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Please let me pass on through your land, and the king of Edom did not listen. And Israel sent also to the king of Moab, and he was not willing. And Israel remained in Kadesh.
18 And he went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came in at the rising of the sun to the land of Moab. And they camped beyond Arnon, and did not come into the border of Moab, for Arnon was the border of Moab.
19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, Please let us pass on through your land, to my place.
20 And Sihon did not trust Israel to pass on through his border. And Sihon gathered all his people and they camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.
21 And Jehovah the God of Israel gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. And Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land.
22 And they took possession of all the border of the Amorites from Arnon and to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness, and to the Jordan.
23 And now, Jehovah our God has dispossessed the Amorite from before His people Israel. And would you possess it?
24 Whatever Chemosh your god causes you to possess, do you not possess it? And all that which Jehovah our God has dispossessed from before us, we will possess!
25 And now, are you at all any better than Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? And striving, did he strive with Israel? Did he ever fight against them?
26 When Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and in its towns, in all the cities by the sides of Arnon three hundred years, then why have you not delivered them in that time?
27 So I have not sinned against you, and you are doing me wrong to fight against me. Jehovah the Judge shall judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.
28 And the king of the sons of Ammon did not listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent to him.
29 ¶ And the Spirit of Jehovah was on Jephthah. And he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed on to the sons of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow to Jehovah, and said, If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand,
31 then it shall be that anything which comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall belong to Jehovah; and I will offer it instead of a burnt offering.
32 And Jephthah passed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them. And Jehovah delivered them into his hand.
33 And he struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to the Meadow of the Vineyard, a very great destruction. And the sons of Ammon were humbled before the sons of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house. And, behold his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels, and with choruses. And she only, she alone; there was no other son or daughter to him.
35 And it happened when he saw her, he tore his garments, and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those making me low. And surely I have opened my mouth to Jehovah, and I am not able to take it back.
36 And she said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to Jehovah. Do to me whatever has gone out of your mouth, since Jehovah has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, on the sons of Ammon.
37 And she said to her father, Let this thing be done to me. Leave me alone two months, and let me go and descend on the mountains. And I will weep for my virginity, my friends and I.
38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away two months. And she went, she and her friends. And she wept for her virginity on the mountains.
39 And it happened at the end of two months, she returned to her father. And he did to her his vow which he had vowed. And she never knew a man. And it is a fixed custom in Israel,
40 from days to days, the daughters of Israel go to tell again of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in a year.

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Judges 12
1 ¶ And the men of Ephraim were called together, and went northward, and said to Jephthah, Why have you passed over to fight against the sons of Ammon, and you have not called on us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.
2 And Jephthah said to them, I have been a man of war, my people and I, having great strife with the sons of Ammon. And I called you, and you did not save me out of their hands.
3 And seeing that you did not save us, I put my life in my hand and passed over against the Ammonites, and Jehovah delivered them into my hand. And why have you come up to me today to fight with me?
4 And Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, You Gileadites are fugitives from Ephraim, in the midst of Ephraim, in the midst of Manasseh.
5 And Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan before Ephraim. And it happened when the fugitives from Ephraim said, Let me pass over, then the men of Gilead said to him, You are an Ephraimite. And he said, No.
6 And they said to him, Please say Shibboleth. And he said, Sibboleth, and they could not frame to speak so. And they would seize him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. And at that time forty two thousand of Ephraim fell.
7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. And Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in the cities of Gilead.
8 ¶ And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
9 And he had thirty sons. And he sent thirty daughters abroad, and he brought thirty daughters in from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.
10 And Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem.
11 And after him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. And he judged Israel ten years.
12 And Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun.
13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judged Israel.
14 And he had forty sons, and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy he-asses; and he judged Israel eight years.
15 And Abdon the son of Hillel of Pirathon died, and was buried in Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the hills of the Amalekites.

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Judges 13
1 ¶ And the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.
2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah. And his wife was barren, and had not borne.
3 And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold now, you are barren and have not borne. But you shall conceive and bear a son.
4 And now take heed, and please do not drink wine or fermented drink; and do not eat any unclean thing.
5 For, behold, you are pregnant and bearing a son. And a razor shall not go on his head, for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
6 And the woman came and spoke to her husband, saying, A Man of God has come to me, and He was seen as the appearance of the Angel of God, very terrifying. And I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name.
7 And He said to me, Behold, you are pregnant and will bear a son. And now do not drink wine or fermented drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, until the day of his death.
8 ¶ Then Manoah prayed to Jehovah, and said, O my Lord, the Man of God whom You sent, please let Him come again to us and direct us what we shall do to the boy being born.
9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman. And she was sitting in a field; and her husband Manoah was not with her.
10 And the woman hurried and ran, and told her husband, and said to him, Behold, He has appeared to me, the Man who came to me that day.
11 And Manoah rose up and went after his wife, and came to the Man. And he said to Him, Are You the Man who spoke to the woman? And He said, I am.
12 And Manoah said, Then let Your words come about. What shall be the way of the boy, and his undertaking?
13 And the Angel of Jehovah said to Manoah, Let her take heed of all that I said to the woman;
14 she shall not eat of anything that came forth from the grapevine; and she shall not drink wine or fermented drink; and she shall not eat any unclean thing. She shall be careful of all that I commanded her.
15 ¶ And Manoah said to the Angel of Jehovah, Please let us keep You, and prepare before You a kid of the goats.
16 And the Angel of Jehovah said to Manoah, If you keep Me, I will not eat of your bread. And if you prepare a burnt offering, you shall offer it to Jehovah. For Manoah did not know that He was the Angel of Jehovah.
17 And Manoah said to the Angel of Jehovah, What is Your name? When Your words come about, then we shall honor You.
18 And the Angel of Jehovah said to him, Why do you ask this about My name? Yea, it is Wonderful.
19 And Manoah took the kid of the goats, and the food offering, and offered on the rock to Jehovah. And He did wonderfully, and Manoah and his wife were watching.
20 And it happened as the flame from off the altar was going up to the heavens, that the Angel of Jehovah went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife were watching. And they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 And the Angel of Jehovah did not appear any more to Manoah, or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of Jehovah.
22 And Manoah said to his wife, Dying we shall die, because we have seen God.
23 And his wife said to him, If Jehovah desired to put us to death, He would not have received a burnt offering and a food offering from our hands, nor made us see all these things; nor would He now have caused us to hear things like these.
24 ¶ And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the youth grew, and Jehovah blessed him.
25 And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

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Judges 14
1 ¶ And Samson went down to Timnath and saw a woman in Timnath, of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he came up and told his father and mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath, of the daughters of the Philistines. And now get her for me for a wife.
3 And his father and his mother said to him, Is there not a woman among the daughters of your brothers, and among all my people, that you must go to take a woman from the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she pleases me very much.
4 And his father and his mother did not know that it was from Jehovah, that He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
5 And Samson and his father and his mother went down to Timnath. And they came to the vineyards of Timnath. And, behold, a young lion roaring to meet him.
6 And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily on him. And he tore it as the cleaving of a kid. And there was nothing in his hand; and he did not tell his father and his mother what he had done.
7 And he went down and talked with the woman. And she was pleasing in the eyes of Samson.
8 And some days later he returned to take her, and turned aside to see the remains of the lion. And, behold, a bee-swarm in the carcass of the lion, and honey.
9 And he took it out on his hands, and went on, eating and walking. And he went to his father and to his mother, and gave some to them. And they ate, but he did not tell them that he took the honey out of the body of the lion.
10 ¶ And his father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, for so the young men usually did.
11 And it happened when they saw him, they took thirty companions, and they were with him.
12 And Samson said to them, Please let me riddle a riddle to you. If declaring you declare it to me in the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I shall give you thirty linen blouses and thirty changes of garments.
13 And if you are not able to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen blouses and thirty changes of garments. And they said to him, Riddle your riddle, and we shall hear it.
14 And he said to them, Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they were not able to declare the riddle in three days.
15 And it happened on the seventh day, 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 for us to make us poor? Is it not so?
16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, You only hate me, and do not love me. You have riddled the riddle to the sons of my people, and you have not declared it to me. And he said to her, Behold, I have not declared it to my father and to my mother, and shall I declare it to you?
17 And she wept before him the seven days on which they feasted. And it was on the seventh day, he told her, for she distressed him. And she told the riddle to the sons of her people.
18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before the sun went in, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, Unless you had plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.
19 And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him. And he went down to Ashkelon and struck thirty men of them, and took their plunder. And he gave the changes to those who told the riddle; and his anger glowed. And he went up to his father's house.
20 And Samson's wife became his companion's, who had been his friend.

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Judges 15
1 ¶ And it happened afterward, in the days of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid of the goats. And he said, I will go in to my wife, to the inner room. And her father would not allow him to go in.
2 And her father said, I certainly said that hating you would hate her, and I gave her to your companion. Is not her sister, the young one, better than she? Please let her belong to you, instead of her.
3 And Samson said to them, This time I will be blameless regarding the Philistines, though I am doing evil with them.
4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch between the two tails, in the middle.
5 And he kindled fire on the torches, and sent them out into the grain-stalks of the Philistines, and burned from the stacks and the grain-stalks, and to the vineyard and the oliveyard.
6 And the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took away his wife and gave her to his companion. And the Philistines went and burned her and her father with fire.
7 And Samson said to them, Though you do this, yet I shall be avenged on you; and afterwards I will stop.
8 And he struck them hip on thigh, a great slaughter, and went down and lived in the cleft of the rock Etam.
9 ¶ And the Philistines went up and pitched in Judah, and were spread out in Lehi.
10 And the men of Judah said, Why have you come up against us? And they said, We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.
11 And three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? And what is this that you have done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so I did to them.
12 And they said to him, We have come down to bind you, to give you into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Swear to me that you will not fall on me yourselves.
13 And they spoke to him, saying, No, but we will certainly bind you, and will give you into their hand. But we certainly will not cause you to die. And they bound him with two thick cords, new ones, and brought him up from the rock.
14 He came to Lehi, and the Philistines shouted to meet him, And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and the thick cords which were on his arms were as flax which they burn with fire. And his bonds melted from his hands.
15 And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put out his hand and took it. And he struck a thousand men with it.
16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps, with the jawbone of an ass I have killed a thousand men.
17 And it happened when he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone out of his hand. And he called that place Jawbone Height.
18 ¶ And he was exceedingly thirsty, and called to Jehovah and said, Surely You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant. And now I am dying with thirst, and will fall into the hand of the uncircumcised.
19 And God broke open the hollow place which is in Lehi, and water came out of it. And he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore its name is called the Fountain of the Praying One, which is in Lehi to this day.
20 And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

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Judges 16
1 ¶ And Samson went to Gaza, and saw a woman there, a harlot, and went in to her.
2 The Gazites were told, saying, Samson has come here. And they encircled and set a trap for him all the night at the gate of the city, and kept quiet all night, saying, Until the light of the morning, then we will kill him.
3 And Samson lay down until the middle of the night, and rose up in the middle of the night. And he took hold on the leaves of the gate of the city, and on the two side posts, and plucked them up with the bar, and put them on his shoulders and took them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.
4 ¶ And it happened afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah.
5 And the Philistine rulers came to her and said to her, Entice him, and see in what lies his great strength, and by what we may prevail against him, so that we may bind him, to afflict him. And we will surely each give to you eleven hundred pieces of silver.
6 And Delilah said to Samson, Now tell me in what your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound in order to afflict you.
7 And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green bowstrings which have not been dried, then I shall be weak and shall be as any man.
8 And Philistine rulers brought to her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
9 And the ambush was sitting for her in an inner room. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! And he broke the bowstrings like a thread of tow when it smells fire. And his strength was not known.
10 And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have trifled with me, and have told me lies. Now, please tell me with what you may be bound.
11 And he said to her, If binding they bind me with new ropes, by which no work has been done, then I shall be weak and shall be as any man.
12 And Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, Samson, the Philistines are upon you! And the ambush was sitting in the inner room. And he tore them off his arms like thread.
13 And Delilah said to Samson, Until now you have trifled with me, and have told me lies. Tell me with what you may be bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven braids of my head with a web.
14 And she fastened it with a pin, and said to him, Samson, the Philistines are upon you! And he awoke out of his sleep and pulled out the pin, the hand-loom, and the web.
15 And she said to him, How can you say, I love you, and your heart is not with me. These three times you have trifled with me, and have not told me where your great strength lies.
16 And it happened, because she distressed him with her words all the days, and urged him; and his soul was grieved to death,
17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, No razor has come on my head, for I am a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If I were shaved, my strength would go away from me, and I would be weak, and be like any one of men.
18 ¶ And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart. And she sent and called for the Philistine rulers, saying, Come, for this time he has told me all his heart. And the Philistine rulers came up to her, and brought the silver in their hand.
19 And she made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man, and had him shave seven braids of his head, and began to afflict him. And his strength departed from him.
20 And she said, Samson, the Philistines are upon you! And He awakened from his sleep, and said, I will go out and shake myself free as time after time. But he did not know that Jehovah had departed from him.
21 And the Philistines seized him, and bored out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. And they bound him with bands of bronze. And he was grinding in the house of prisoners.
22 ¶ But the hair of his head began to grow, for he had been shaved.
23 And the Philistine rulers gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to exult. And they said, Our god has given our enemy Samson into our hand.
24 And the people saw him, and praised their god. For they said, Our god has delivered our enemy into our hand, even the devastator of our land, who multiplied our wounded.
25 And it happened when their heart felt good, they said, Call for Samson, and he shall entertain us. And they called for Samson from the prison house. And he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.
26 And Samson said to the young man grasping his hand, Let me alone, and let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them.
27 And the house was full of men and women, and all the Philistine rulers were there. And about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertaining.
28 And Samson called to Jehovah, and said, O Lord Jehovah, remember me, I pray, and please make me strong only this time, O God. And I shall be avenged with one vengeance on the Philistines, because of my two eyes.
29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and on which it was supported; one with his right hand, and one with his left.
30 And Samson said, Let my soul die with the Philistines! And he bowed mightily, and the house fell on the rulers, and on all the people who were in it. And the dead that he killed in his death were more than those he killed in his life.
31 And his brothers and all his father's house came down and lifted him up and brought him up. And they buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying place of his father Manoah. And he judged Israel twenty years.

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Judges 17
1 ¶ And there was a man of the hills of Ephraim, and his name was Micah.
2 And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, and you uttered a curse, even also speaking in my ear; behold, the silver is with me. I have taken it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son by Jehovah.
3 And he gave back the eleven hundred silver pieces to his mother. And his mother said, I have wholly consecrated the silver to Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image. And now, I am returning it to you.
4 And he returned the silver to his mother. And his mother took two hundred silver pieces and gave them to a refiner. And he made it a graven image, and a molten image. And it was in Micah's house.
5 And the man Micah had a house of gods. And he made an ephod, and household idols, and consecrated one of his sons. And he was a priest for him.
6 And in those days there was no king in Israel; each man did the right in his own eyes.
7 ¶ And there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; and he was a Levite. And he resided there.
8 And the man went out of the city, out of Bethlehem-judah, to live where he might find a place. And he came to the hills of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, to work his way.
9 And Micah said to him, From where do you come? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-judah, and I am going to live where I may find a place.
10 And Micah said to him, Live with me, and be a father and a priest to me. I will give you ten silver pieces for the days, and an order of garments, and your upkeep. And the Levite went in.
11 And the Levite was willing to live with the man, and the young man was to him as one of his sons.
12 And Micah consecrated the hand of the Levite and the young man was a priest to him; and he was in Micah's house.
13 And Micah said, Now I know that Jehovah will do me good, for the Levite is a priest to me.

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Judges 18
1 ¶ In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to inhabit. For to that day it had not fallen to them by inheritance among the tribes of Israel.
2 And the sons of Dan sent out of their family five men from their whole number, men, sons 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. And they came to the hills of Ephraim, to Micah's house, and lodged there.
3 They were near the household of Micah, and they recognized the young man's voice, the Levite. And they turned in there, and said to him, Who has brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what have you here?
4 And he said to them, This and this Micah has done to me. And he hired me, and I am a priest to him.
5 And they said to him, Please ask of God and we will know whether our way in which we are going will be prosperous.
6 And the priest said to them, Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before Jehovah.
7 ¶ And the five men departed, and came to Laish. And they saw the people living securely in its midst, according to the custom of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. And there were none to put them to shame in a thing, nor possessing authority. And they were far away from the Sidonians, and they had no word with any men.
8 And they came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol. And their brothers said to them, What did you do?
9 And they said, Rise up, and we shall go against them, for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good. And would you be silent? Do not hesitate to go to enter in to possess the land.
10 When you go you shall come to a secure people, and the land is large on both hands; for God has given it into your hand, a place in which there is no lack of anything which is in the land.
11 And six hundred men of the family of the Danites from Zorah and from Eshtaol girded themselves with weapons of war, pulling up stakes from there.
12 And they went up and camped in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah. Therefore they called that place a camp of Dan until this day. Behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.
13 And they passed on from there to the hills of Ephraim, and came into the house of Micah.
14 ¶ And the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish answered and said to their brothers, Do you not know that there are in these houses an ephod and household idols, and a graven image, and a molten image? And now, you know what you are to do.
15 And they turned in there, and came into the house of the young man, the Levite in Micah's house. And they asked him for the peace.
16 And the six hundred men of the sons of Dan girded with their weapons of war were standing at the opening of the gate.
17 And the five men, those who went to spy out the land came in there, and they took the graven image, and the ephod, and the household idols, and the casted image. And the priest was standing at the opening of the gate, and the six hundred men who were girded with weapons of war.
18 And when these went into the house of Micah and took the graven image, the ephod, and the household idols, and the casted image, even the priest said to them, What are you doing?
19 And they said to him, Be quiet! Lay your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for one man's house, or for you to be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?
20 And the heart of the priest was glad. And he took the ephod, and the household idols, and the graven image, and went among the people.
21 And they turned and departed, and put the little ones, and the livestock, and the valuables before them.
22 They had gone far away from Micah's house, and the men who were in the houses near Micah's house had been called together, and had overtaken the sons of Dan.
23 And they called to the sons of Dan, and they turned their faces and said to Micah, What ails you, that you have been called together?
24 And he said, You have taken my gods which I made, and the priest, and you are leaving, and what more do I have? What is this you say to me, What ails you?
25 And the sons of Dan said to him, Do not let your voice be heard among us, that men bitter in soul not fall on you, and you lose your life, and the lives of your household.
26 And the sons of Dan went on their way. And Micah saw that they were stronger than he, and turned and went back to his house.
27 ¶ And they took that which Micah had made, and the priest he had, and came against Laish, against a people quiet and secure. And they struck them with the mouth of the sword, and burned the city with fire.
28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no word with any men. And it was in the valley which is beside Beth-rehob. And they built the city and lived in it.
29 And they called the name of the city, Dan, by the name of their father Dan, who was born to Israel. And yet Laish was the name of the city at first.
30 And the sons of Dan raised up for themselves the graven image. And Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.
31 And they set up for themselves Micah's graven image, which he had made, all the days that the house of God was in Shiloh.

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Judges 19
1 ¶ And it happened in those days when there was no king in Israel, there was a man, a Levite, living on the further side of the hills of Ephraim. And he took a wife to himself, a concubine out of Bethlehem-judah.
2 And his concubine committed adultery against him. And she went away from him to her father's house, to Bethlehem-judah, and was there many days, four months.
3 And her husband rose up and went after her, to speak to her heart, to bring her back. And his young man was with him, and a team of asses. And she brought him into her father's house. And the young woman's father saw him and rejoiced to meet him.
4 And his father-in-law, the young woman's father, detained him. And he stayed with him three days. And they ate and drank, and stayed there.
5 And it happened on the fourth day, they rose up early in the morning, and he rose up to go. And the young woman's father said to his son-in-law, Sustain your heart with a bit of food, and afterward you shall go on.
6 And they sat and ate both of them together, and drank. And the young woman's father said to the man, Please be content and stay all night, and let your heart be good.
7 And the man rose up to go; and his father-in-law pressed him, and he turned back and stayed there.
8 And he rose up early in the morning to go on the fifth day. And the young woman's father said, Please refresh your heart. And they stayed until the turning of the day. And they ate, both of them.
9 And the man rose to go, he and his concubine, and his young man. And his father-in-law, the young woman's father, said to him, Please notice that the day has faded toward evening. Please stay the night. Behold, the day is declining. Stay here, and let your heart be good, and you shall rise early tomorrow for your journey. And you shall go to your tent.
10 But the man was not willing to stay the night. And he rose up and departed, and went until he was opposite Jebus (it is Jerusalem) and with him a team of saddle asses. And his concubine was with him.
11 They were near Jebus, and the day was spent. And the young man said to his master, Please come and we shall turn to this city of the Jebusites, and stay in it.
12 And his master said to him, Let us not turn to the city of an alien that is not of the sons of Israel, but we shall pass over to Gibeah.
13 And he said to his young man, Come and we shall draw near to one of these places, and shall stay in Gibeah, or in Ramah.
14 And they passed on and traveled on. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.
15 And they turned aside there, to go in to stay the night in Gibeah. And he went in and sat in a broad place of the city. Yet there was no man that took them into his house to spend the night.
16 ¶ And, behold, a man, an aged one, came from his work from the field in the evening. And the man was from the hills of Ephraim; and he was tenanting in Gibeah. But the men of the place were sons of Benjamin.
17 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the man, the traveler, in a broad place of the city. And the aged man said, Where are you going, and where do you come from?
18 And he said to him, We are passing from Bethlehem-judah to the other side of the hills of Ephraim. I am from there, and I am going to Bethlehem-judah. And I am going to the house of Jehovah. Yet there is no man to take me into the house.
19 But there is straw and food for our asses, and also there is bread and wine for me, and for your slave girl, and for the young man with your servants; there is no lack of anything.
20 And the old man said, Peace to you. Only, all that you lack shall be on me. Only, do not spend the night in the open.
21 And he brought him to his house, and mixed fodder for the asses. And they washed their feet and ate and drank.
22 ¶ They were making their hearts merry. And, behold, men of the city, sons of worthless men, went around the house, beating on the door. And they spoke to the old man, the house-master, saying, Bring out the man who has come into your house, and we shall know him.
23 And the man, the house-master, went out to them and said to them, No, my brothers, please do not do evil, since this man has come into my house; do not do this grave sin.
24 Behold, my daughter, a virgin, and his concubine. Please let me bring them out, and you humble them. And do to them that which is good in your eyes but do not do this wicked thing to this man.
25 And the men were not willing to listen to him, and the man took hold on his concubine and brought her out to them outside. And they knew her, and rolled themselves on her all night, until the morning. And they sent her away at the dawning of the day.
26 And the woman came in at the dawning of the morning, and fell at the door of the man's house where her master was, till it was light.
27 And her master rose up in the morning, and opened the door of the house, and went out to go his way. And behold, the woman, his concubine, had fallen at the door of the house, and her hands were on the threshold.
28 And he said to her, Rise up, and we will go. But there was no answer. And he took her on the ass, and the man rose up and went to his place.
29 And he came to his house, and took the knife and lay hold on his concubine. And he cut her in pieces to her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the borders of Israel.
30 And it was so: all who saw it said, There has never been, and never was seen, a thing like this from the day the sons of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day. Set yourselves on it, take counsel. Then speak.

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Judges 20
1 ¶ And all the sons of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and the land of Gilead, to Jehovah at Mizpeh.
2 And the leaders of all the people of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of all the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen drawing sword.
3 And the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpeh. And the sons of Israel said, Speak up. How did this evil happen?
4 And the man, the Levite, husband of the woman who had been murdered, answered and said, I came into Gibeah which is to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.
5 And the men of Gibeah rose up against me. And they went around the house against me at night; they had in mind to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she died.
6 And I took hold on my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her into all the land of the inheritance of Israel. For they have done evil and folly in Israel.
7 Behold, you are the sons of Israel. Give here your advice and counsel.
8 And all the people rose up as one man, saying, Not one of us shall go to his tent, and not one of us shall return to his house.
9 And now, this is the thing which we shall do to Gibeah, going against it by lot.
10 And we shall take ten men of a hundred of all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to take food for the people, that they may act when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly which it has done in Israel.
11 And every man of Israel was gathered to the city, knit together as one man.
12 ¶ And the tribes of Israel sent men to all the tribes of Benjamin, saying, What is this evil which has happened among you?
13 And now, give up the men, sons of worthlessness, which are in Gibeah, and let us execute them. And we shall consume evil from Israel. But Benjamin was not willing to listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.
14 And the sons of Benjamin were gathered out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle with the sons of Israel.
15 And the sons of Benjamin counted themselves on that day. Out of the cities were twenty six thousand men drawing sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who counted themselves seven hundred chosen men.
16 Among all this people were seven hundred chosen men who were impeded in the right hand, each of these able to sling a stone at a hair. And he did not miss!
17 And the men of Israel numbered themselves, besides Benjamin, four hundred thousand men drawing sword, each of these a man of war.
18 ¶ And they rose up and went up to Bethel and asked of God. And the sons of Israel said, Who shall go up for us at the beginning of the battle with the sons of Benjamin? And Jehovah said, Judah, at the beginning.
19 And the sons of Israel rose up in the morning and camped against Gibeah.
20 And the men of Israel went to battle with Benjamin; and the men of Israel set themselves in order against them, to battle against Gibeah.
21 And the sons of Benjamin came out from Gibeah. And on that day they destroyed twenty two thousand to the earth in Israel.
22 And the people, the men of Israel, made themselves strong, and again set the battle in order in the place where they set themselves on the first day.
23 And the sons of Israel went up and wept before Jehovah until the evening, and asked of Jehovah, saying, Shall I again draw near to battle with the sons of my brother Benjamin? And Jehovah said, Go up against him.
24 And the sons of Israel drew near to the sons of Benjamin on the second day.
25 And Benjamin came out to meet them from Gibeah on the second day, and again destroyed to the earth eighteen thousand men of the sons of Israel; all these were drawers of sword.
26 ¶ And all the sons of Israel went up, even all the people, and came to Bethel, and wept. And they sat there before Jehovah, and fasted on that day until the evening, and caused burnt offerings and peace offerings to ascend before Jehovah.
27 And the sons of Israel asked of Jehovah (and the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron was standing before it in those days) saying, Shall I again go out to battle with the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease? And Jehovah said, Go up, for tomorrow I will give him into your hand.
29 And Israel set ambushers against Gibeah all around.
30 And the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in order against Gibeah, as at other times.
31 And the sons of Benjamin came out to meet the people. They were drawn away out of the city, and began to strike the people down wounded as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and one to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
32 And the sons of Benjamin said, They are destroyed before us as at the beginning. But the sons of Israel said, Let us flee and draw them away out of the city, into the highways.
33 And all the men of Israel rose from their place and set themselves in order at Baal-tamar. And Israel's ambush came out of its place, out of the meadow of Gibeah.
34 And they came in across from Gibeah, ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel. And the battle was heavy. And they did not know that evil was striking against them.
35 And Jehovah struck Benjamin before Israel. And the sons of Israel destroyed twenty five thousand, one hundred men on that day in Benjamin; all these were drawers of sword.
36 And the sons of Benjamin saw that they were stricken. And the men of Israel had given place to Benjamin, for they trusted to the ambush which they had set against Gibeah.
37 And the ambush hurried and came against Gibeah, and the ambush drew itself out and struck all of the city by the mouth of the sword.
38 And there was a sign set to the men of Israel with the ambush, to make it great, their causing a rising of smoke to go up from the city.
39 And the men of Israel turned in battle, and Benjamin had begun to strike, causing some to be slain of the men of Israel, about thirty men. For they said, Surely they are stricken down before us, as at the first battle.
40 And the rising of smoke began to go up from the city, a pillar. And Benjamin turned around, and, behold, the whole city had gone up toward the heavens.
41 And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were troubled. For they had seen that evil had struck them.
42 And they turned before the men of Israel toward the way of the wilderness. And the battle followed them. And those who were from the city were destroying them in their midst.
43 They surrounded Benjamin, and they pursued them without rest. And they trod them down until they were opposite Gibeah, at the rising of the sun.
44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of these mighty men.
45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. And they gleaned five thousand men of them in the highways, and caught them, to Gidom. And they struck two thousand men of them.
46 And all the ones of Benjamin who fell were twenty five thousand men drawing the sword on that day; all of these mighty men.
47 And six hundred men turned and fled into the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon. And they lived in the rock of Rimmon four months.
48 And the men of Israel turned back to the sons of Benjamin, and struck them by the mouth of the sword, from the entire city to livestock, to all that was found. Also they set fire to all the cities which were found.

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Judges 21
1 ¶ And the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, Not one of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.
2 And the people came to Bethel, and sat there before God until the evening. And they lifted up their voices and wept a great weeping.
3 And they said, O Jehovah, God of Israel, Why has this happened in Israel, to be lacking one tribe today from Israel?
4 And it happened on the next day, the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5 And the sons of Israel said, Who is he that did not come up in the assembly out of all the tribes of Israel to Jehovah? For a great oath had been undertaken concerning him that did not come up to Jehovah to Mizpeh saying, Dying he shall die.
6 And the sons of Israel repented concerning their brother Benjamin. And they said, One tribe from Israel has been cut off today.
7 What shall we do for them, for those who are left, for wives? For we surely have sworn by Jehovah not to give them of our daughters for wives.
8 And they said, What one out of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Jehovah to Mizpeh? And, behold, no one had come into the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.
9 And the people numbered themselves. And, behold, there was not a man of those living in Jabesh-gilead.
10 And the assembly sent twelve thousand men there of the mighty sons, and commanded them, saying, Go, and you shall strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the mouth of the sword, even the women and the little ones.
11 And this is the thing which you shall do. You shall destroy every male and every woman who has been known by lying with a male.
12 And out of all the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young women, virgins, who had not known a man by lying with a male. And they brought them into the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 And all the assembly sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and called out peace to them.
14 And Benjamin came again at that time. And they gave the women whom they had kept alive, of the women of Jabesh-gilead. But they did not find enough for them.
15 And the people repented as to Benjamin, for Jehovah had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.
16 ¶ And the elders of the assembly said, What shall we do to the remnant for wives for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?
17 And they said, The one who escaped shall be a legacy of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel.
18 And we surely are not able to give wives to them from our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
19 And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah from year to year in Shiloh, on the north side of Bethel, toward the rising of the sun, by the highway which goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
20 They commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go, and you shall lie in wait in the vineyards.
21 And you shall watch. And, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then you shall go out from the vineyards and each of you catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to strive with us, we shall say to them, Favor us with them, for we did not take for each man of them a wife in battle, for if you did not give to them as at this time, you would be guilty.
23 And the sons of Benjamin did so, and took women according to their number from the dancers whom they had seized. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and lived in them.
24 And the sons of Israel went up and down from there at that time, each to his tribe, and to his family. And they departed from there, every man to his inheritance.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Each man did that which was right in his own eyes.

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Scripture taken from the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
Copyright © 1976 - 2000
By Jay P. Green, Sr.
Used by permission of the copyright holder

[Policy for Reprint & Quoting from the Literal Translation]