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Judges Modern World Translation
Recounting the 330 year period of the Judges in Israel.
Roughly between 1400 and 1000 BCE.
Chapter 1 After Josua's death, Israel instructed to enter the promised land.
Canaanite city of Jerusalem among those destroyed.
Israel did not drive out their enemies as instructed!
1-1 And after the death of Joshua it came about that the sons of Israel proceeded to inquire of יהוה, saying: “Who of us will go up first to the Ca´naan·ites to fight against them?” 2 To this יהוה said: “Judah will go up. Look! I shall certainly give the land into his hand.” 3 Then Judah said to Sim´e·on his brother: “Come up with me into my lot and let us fight against the Ca´naan·ites, and I myself in turn will go with you into your lot.” Accordingly Sim´e·on went with him.
4 With that Judah went on up and יהוה gave the Ca´naan·ites and the Per´iz·zites into their hands, so that they defeated them in Be´zek, ten thousand men. 5 When they found A·do´ni-be´zek in Be´zek, then they fought against him and defeated the Ca´naan·ites and the Per´iz·zites. 6 When A·do´ni-be´zek took to flight, then they went chasing after him and got hold of him and cut off the thumbs of his hands and the great toes of his feet. 7 At this A·do´ni-be´zek said: “There have been seventy kings with the thumbs of their hands and the great toes of their feet cut off picking up food under my table. Just the way I have done, so God has repaid me.” After that they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.
8 Furthermore, the sons of Judah carried on war against Jerusalem and got to capture it, and they went striking it with the edge of the sword, and the city they consigned to the fire. 9 And afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Ca´naan·ites inhabiting the mountainous region and the Neg´eb and the She·phe´lah. 10 So Judah marched against the Ca´naan·ites who were dwelling in He´bron (now the name of He´bron before that was Kir´i·ath-ar´ba), and they went striking down She´shai and A·hi´man and Tal´mai.
11 And they marched on from there against the inhabitants of De´bir. (Now the name of De´bir before that was Kir´i·ath-se´pher.) 12 Then Ca´leb said: “Whoever strikes Kir´i·ath-se´pher and does capture it, why, I will give him Ach´sah my daughter as a wife.” 13 And Oth´ni·el the son of Ke´naz, Ca´leb’s younger brother, got to capture it. For that he gave him Ach´sah his daughter as a wife. 14 And it came about that while she was going home, she kept inciting him to ask a field from her father. Then she clapped her hands while upon the ass. At this Ca´leb said to her: “What do you want?” 15 So she said to him: “Do grant me a blessing, for it is a southern piece of land you have given me, and you must give me Gul´loth-ma´im.” Accordingly Ca´leb gave her Upper Gul´loth and Lower Gul´loth.
16 And the sons of the Ken´ite, whose son-in-law Moses was, came up out of the city of palm trees with the sons of Judah to the wilderness of Judah, which is to the south of A´rad. Then they went and took up dwelling with the people. 17 But Judah marched on with Sim´e·on his brother, and they proceeded to strike the Ca´naan·ites inhabiting Ze´phath and to devote it to destruction. Hence the name of the city was called Hor´mah. 18 After that Judah captured Ga´za and its territory and Ash´ke·lon and its territory and Ek´ron and its territory. 19 And יהוה continued with Judah, so that he took possession of the mountainous region, but he could not dispossess the inhabitants of the low plain, because they had war chariots with iron scythes. 20 When they gave Ca´leb He´bron, just as Moses had promised, then he drove out from there the three sons of A´nak.
21 And the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jeb´u·sites inhabiting Jerusalem; but the Jeb´u·sites keep on dwelling with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem down to this day.
22 Meantime the house of Joseph itself also went up against Beth´el, and יהוה was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph began to spy on Beth´el (incidentally, the name of the city before that was Luz), 24 and the watchers got to see a man going out of the city. So they said to him: “Show us, please, the way to get into the city, and we shall certainly exercise kindness toward you.” 25 Accordingly the man showed them the way to get into the city; and they went striking the city with the edge of the sword, but the man and all his family they let go. 26 Upon that the man went to the land of the Hit´tites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name down to this day.
27 And Ma·nas´seh did not take possession of Beth-she´an and its dependent towns and Ta´a·nach and its dependent towns and the inhabitants of Dor and its dependent towns and the inhabitants of Ib´le·am and its dependent towns and the inhabitants of Me·gid´do and its dependent towns, but the Ca´naan·ites persisted in dwelling in this land. 28 And it came about that Israel grew strong and proceeded to set the Ca´naan·ites to forced labor, and they did not drive them out completely.
29 Neither did E´phra·im drive out the Ca´naan·ites who were dwelling in Ge´zer, but the Ca´naan·ites continued to dwell in among them in Ge´zer.
30 Zeb´u·lun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kit´ron and the inhabitants of Na´ha·lol, but the Ca´naan·ites continued to dwell in among them and came to be subject to forced labor.
31 Ash´er did not drive out the inhabitants of Ac´co and the inhabitants of Si´don and Ah´lab and Ach´zib and Hel´bah and A´phik and Re´hob. 32 And the Ash´er·ites continued to dwell in among the Ca´naan·ites inhabiting the land, because they did not drive them out.
33 Naph´ta·li did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-she´mesh and the inhabitants of Beth-a´nath, but they continued to dwell in among the Ca´naan·ites inhabiting the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-she´mesh and of Beth-a´nath became theirs for forced labor.
34 And the Am´or·ites kept pressing the sons of Dan into the mountainous region, for they did not allow them to come down into the low plain. 35 So the Am´or·ites persisted in dwelling in Mount He´res and in Ai´ja·lon and Sha·al´bim. But the hand of the house of Joseph got to be so heavy that they were forced into task work. 36 And the territory of the Am´or·ites was from the ascent of A·krab´bim, from Se´la upward.
Chapter 2 Angel warns Israel of their great sin...
Recaps from Joshua 24 why they should not have sinned.
2-1 Then יהוה’s angel went up from Gil´gal to Bo´chim and said: “I proceeded to bring YOU up out of Egypt and to bring YOU into the land about which I swore to YOUR forefathers. Furthermore, I said, ‘Never shall I break my covenant with YOU. 2 And for YOUR part, YOU must not conclude a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. Their altars YOU should pull down.’ But YOU have not listened to my voice. Why have YOU done just the opposite? 3 So I, in turn, have said, ‘I shall not drive them away from before YOU, and they must become snares to YOU, and their gods will serve as a lure to YOU.’”
4 And it came about that as soon as יהוה’s angel had spoken these words to all the sons of Israel, the people began to raise their voices and weep. 5 Hence they called the name of that place Bo´chim. And they proceeded to sacrifice there to יהוה. [The following is restated from Joshua 24 of what happened before, to those who apparently hadn't bothered to or didn't know, as an introduction and/or explanation of what follows starting in chapter 3. Remember: Many years or even generations passed between the words and actions of one judge and the activities of another.]
6 When Joshua sent the people away, then the sons of Israel went their way, each to his inheritance, to take possession of the land. 7 And the people continued to serve יהוה all the days of Joshua and all the days of the older men who extended their days after Joshua and who had seen all of יהוה’s great work that he did for Israel. 8 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of יהוה, died at the age of a hundred and ten years. 9 So they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Tim´nath-he´res in the mountainous region of E´phra·im, on the north of Mount Ga´ash. 10 And all that generation too were gathered to their fathers, and another generation began to rise after them that did not know יהוה or the work that he had done for Israel.
11 And the sons of Israel fell to doing what was bad in the eyes of יהוה and serving the Ba´als. 12 Thus they abandoned יהוה the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and went following other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them and they began bowing down to them, so that they offended יהוה. Thus 13 they abandoned יהוה and took up serving Ba´al and the Ash´to·reth images. 14 At this יהוה’s anger blazed against Israel, so that he gave them into the hands of the pillagers, and they began to pillage them; and he proceeded to sell them into the hand of their enemies round about, and they were no longer able to stand before their enemies. 15 Everywhere that they went out, the hand of יהוה proved to be against them for calamity, just as יהוה had spoken and just as יהוה had sworn to them; and they got to be in very sore straits. 16 So יהוה would raise up judges, and they would save them out of the hand of their pillagers.
17 And even to their judges they did not listen, but they had immoral intercourse with other gods and went bowing down to them. They quickly turned aside from the way in which their forefathers had walked by obeying the commandments of יהוה. They did not do like that. 18 And when יהוה did raise up judges for them, יהוה proved to be with the judge, and he saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for יהוה would feel regret over their groaning because of their oppressors and those who were shoving them around.
19 And it occurred that when the judge died they would turn around and act more ruinously than their fathers by walking after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They did not refrain from their practices and their stubborn behavior. 20 Finally יהוה’s anger blazed against Israel and he said: “For the reason that this nation have overstepped my covenant that I commanded their forefathers and have not listened to my voice, 21 I too, for my part, shall not drive out again from before them a single one of the nations that Joshua left behind when he died, 22 in order by them to test Israel, whether they will be keepers of יהוה’s way by walking in it just as their fathers kept it, or not.” 23 Accordingly יהוה let these nations stay by not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into Joshua’s hand.
Chapter 3 The people forget יהוה but then repent and cry
for help when their enemies assault them.
God raises up Judges Othniel and then Ehud.
Ehud kills King Eglon with his sword and routed Moabites.
Shamgar proved to be after Ehud to help deliver Israel.
3-1 Now these are the nations that יהוה let stay so as by them to test Israel, that is, all those who had not experienced any of the wars of Ca´naan; 2 it was only in order for the generations of the sons of Israel to have the experience, so as to teach them war, that is, only those who before that had not experienced such things: 3 The five axis lords of the Phi·lis´tines, and all the Ca´naan·ites, even the Si·do´ni·ans and the Hi´vites inhabiting Mount Leb´a·non from Mount Ba´al-her´mon as far as to the entering in of Ha´math. 4 And they kept serving as agents to test Israel so as to know whether they would obey יהוה’s commandments that he had commanded their fathers by means of Moses. 5 And the sons of Israel dwelt in among the Ca´naan·ites, the Hit´tites and the Am´or·ites and the Per´iz·zites and the Hi´vites and the Jeb´u·sites. 6 And they proceeded to take their daughters as wives for themselves, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they took up serving their gods.
7 So the sons of Israel did what was bad in יהוה’s eyes, and they were forgetful of יהוה their God and went serving the Ba´als and the sacred poles. 8 At this יהוה’s anger blazed against Israel, so that he sold them into the hand of Cu´shan-rish·a·tha´im the king of Mes·o·po·ta´mi·a; and the sons of Israel continued to serve Cu´shan-rish·a·tha´im eight years. 9 And the sons of Israel began to call to יהוה for aid. Then יהוה raised a savior up for the sons of Israel that he might save them, Oth´ni·el the son of Ke´naz, the younger brother of Ca´leb. 10 The spirit of יהוה now came upon him, and he became the judge of Israel. When he went out to battle, then יהוה gave Cu´shan-rish·a·tha´im the king of Syria into his hand so that his hand overpowered Cu´shan-rish·a·tha´im. 11 After that the land had no disturbance for forty years. Eventually Oth´ni·el the son of Ke´naz died.
12 And once again the sons of Israel went doing what was bad in יהוה’s eyes. At that יהוה let Eg´lon the king of Mo´ab grow strong against Israel, because they did what was bad in יהוה’s eyes. 13 Furthermore, he gathered against them the sons of Am´mon and Am´a·lek. Then they went and struck Israel and took possession of the city of palm trees. 14 And the sons of Israel continued to serve Eg´lon the king of Mo´ab eighteen years. 15 And the sons of Israel began to call to יהוה for aid. So יהוה raised up for them a savior, E´hud the son of Ge´ra, a Ben´ja·mite, a left-handed man. In time the sons of Israel sent tribute by his hand to Eg´lon the king of Mo´ab. 16 Meanwhile E´hud made a sword for himself, and it had two edges, its length being a cubit [17 and one half inches]. Then he girded it underneath his garment upon his right thigh. 17 And he proceeded to present the tribute to Eg´lon the king of Mo´ab. Now Eg´lon was a very fat man.
18 And it came about that when he had finished presenting the tribute, he at once sent the people away, the bearers of the tribute. 19 And he himself turned back at the quarries that were at Gil´gal, and he proceeded to say: “I have a secret word for you, O king.” So he said: “Keep silence!” With that all those who were standing by him went on out from him. 20 And E´hud came to him as he was sitting in his cool roof chamber that he had to himself. And E´hud went on to say: “A word of God I have for you.” At that he rose up from his throne. 21 Then E´hud thrust in his left hand and took the sword off his right thigh and plunged it into his belly. 22 And the handle kept going in also after the blade so that the fat closed in over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the fecal matter began to come out. 23 And E´hud proceeded to go out through the air hole, but he closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. 24 And he himself went out.
And his servants came and began looking, and there the doors of the roof chamber were locked. So they said: “He is just easing nature in the cool interior room.” 25 And they kept waiting until they were ashamed, and, look! there was no one opening the doors of the roof chamber. At this they took the key and opened them, and, look! their lord was fallen to the earth dead!
26 As for E´hud, he escaped while they were lingering, and he himself passed by the quarries and made his escape to Se·i´rah. 27 And it came about that when he got there he began blowing the horn in the mountainous region of E´phra·im; and the sons of Israel began going down with him out of the mountainous region, he being at their head. 28 Then he said to them: “Follow me, because יהוה has given YOUR enemies, the Mo´ab·ites, into YOUR hand.” And they went following him and got to capture the fords of the Jordan against the Mo´ab·ites, and they did not allow anybody to pass over. 29 And at that time they went striking down Mo´ab, about ten thousand men, every one robust and every one a valiant man; and not a single one escaped. 30 And Mo´ab came to be subdued on that day under Israel’s hand; and the land had no further disturbance for eighty years.
31 And after him there proved to be Sham´gar the son of A´nath, and he went striking down the Phi·lis´tines, six hundred men, with a cattle goad; and he too got to save Israel.
Chapter 4 Deborah Judges during assault by Canaanite King Jabin; summons Judge Barak to save Israel from army led by Sisera.
Barak won't go unless Deborah accompanies him;
Deborah prophesies a woman will kill Sisera.
4-1 Then the sons of Israel again began to do what was bad in יהוה’s eyes now that E´hud was dead. 2 So יהוה sold them into the hand of Ja´bin the king of Ca´naan, who reigned in Ha´zor; and the chief of his army was Sis´e·ra, and he was dwelling in Ha·ro´sheth of the nations. 3 And the sons of Israel began to cry out to יהוה, because he had nine hundred war chariots with iron scythes, and he himself oppressed the sons of Israel with harshness twenty years.
4 Now Deb´o·rah, a prophetess, the wife of Lap´pi·doth, was judging Israel at that particular time. 5 And she was dwelling under Deb´o·rah’s palm tree between Ra´mah and Beth´el in the mountainous region of E´phra·im; and the sons of Israel would go up to her for judgment. 6 And she proceeded to send and call Ba´rak the son of A·bin´o·am out of Ke´desh-naph´ta·li and to say to him: “Has not יהוה the God of Israel given the command? ‘Go and you must spread yourself out on Mount Ta´bor, and you must take with you ten thousand men out of the sons of Naph´ta·li and out of the sons of Zeb´u·lun. 7 And I shall certainly draw to you at the torrent valley of Ki´shon Sis´e·ra the chief of Ja´bin’s army and his war chariots and his crowd, and I shall indeed give him into your hand.’”
8 At this Ba´rak said to her: “If you will go with me, I also shall certainly go; but if you will not go with me, I shall not go.” 9 To this she said: “Without fail I shall go with you. Just the same, the beautifying thing will not become yours on the way that you are going, for it will be into the hand of a woman that יהוה will sell Sis´e·ra.” With that Deb´o·rah got up and went with Ba´rak to Ke´desh. 10 And Ba´rak began to call Zeb´u·lun and Naph´ta·li together to Ke´desh, and ten thousand men went on up following his steps; and Deb´o·rah went on up with him.
11 Incidentally He´ber the Ken´ite had separated from the Ken´ites, the sons of Ho´bab, whose son-in-law Moses was, and he had his tent pitched near the big tree in Za·a·nan´nim, which is at Ke´desh.
12 Then they reported to Sis´e·ra that Ba´rak the son of A·bin´o·am had gone up to Mount Ta´bor. 13 At once Sis´e·ra called together all his war chariots, the nine hundred war chariots with iron scythes, and all the people that were with him, out of Ha·ro´sheth of the nations to the torrent valley of Ki´shon. 14 Deb´o·rah now said to Ba´rak: “Get up, for this is the day that יהוה will certainly give Sis´e·ra into your hand. Is it not יהוה that has gone out before you?” And Ba´rak went descending from Mount Ta´bor with ten thousand men behind him. 15 And יהוה began to throw Sis´e·ra and all his war chariots and all the camp into confusion by the edge of the sword before Ba´rak. Finally Sis´e·ra got down off the chariot and took to flight on foot. 16 And Ba´rak chased after the war chariots and the camp as far as Ha·ro´sheth of the nations, so that all the camp of Sis´e·ra fell by the edge of the sword. Not as much as one remained.
17 As for Sis´e·ra, he fled on foot to the tent of Ja´el the wife of He´ber the Ken´ite, for there was peace between Ja´bin the king of Ha´zor and the household of He´ber the Ken´ite. 18 Then Ja´el came on out to meet Sis´e·ra and said to him: “Turn this way, my lord, turn this way to me. Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent. Later she covered him with a blanket. 19 In time he said to her: “Give me, please, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” Accordingly she opened a skin bottle of milk and gave him a drink, after which she covered him. 20 And he went on to say to her: “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and it must occur that if anybody comes and does ask you and says, ‘Is there a man here?’ you must then say, ‘No!’”
21 And Ja´el the wife of He´ber proceeded to take a pin of the tent and to put the hammer into her hand. Then she went to him stealthily and drove the pin into his temples and beat it into the earth, while he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
22 And, look! there was Ba´rak pursuing Sis´e·ra. Ja´el now came on out to meet him and said to him: “Come and I shall show you the man you are looking for.” So in he went to her, and, look! there was Sis´e·ra fallen dead, with the pin in his temples.
23 Thus God subdued Ja´bin the king of Ca´naan before the sons of Israel on that day. 24 And the hand of the sons of Israel went on getting harder and harder against Ja´bin the king of Ca´naan, until they had cut off Ja´bin the king of Ca´naan.
Chapter 5 Deborah's song!
5-1 And on that day Deb´o·rah along with Ba´rak the son of A·bin´o·am broke out in song, saying:
2 “For letting the hair hang loose in Israel [for war],
For the people’s volunteering,
BLESS יהוה you people.
3 Listen, YOU kings; give ear, YOU high officials:
I to יהוה, yes, I, will sing.
I shall make melody to יהוה, Israel’s God.
4 יהוה,
at your going forth from Se´ir,
At your marching out of the field of E´dom,
Earth rocked, heavens also dripped,
Clouds also dripped with water.
5 Mountains flowed away from the face of יהוה,
This Si´nai away from the face of יהוה, Israel’s God.
6 In the days of Sham´gar the son of A´nath,
In the days of Ja´el, pathways had no traffic,
And the travelers of roadways would travel by roundabout pathways.
7 The dwellers in open country ceased,
in Israel they ceased,
Until I, Deb´o·rah, rose up,
Until I rose up as a mother in Israel.
8 They proceeded to choose new gods.
It was then there was war in the gates.
A shield could not be seen, nor a lance,
Among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is for the commanders of Israel,
Who were volunteers among the people.
BLESS יהוה.
10 YOU riders on yellowish-red she-asses,
YOU who sit on rich carpets,
And YOU who walk on the road,
Consider!
11 Some of the voices of the water distributors among the places of drawing water,
There they began to recount the righteous acts of יהוה,
The righteous acts of his dwellers in open country in Israel.
It was then יהוה’s people made their way down to the gates.
12 Awake, awake, O Deb´o·rah;
Awake, awake, utter a song!
Rise up, Ba´rak, and lead your captives away, you son of A·bin´o·am!
13 It was then the survivors came down to the majestic ones; יהוה’s people came down to me against the mighty ones.
14 Out of E´phra·im was their origin in the low plain,
With you, O Benjamin, among your peoples.
Out of Ma´chir the commanders went down,
And out of Zeb´u·lun those handling the equipment of a scribe.
15 And the princes in Is´sa·char were with Deb´o·rah,
And as Is´sa·char, so was Ba´rak.
Into the low plain he was sent on foot.
Among the divisions of Reu´ben great were the searchings of the heart.
16 Why did you sit down between the two saddlebags,
To listen to the pipings for the flocks?
For the divisions of Reu´ben there were great searchings of the heart.
17 Gil´e·ad kept to his residence on the other side of the Jordan;
And Dan, why did he continue to dwell for the time in ships?
Ash´er sat idle at the seashore,
And by his landing places he kept residing.
18 Zeb´u·lun was a people that scorned their souls to the point of death;
Naph´ta·li also, on the heights of the field.
19 Kings came, they fought;
It was then that the kings of Ca´naan fought
In Ta´a·nach by the waters of Me·gid´do.
No gain of silver did they take.
20 From heaven did the stars fight,
From their orbits they fought against Sis´e·ra.
21 The torrent of Ki´shon washed them away,
The torrent of ancient days, the torrent of Ki´shon.
You went treading down strength, O my soul.
22 It was then that the hoofs of horses pawed
Because of dashings upon dashings of his stallions.
23 ‘CURSE Me´roz,’ said the angel of יהוה,
‘CURSE its inhabitants incessantly,
For they did not come to the assistance of יהוה,
To the assistance of יהוה with the mighty ones.’
24 Ja´el the wife of He´ber the Ken´ite will be most blessed among women,
Among women in the tent she will be most blessed.
25 Water he asked, milk she gave;
In the large banquet bowl of majestic ones she presented curdled milk.
26 Her hand to the tent pin she then thrust out,
And her right hand to the mallet of hard workers.
And she hammered Sis´e·ra, she pierced his head through,
And she broke apart and cut up his temples.
27 Between her feet he collapsed, he fell, he lay down;
Between her feet he collapsed, he fell;
Where he collapsed, there he fell overcome.
28 From the window a woman looked out and kept watching for him,
The mother of Sis´e·ra from the lattice,
‘Why has his war chariot delayed in coming?
Why must the hoofbeats of his chariots be so late?’
29 The wise ones of her noble ladies would answer her,
Yes, she too would talk back to herself with her own sayings,
30 ‘Ought they not to find, ought they not to distribute spoil,
A womb—two wombs to every able-bodied man,
Spoil of dyed stuffs for Sis´e·ra, spoil of dyed stuffs,
An embroidered garment, dyed stuff, two embroidered garments
For the necks of [men of] spoil?’
31 Thus let all your enemies perish, O יהוה,
And let your lovers be as when the sun goes forth in its mightiness.”
And the land had no further disturbance for forty years.
Chapter 6 Israel again becomes unfaithful.
After rejecting God's protection, the Midianites do them harm; they repent once again. יהוה raises up Gideon!
Tears down his fathers alter to Baal and sacrifices his sacred bull!
God allows Gideon his test of first wet and then dry fleece.
6-1 Then the sons of Israel began to do what was bad in the eyes of יהוה. So יהוה gave them into the hand of Mid´i·an for seven years. 2 And the hand of Mid´i·an came to prevail over Israel. Due to Mid´i·an the sons of Israel made for themselves the underground store places that were in the mountains, and the caves and the places difficult to approach. 3 And it occurred that, if Israel sowed seed, Mid´i·an and Am´a·lek and the Easterners came up, yes, they came up against them. 4 And they would camp against them and would ruin the yield of the earth all the way to Ga´za, and they would not let any sustenance or sheep or bull or ass remain in Israel. 5 For they and their livestock would come up with their tents. They would come as numerous as the locusts, and they and their camels were without number; and they would come into the land to ruin it. 6 And Israel became greatly impoverished due to Mid´i·an; and the sons of Israel began to call to יהוה for aid.
7 And it came about that because the sons of Israel called to יהוה for aid on account of Mid´i·an, 8 יהוה proceeded to send a man, a prophet, to the sons of Israel and to say to them: “This is what יהוה the God of Israel has said, ‘It was I who brought YOU up from Egypt and thus brought YOU out of the house of slaves. 9 So I delivered YOU out of the hand of Egypt and out of the hand of all YOUR oppressors and drove them out from before YOU and gave YOU their land. 10 Furthermore, I said to YOU: “I am יהוה YOUR God. YOU must not fear the gods of the Am´or·ites in whose land YOU are dwelling.” And YOU did not listen to my voice.’”
11 Later יהוה’s angel came and sat under the big tree that was in Oph´rah, which belonged to Jo´ash the Abi-ez´rite, while Gid´e·on his son was beating out wheat in the winepress so as to get it quickly out of the sight of Mid´i·an. 12 Then יהוה’s angel appeared to him and said to him: “יהוה is with you, you valiant, mighty one.” 13 At this Gid´e·on said to him: “Excuse me, my lord, but if יהוה is with us, then why has all this come upon us, and where are all his wonderful acts that our fathers related to us, saying, ‘Was it not out of Egypt that יהוה brought us up?’ And now יהוה has deserted us, and he gives us into the palm of Mid´i·an.” 14 Upon that יהוה faced him and said: “Go in this power of yours, and you will certainly save Israel out of Mid´i·an’s palm. Do I not send you?” 15 In turn he said to him: “Excuse me, יהוה. With what shall I save Israel? Look! My thousand is the least in Ma·nas´seh, and I am the smallest in my father’s house.” 16 But יהוה said to him: “Because I shall prove to be with you, and you will certainly strike down Mid´i·an as if one man.”
17 At this he said to him: “If, now, I have found favor in your eyes, you must also perform a sign for me that you are the one speaking with me. 18 Do not, please, move away from here until I come to you and I have brought out my gift and set it before you.” Accordingly he said: “I, for my part, shall keep sitting here until you return.” 19 And Gid´e·on went in and proceeded to make ready a kid of the goats and an e´phah of flour as unfermented cakes. The meat he put in the basket, and the broth he put in the cooking pot, after which he brought it out to him under the big tree and served it.
20 The angel of the [true] God now said to him: “Take the meat and the unfermented cakes and set them on the big rock there, and pour out the broth.” At that he did so. 21 Then יהוה’s angel thrust out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unfermented cakes, and fire began to ascend out of the rock and to consume the meat and the unfermented cakes. As for יהוה’s angel, he vanished from his sight. 22 Consequently Gid´e·on realized that it was יהוה’s angel.
At once Gid´e·on said: “Alas, Sovereign Lord יהוה, for the reason that I have seen יהוה’s angel face to face!” 23 But יהוה said to him: “Peace be yours. Do not fear. You will not die.” 24 So Gid´e·on built an altar there to יהוה, and it continues to be called Je·ho´vah-sha´lom down to this day. It is yet in Oph´rah of the Abi-ez´rites.
25 And it came about during that night that יהוה went on to say to him: “Take the young bull, the bull that belongs to your father, that is, the second young bull of seven years, and you must tear down the altar of Ba´al that is your father’s, and the sacred pole that is by it you should cut down. 26 And you must build an altar to יהוה your God at the head of this stronghold, with the row of stones, and you must take the second young bull and offer it up as a burnt offering on the pieces of wood of the sacred pole that you will cut down.” 27 Accordingly Gid´e·on took ten men of his servants and went doing just as יהוה had spoken to him; but it came about that, as he feared the household of his father and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he went doing it by night.
28 When the men of the city got up early in the morning as usual, why, look! the altar of Ba´al had been pulled down and the sacred pole that was beside it had been cut down, and the second young bull had been offered up on the altar that had been built. 29 And they began to say one to another: “Who has done this thing?” And they went inquiring and seeking. Finally they said: “Gid´e·on the son of Jo´ash is the one that has done this thing.” 30 So the men of the city said to Jo´ash: “Bring your son out that he may die, because he has pulled down the altar of Ba´al, and because he has cut down the sacred pole that was by it.” 31 At this Jo´ash said to all those who stood against him: “Will YOU be the ones to make a legal defense for Ba´al to see whether YOU yourselves may save him? Whoever makes a legal defense for him ought to be put to death even this morning. If he is God, let him make a legal defense for himself, because someone has pulled down his altar.” 32 And he began to call him Jer·ub·ba´al on that day, saying: “Let Ba´al make a legal defense in his own behalf, because someone has pulled down his altar.”
33 And all Mid´i·an and Am´a·lek and the Easterners gathered together as one and proceeded to cross over and camp in the low plain of Jez´re·el. 34 And יהוה’s spirit enveloped Gid´e·on so that he went blowing the horn, and the Abi-ez´rites got to be called together after him. 35 And he sent out messengers through all of Ma·nas´seh, and they too got to be called together after him. He also sent out messengers through Ash´er and Zeb´u·lun and Naph´ta·li, and they came on up to meet him.
36 Then Gid´e·on said to the [true] God: “If you are saving Israel by means of me, just as you have promised, 37 here I am keeping a fleece of wool exposed on the threshing floor. If dew comes to be on the fleece alone but on all the earth there is dryness, then I must know that you will save Israel by means of me, just as you have promised.” 38 And it turned out to be that way. When he rose up early the next day and wrung the fleece, he got to drain off enough dew from the fleece to fill a large banquet bowl with water. 39 However, Gid´e·on said to the [true] God: “Do not let your anger blaze against me, but let me speak just once more. Let me, please, make a test only once more with the fleece. Let, please, dryness occur to the fleece alone, and upon all the earth let there come to be dew.” 40 So God did that way on that night; and dryness came to be on the fleece alone, and upon all the earth dew occurred.
Chapter 7 יהוה chooses 300 of the 32,000 to fight; keeps those
who are not afraid and remain upright [alert], drinking from their hand.
War cry of the 300: "יהוה's sword and Gideon's"
7-1 Then Jer·ub·ba´al, that is to say, Gid´e·on, and all the people who were with him, rose early and took up camping at the well of Ha´rod; and the camp of Mid´i·an happened to be on the north of him, at the hill of Mo´reh, in the low plain. 2 יהוה now said to Gid´e·on: “The people who are with you are too many for me to give Mid´i·an into their hand. Perhaps Israel would brag about itself against me, saying, ‘My hand it was that saved me.’ 3 And now call out, please, in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Who is there afraid and trembling? Let him retire.’” So Gid´e·on put them to the proof. With that, twenty-two thousand of the people retired, and there were ten thousand that remained.
4 Still יהוה said to Gid´e·on: “There are yet too many people. Have them go down to the water that I may put them to the proof for you there. And it must occur that of whomever I say to you, ‘This one will go with you,’ he is one that will go with you, but every one of whom I say to you, ‘This one will not go along with you,’ he is one that will not go along.” 5 So he had the people go down to the water.
Then יהוה said to Gid´e·on: “Every one that laps up some of the water with his tongue, just as a dog laps, he will go with you. Every one that bends down upon his knees to drink will not.” 6 And the number of those lapping with their hand to their mouth turned out to be three hundred men. As for all the rest of the people, they bent down upon their knees to drink water.
7 יהוה now said to Gid´e·on: “By the three hundred men who did the lapping with hand to mouth, I shall save YOU people, and I will give Mid´i·an into your hand. As for all the other people, let them go each one to his place.” 8 So they took the provisions of the people in their hand, and their horns, and all the men of Israel he sent away each one to his home; and he kept hold of the three hundred men. As for the camp of Mid´i·an, it happened to be down below him in the low plain.
9 And it came about during that night that יהוה proceeded to say to him: “Rise up, descend upon the camp, for I have given it into your hand. 10 But if you are afraid to descend, descend, you with Pu´rah your attendant, to the camp. 11 And you must listen to what they will speak, and afterward your hands will certainly grow strong, and you will be certain to descend upon the camp.” At that he and Pu´rah his attendant made their descent to the edge of those in battle formation who were in the camp.
12 Now Mid´i·an and Am´a·lek and all the Easterners were plumped in the low plain as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the grains of sand that are on the seashore. 13 Gid´e·on now came, and, look! there was a man relating a dream to his companion, and he went on to say: “Here is a dream that I have dreamed. And, look! there was a round cake of barley bread turning over and over into the camp of Mid´i·an. Then it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell, and it went turning it upside down, and the tent fell flat.” 14 At this his companion answered and said: “This is nothing else but the sword of Gid´e·on the son of Jo´ash, a man of Israel. The [true] God has given Mid´i·an and all the camp into his hand.”
15 And it came about that as soon as Gid´e·on heard the relating of the dream and its explanation, he began to worship. After that he returned to the camp of Israel and said: “Get up, for יהוה has given the camp of Mid´i·an into YOUR hand.” 16 Then he divided the three hundred men up into three bands and put horns in the hands of all of them and large empty jars, and torches inside the large jars. 17 And he went on to say to them: “YOU should learn from watching me, and that is how YOU should do. And when I am come to the edge of the camp, it must also occur that just as I shall do, so YOU will do. 18 When I have blown the horn, I and all who are with me, YOU also must blow the horns, YOU too, round about all the camp, and YOU must say, ‘יהוה’s and Gid´e·on’s!’”
19 In time Gid´e·on came with the hundred men who were with him to the edge of the camp at the start of the middle night watch. They had just got through posting the sentries. And they proceeded to blow the horns, and there was a dashing to pieces of the large water jars that were in their hands. 20 At that the three bands blew the horns and shattered the large jars and took fresh hold on the torches with their left hand and with their right hand on the horns to blow them, and they began calling out: “יהוה’s sword and Gid´e·on’s!” 21 All the while they kept standing each one in his place all around the camp, and the whole camp got on the run and broke out into shouting and went fleeing. 22 And the three hundred continued to blow the horns, and יהוה proceeded to set the sword of each one against the other in all the camp; and the camp kept up their flight as far as Beth-shit´tah, on to Zer´e·rah, as far as the outskirts of A´bel-me·ho´lah by Tab´bath.
23 Meantime the men of Israel were called together from Naph´ta·li and Ash´er and all of Ma·nas´seh, and they went chasing after Mid´i·an. 24 And Gid´e·on sent messengers into all the mountainous region of E´phra·im, saying: “Go down to meet Mid´i·an and capture ahead of them the waters as far as Beth-bar´ah and the Jordan.” So all the men of E´phra·im were called together, and they got to capture the waters as far as Beth-bar´ah and the Jordan. 25 They also got to capture the two princes of Mid´i·an, namely, O´reb and Ze´eb; and they proceeded to kill O´reb on the rock of O´reb, and they killed Ze´eb at the wine vat of Ze´eb. And they kept on pursuing Mid´i·an, and they brought the head of O´reb and that of Ze´eb to Gid´e·on in the region of the Jordan.
Chapter 8 Gideon humbly seeks peace; calms Ephraim's unrighteous anger.
Constructed a golden idol that became a snare for יהוה's people.
8-1 Then the men of E´phra·im said to him: “What sort of thing is this that you have done to us in not calling us when you went to fight against Mid´i·an?” And they vehemently tried to pick a quarrel with him. 2 Finally he said to them: “What now have I done in comparison with YOU? Are not the gleanings of E´phra·im better than the grape gathering of Abi-e´zer? 3 It was into YOUR hand that God gave Mid´i·an’s princes O´reb and Ze´eb, and what have I been able to do in comparison with YOU?” It was then that their spirit calmed down toward him when he spoke this word.
4 Eventually Gid´e·on came to the Jordan, crossing it, he and the three hundred men that were with him, tired but keeping up the pursuit. 5 Later he said to the men of Suc´coth: “Please give round loaves of bread to the people that are following my steps, for they are tired and I am chasing after Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na, the kings of Mid´i·an.” 6 But the princes of Suc´coth said: “Are the palms of Ze´bah and of Zal·mun´na already in your hand so that bread has to be given to your army?” 7 At this Gid´e·on said: “That is why when יהוה gives Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na into my hand, I shall certainly give YOUR flesh a threshing with the thorns of the wilderness and the briers.” 8 And he continued on his way up from there to Pe·nu´el and went speaking to them in this same manner, but the men of Pe·nu´el answered him just as the men of Suc´coth had answered. 9 Hence he said also to the men of Pe·nu´el: “When I return in peace, I shall pull down this tower.”
10 Now Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na were in Kar´kor, and their camps with them, about fifteen thousand being all who were left over out of the entire camp of the Easterners; and those already fallen were a hundred and twenty thousand men who used to draw the sword. 11 And Gid´e·on continued on up by the way of those residing in tents to the east of No´bah and Jog´be·hah and began to strike the camp while the camp happened to be off guard. 12 When Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na took to flight, he at once went in pursuit of them and got to capture Mid´i·an’s two kings, Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na; and he drove all the camp into trembling.
13 And Gid´e·on the son of Jo´ash began his return from the war by the pass that goes up to He´res. 14 En route he captured a young man of the men of Suc´coth and made inquiries of him. So he wrote out for him the names of the princes of Suc´coth and its older men, seventy-seven men. 15 With that he went to the men of Suc´coth and said: “Here are Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na respecting whom YOU taunted me, saying, ‘Are the palms of Ze´bah and of Zal·mun´na already in your hand so that bread has to be given to your tired-out men?’” 16 Then he took the older men of the city and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he put the men of Suc´coth through an experience. 17 And the tower of Pe·nu´el he pulled down, and he proceeded to kill the men of the city.
18 He now said to Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na: “What sort of men were they whom YOU killed in Ta´bor?” To this they said: “As you are, so were they, each one, like the sons of a king in form.” 19 At that he said: “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As יהוה lives, if YOU had preserved them alive, I would not have to kill YOU.” 20 Then he said to Je´ther his firstborn: “Get up, kill them.” And the young man did not draw his sword, because he was afraid, for he was yet a young man. 21 So Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na said: “Get up yourself and assault us, for as a man is, so is his mightiness.” Accordingly Gid´e·on got up and killed Ze´bah and Zal·mun´na and took the moon-shaped ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
22 Later the men of Israel said to Gid´e·on: “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson as well, for you have saved us out of the hand of Mid´i·an.” 23 But Gid´e·on said to them: “I myself shall not rule over YOU, nor will my son rule over YOU. יהוה is the one who will rule over YOU.” 24 And Gid´e·on went on to say to them: “Let me make a request of YOU: Give me, each one of YOU, the nose ring of his booty.” (For they had nose rings of gold, because they were Ish´ma·el·ites.) 25 Then they said: “We shall surely give them.” With that they spread out a mantle and went throwing each one the nose ring of his booty into it. 26 And the weight of the nose rings of gold that he had requested amounted to one thousand seven hundred gold shekels, besides the moon-shaped ornaments and the eardrops and the garments of wool dyed reddish purple that were upon the kings of Mid´i·an and besides the necklaces that were on the necks of the camels.
27 And Gid´e·on proceeded to make it into an idol [or statue] and to exhibit it in his city Oph´rah; and all Israel began to have immoral intercourse with it there, so that it served as a snare to Gid´e·on and to his household.
28 Thus Mid´i·an was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their head anymore; and the land had no further disturbance for forty years in the days of Gid´e·on.
29 And Jer·ub·ba´al [Gideon] the son of Jo´ash went his way and continued to dwell in his house.
30 And Gid´e·on came to have seventy sons that issued out of his upper thigh, for he came to have many wives. 31 As for the concubine of his that was in She´chem, she too bore him a son. So he named him A·bim´e·lech. 32 Eventually Gid´e·on the son of Jo´ash died at a good old age and was buried in the burial place of Jo´ash his father in Oph´rah of the Abi-ez´rites.
33 And it came about that as soon as Gid´e·on had died the sons of Israel again took up having immoral intercourse with the Ba´als, so that they appointed Ba´al-be´rith as their god. 34 And the sons of Israel did not remember יהוה their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies round about; 35 and they did not exercise loving-kindness toward the household of Jer·ub·ba´al [Gid´e·on], in return for all the goodness that he had exercised toward Israel.
Chapter 9 Gideon's son Abimelech kills all his brothers except Jotham.
Jotham calls down evil on Abimelech and his conspirators.
A woman drops a millstone on Abimelech's head in vindication of Jotham and his brothers.
9-1 In time A·bim´e·lech the son of Gideon went to She´chem to the brothers of his mother and began speaking to them and to all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying: 2 “Speak, please, in the hearing of all the landowners of She´chem, ‘Which is better for YOU, for seventy men, all the sons of Gideon, to rule over YOU or for one man to rule over YOU? And YOU must remember that YOUR bone and YOUR flesh I am.’”
3 So the brothers of his mother began speaking all these words about him in the hearing of all the landowners of She´chem so that their heart inclined toward A·bim´e·lech, for they said: “He is our own brother.” 4 Then they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Ba´al-be´rith, and with them A·bim´e·lech proceeded to hire idle and insolent men, that they might accompany him. 5 After that he went to the house of his father at Oph´rah and killed his brothers, the sons of Gideon, seventy men, upon one stone, but Jo´tham the youngest son of Gideon was left over, because he had hid.
6 Subsequently all the landowners of She´chem and all the house of Mil´lo gathered together and went and made A·bim´e·lech reign as king, close by the big tree, the pillar that was in She´chem.
7 When they reported it to Jo´tham he at once went and stood on the top of Mount Ger´i·zim and raised his voice and called out and said to them: “Listen to me, YOU landowners of She´chem, and let God listen to YOU:
8 “Once upon a time the trees went to anoint a king over them. So they said to the olive tree, ‘Do be king over us.’ 9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘Must I give up my fatness with which they glorify God and men, and must I go to wave over the other trees?’ 10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come, be queen over us.’ 11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Must I give up my sweetness and my good produce, and must I go to wave over the other trees?’ 12 Next the trees said to the vine, ‘You come, be queen over us.’ 13 In turn the vine said to them, ‘Must I give up my new wine that makes God and men rejoice, and must I go to wave over the trees?’ 14 Finally all the other trees said to the bramble, ‘You come, be king over us.’ 15 At this the bramble said to the trees, ‘If it is in truth that YOU are anointing me as king over YOU, come, seek refuge under my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Leb´a·non.’
16 “And now if it is in truth and in faultlessness that YOU have acted and that YOU went making A·bim´e·lech king, and if it is goodness that YOU have exercised toward Gideon and his household, and if YOU have done to him as the doing of his hands deserved, 17 when my father fought for YOU and went risking his soul that he might deliver YOU out of Mid´i·an’s hand; 18 and YOU, for YOUR part, have risen up against the household of my father today that YOU might kill his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and that YOU might make A·bim´e·lech, the son of his slave girl, king over the landowners of She´chem just because he is YOUR own brother; 19 yes, if it is in truth and in faultlessness that YOU have acted toward Gideon and his household this day, rejoice over A·bim´e·lech and let him too rejoice over YOU. 20 But if not, let fire come out of A·bim´e·lech and consume the landowners of She´chem and the house of Mil´lo, and let fire come out of the landowners of She´chem and the house of Mil´lo and consume A·bim´e·lech.”
21 Then Jo´tham took to flight and went running off and made his way to Be´er, and he took up dwelling there because of A·bim´e·lech his brother.
22 And A·bim´e·lech kept playing the prince over Israel three years. 23 Then God let develop a bad spirit between A·bim´e·lech and the landowners of She´chem, and the landowners of She´chem proceeded to deal treacherously with A·bim´e·lech, 24 that the violence done to the seventy sons of Gideon might come and that he might put their blood upon A·bim´e·lech their brother because he killed them, and upon the landowners of She´chem because they strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. 25 So the landowners of She´chem set ambush men for him upon the tops of the mountains, and they would rob everyone that would pass by them on the road. In time it was reported to A·bim´e·lech.
26 Then Ga´al the son of E´bed and his brothers came and crossed over into She´chem, and the landowners of She´chem began to trust in him. 27 And they went out as usual into the field and engaged in gathering the grapes of their vineyards and in treading them and in carrying on a festal exultation, after which they went into the house of their god and ate and drank and called down evil upon A·bim´e·lech. 28 And Ga´al the son of E´bed went on to say: “Who is A·bim´e·lech, and who is She´chem that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Gideon, and is not Ze´bul a commissioner of his? Serve the men of Ha´mor, She´chem’s father, YOU others, but why should we ourselves serve him? 29 And if only this people were in my hand! Then I would remove A·bim´e·lech.” And he went on to say to A·bim´e·lech: “Make your army numerous and come on out.”
30 And Ze´bul the prince of the city got to hear the words of Ga´al the son of E´bed. Then his anger blazed. 31 So he sent messengers by subterfuge to A·bim´e·lech, saying: “Look! Ga´al the son of E´bed and his brothers are now come to She´chem, and here they are massing the city against you. 32 And now rise up by night, you and the people that are with you, and lie in wait in the field. 33 And it must occur in the morning that as soon as the sun shines forth you should get up early, and you must make a dash against the city; and when he and the people that are with him are going out against you, you must also do to him just as your hand finds it possible.”
34 Accordingly A·bim´e·lech and all the people that were with him rose up by night, and they began to lie in wait against She´chem in four bands. 35 Later Ga´al the son of E´bed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate. Then A·bim´e·lech and the people that were with him rose up from the place of ambush. 36 When Ga´al caught sight of the people, he at once said to Ze´bul: “Look! People coming down from the tops of the mountains.” But Ze´bul said to him: “The shadows of the mountains are what you are seeing as though they were men.”
37 Later Ga´al spoke once more and said: “Look! People coming down out of the center of the land, and one band is coming by the way of the big tree of Me·on´e·nim.” 38 At this Ze´bul said to him: “Where now is that saying of yours that you mouthed, ‘Who is A·bim´e·lech that we should serve him?’ Is not this the people whom you rejected? Go out now, please, and fight against them.”
39 So Ga´al went on out at the head of the landowners of She´chem and took up the fight against A·bim´e·lech. 40 And A·bim´e·lech set out after him, and he went fleeing before him; and the slain kept falling in numbers as far as the entrance of the gate.
41 And A·bim´e·lech continued to dwell in A·ru´mah, and Ze´bul proceeded to drive Ga´al and his brothers out from dwelling in She´chem. 42 And it came about on the next day that the people began to go out into the field. So they told A·bim´e·lech. 43 Hence he took the people and divided them up into three bands and began to lie in wait in the field. Then he looked, and there the people were going out of the city. He now rose up against them and struck them down. 44 And A·bim´e·lech and the bands that were with him made a dash that they might stand at the entrance of the city gate, while two bands made a dash against all who were in the field, and they went striking them down. 45 And A·bim´e·lech fought against the city all that day and got to capture the city; and he killed the people that were in it, after which he pulled the city down and sowed it with salt.
46 When all the landowners of the tower of She´chem heard of it, they immediately went to the vault of the house of El-be´rith. 47 Then it was reported to A·bim´e·lech that all the landowners of the tower of She´chem had collected together. 48 At that A·bim´e·lech went up Mount Zal´mon, he and all the people that were with him. A·bim´e·lech now took an ax in his hand and cut down a branch of the trees and lifted it up and put it on his shoulder and said to the people that were with him: “What YOU have seen me do—hurry up, do like me!” 49 So all the people cut down also each one a branch for himself and went following A·bim´e·lech. Then they put them against the vault, and over them they set the vault on fire, so that all the men of the tower of She´chem died too, about a thousand men and women.
50 And A·bim´e·lech proceeded to go to The´bez and to camp against The´bez and capture it. 51 As a strong tower happened to be in the middle of the city, there was where all the men and women and all the landowners of the city went fleeing, after which they shut it behind them and climbed onto the roof of the tower. 52 And A·bim´e·lech made his way to the tower and began fighting against it, and he went on up close to the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 Then a certain woman pitched an upper millstone upon A·bim´e·lech’s head and broke his skull in pieces. 54 So he quickly called the attendant bearing his weapons and said to him: “Draw your sword and put me to death, for fear they should say about me, ‘It was a woman that killed him.’” Immediately his attendant ran him through, so that he died.
55 When the men of Israel got to see that A·bim´e·lech had died, they now went each one to his place. 56 Thus God made the evil of A·bim´e·lech that he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers come back. 57 And all the evil of the men of She´chem God made come back upon their own heads, that the malediction of Jo´tham the son of Jer·ub·ba´al [Gideon] might come upon them.
Chapter 10 Tola judged for 23 years.
Jair judged for 22 years; had 30 sons with 30 cities.
The people rebel but then again soften the face of יהוה by repentance.
10-1 Now after A·bim´e·lech there rose up to save Israel To´la the son of Pu´ah, the son of Do´do, a man of Is´sa·char, and he was dwelling in Sha´mir in the mountainous region of E´phra·im. 2 And he continued to judge Israel for twenty-three years, after which he died and was buried in Sha´mir.
3 Then after him Ja´ir the Gil´e·ad·ite rose up, and he continued to judge Israel for twenty-two years. 4 And he came to have thirty sons who rode on thirty full-grown asses, and they had thirty cities. These they continue to call Hav´voth-ja´ir down to this day; they are in the land of Gil´e·ad. 5 After that Ja´ir died and was buried in Ka´mon.
6 And the sons of Israel again proceeded to do what was bad in the eyes of יהוה, and they began to serve the Ba´als and the Ash´to·reth images and the gods of Syria and the gods of Si´don and the gods of Mo´ab and the gods of the sons of Am´mon and the gods of the Phi·lis´tines. So they left יהוה and did not serve him. 7 At this יהוה’s anger blazed against Israel, so that he sold them into the hand of the Phi·lis´tines and into the hand of the sons of Am´mon. 8 Hence they shattered and heavily oppressed the sons of Israel in that year—for eighteen years all the sons of Israel that were on the side of the Jordan in the land of the Am´or·ites that was in Gil´e·ad. 9 And the sons of Am´mon would cross the Jordan to fight even against Judah and Benjamin and the house of E´phra·im; and Israel was greatly distressed. 10 And the sons of Israel began to call to יהוה for aid, saying: “We have sinned against you, because we have left our God and we serve the Ba´als.”
11 Then יהוה said to the sons of Israel: “Was it not from Egypt and from the Am´or·ites and from the sons of Am´mon and from the Phi·lis´tines 12 and the Si·do´ni·ans and Am´a·lek and Mid´i·an, when they oppressed YOU and YOU went crying out to me, that I proceeded to save YOU out of their hand? 13 As for YOU, YOU abandoned me and took up serving other gods. That is why I shall not save YOU again. 14 Go and call for aid to the gods whom YOU have chosen. Let them be the ones to save YOU in the time of YOUR distress.” 15 But the sons of Israel said to יהוה: “We have sinned. You yourself do to us according to anything that is good in your eyes. Only deliver us, please, this day.” 16 And they began to remove the foreign gods from their midst and to serve יהוה, so that his soul became impatient because of the trouble of Israel.
17 In time the sons of Am´mon were called together and pitched camp in Gil´e·ad. So the sons of Israel gathered themselves together and pitched camp in Miz´pah. 18 And the people and the princes of Gil´e·ad began to say to one another: “Who is the man that will take the lead in fighting against the sons of Am´mon? Let him become the head of all the inhabitants of Gil´e·ad.”
Chapter 11 Jephthah's half brothers abused him because he was the son of a prostitute.
יהוה raises up Judge Jephthah.
Similar to today, Ammon attacks Israel because of land God had given the Jews, which land they believed belonged to their forefathers.
Jephthah explains why Ammon is wrong but they refuse to listen and suffer.
Jephthah makes rash vow to יהוה.
11-1 Now Jeph´thah the Gil´e·ad·ite had become a mighty, valiant man, and he was the son of a prostitute woman, and Gil´e·ad came to be the father of Jeph´thah. 2 And Gil´e·ad’s wife kept bearing sons to him. When the sons of the wife got big, they proceeded to drive Jeph´thah out and to say to him: “You must have no inheritance in the household of our father, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 So Jeph´thah ran away because of his brothers and took up dwelling in the land of Tob. And idle men kept bringing themselves together to Jeph´thah, and they would go out with him.
4 And it came about after a while that the sons of Am´mon began to fight against Israel. 5 And it came about that when the sons of Am´mon did fight against Israel, the older men of Gil´e·ad immediately went to take Jeph´thah out of the land of Tob. 6 Then they said to Jeph´thah: “Do come and serve as our commander, and let us fight against the sons of Am´mon.” 7 But Jeph´thah said to the older men of Gil´e·ad: “Was it not YOU that hated me so that YOU drove me out of my father’s house? And why is it that YOU have come to me now just when YOU are in distress?” 8 At this the older men of Gil´e·ad said to Jeph´thah: “That is why now we have returned to you, and you must go with us and fight against the sons of Am´mon, and you must become for us the head of all the inhabitants of Gil´e·ad.” 9 So Jeph´thah said to the older men of Gil´e·ad: “If YOU are bringing me back to fight against the sons of Am´mon, and יהוה does abandon them to me, I, for my part, shall become YOUR head!” 10 In turn the older men of Gil´e·ad said to Jeph´thah: “Let יהוה prove to be the listener between us if the way we shall do is not according to your word.” 11 Consequently Jeph´thah went with the older men of Gil´e·ad and the people set him over them as head and commander. And Jeph´thah proceeded to speak all his words before יהוה in Miz´pah.
12 Then Jeph´thah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Am´mon, saying: “What do I have to do with you, seeing that you have come against me to fight in my land?” 13 So the king of the sons of Am´mon said to the messengers of Jeph´thah: “It is because Israel took my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Ar´non as far as the Jab´bok and as far as the Jordan. And now do return it peacefully.” 14 But Jeph´thah sent once more messengers to the king of the sons of Am´mon 15 and said to him:
“This is what Jeph´thah has said, ‘Israel did not take the land of Mo´ab and the land of the sons of Am´mon. 16 For when they came up out of Egypt Israel went walking through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and got to come to Ka´desh. 17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of E´dom, saying: “Let me pass, please, through your land,” and the king of E´dom did not listen. And also to the king of Mo´ab they sent, and he did not consent. And Israel kept dwelling in Ka´desh. 18 When they walked on through the wilderness, they went their way around the land of E´dom and the land of Mo´ab, so that they went toward the rising of the sun as respects the land of Mo´ab and took up camping in the region of the Ar´non; and they did not come within the boundary of Mo´ab, because Ar´non was the boundary of Mo´ab.
19 “‘After that Israel sent messengers to Si´hon the king of the Am´or·ites, the king of Hesh´bon, and Israel said to him: “Let us pass, please, through your land to my own place.” 20 And Si´hon did not feel sure about Israel’s crossing through his territory, and Si´hon went gathering all his people together and camping in Ja´haz and fighting against Israel. 21 At this יהוה the God of Israel gave Si´hon and all his people into Israel’s hand, so that they struck them and Israel took possession of all the land of the Am´or·ites inhabiting that land. 22 Thus they took possession of all the territory of the Am´or·ites from the Ar´non as far as the Jab´bok and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan.
23 “‘And now יהוה the God of Israel it was that dispossessed the Am´or·ites from before his people Israel, and you, for your part, would dispossess them. 24 Is it not whomever Che´mosh your god causes you to dispossess that you will dispossess? And every one whom יהוה our God has dispossessed from before us is the one we shall dispossess. 25 And now are you any better than Ba´lak the son of Zip´por, the king of Mo´ab? Did he ever contend with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? 26 While Israel was dwelling in Hesh´bon and its dependent towns and in A·ro´er and its dependent towns and in all the cities that are by the banks of Ar´non for three hundred years, why, then, did you never snatch them away during that time? 27 As for me, I have not sinned against you, but you are dealing wrong with me by fighting against me. Let יהוה the Judge judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Am´mon.’”
28 And the king of the sons of Am´mon did not listen to the words of Jeph´thah that he had sent to him.
29 יהוה’s spirit now came upon Jeph´thah, and he proceeded to pass through Gil´e·ad and Ma·nas´seh and to pass through Miz´peh of Gil´e·ad, and from Miz´peh of Gil´e·ad he passed along to the sons of Am´mon.
30 Then Jeph´thah made a vow to יהוה and said: “If you without fail give the sons of Am´mon into my hand, 31 it must also occur that the one coming out, who comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Am´mon, must also become יהוה’s, and I must offer that one up as a burnt offering.”
32 So Jeph´thah passed along to the sons of Am´mon to fight against them, and יהוה proceeded to give them into his hand. 33 And he went striking them from A·ro´er all the way to Min´nith—twenty cities—and as far as A´bel-ker´a·mim with a very great slaughter. Thus the sons of Am´mon were subdued before the sons of Israel.
34 Finally Jeph´thah came to Miz´pah to his home, and, look! his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourine playing and dancing! Now she was absolutely the only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And it came about that when he caught sight of her, he began to rip his garments and to say: “Alas, my daughter! You have indeed made me bend down, and you yourself have become the one I was ostracizing. And I—I have opened my mouth to יהוה, and I am unable to turn back.”
36 But she said to him: “My father, if you have opened your mouth to יהוה, do to me according to what has gone forth from your mouth, since יהוה has executed acts of vengeance for you upon your enemies, the sons of Am´mon.” 37 And she went on to say to her father: “Let this thing be done to me: Let me alone for two months, and let me go, and I will descend upon the mountains, and let me weep over my virginity, I and my girl companions.”
38 At this he said: “Go!” So he sent her away for two months; and she kept going, she with her girl companions, and weeping over her virginity upon the mountains. 39 And it came about at the end of two months that she made her return to her father, after which he carried out his vow that he had made toward her. As for her, she never had relations with a man but was one dedicated to יהוה all the days of her life. And it came to be a regulation in Israel: 40 Once every year the daughters of Israel would go to give commendation to the daughter of Jeph´thah the Gil´e·ad·ite, four days in the year.
Chapter 12 Ephraim assaulted Jephthah without cause, just as they had previously done Gideon. יהוה did not tolerate it again.
Ephraim struck down; test of "Shiboleth"... Know יהוה's name!
Ibzan raised as judge. Elon then Abdon raised up.
12-1 Then the men of E´phra·im were called together and crossed over northward and said to Jeph´thah: “Why is it that you crossed over to fight against the sons of Am´mon, and to us you did not issue a call to go with you? Your very house we shall burn over you with fire.” 2 But Jeph´thah said to them: “I became a special contender, I and my people, with the sons of Am´mon. And I proceeded to call to YOU for aid, and YOU did not save me out of their hand. 3 When I got to see that you were no savior, then I determined to put my soul in my own palm and go over against the sons of Am´mon. At that יהוה gave them into my hand. So why have YOU come up against me this day to fight against me?”
4 Immediately Jeph´thah collected all the men of Gil´e·ad together and fought E´phra·im; and the men of Gil´e·ad went striking E´phra·im down, for the Ephraimites had said, "You Gileadites in Ephraim and Manasseh, you are deserters from Ephraim!" 5 And Gil´e·ad got to capture the fords of the Jordan ahead of E´phra·im; and it occurred that when the escaping men of E´phra·im would say: “Let me pass over,” then the men of Gil´e·ad would say to each one: “Are you an E´phra·im·ite?” When he would say: “No!” 6 then they would say to him: “Please say Shib´bo·leth.” And he would say: “Sib´bo·leth,” for Ephraimites were unable to say the word correctly. And they would lay hold of him and slay him at the fords of the Jordan. So there fell at that time forty-two thousand out of E´phra·im.
7 And Jeph´thah continued to judge Israel for six years, after which Jeph´thah the Gil´e·ad·ite died and was buried in his city in Gil´e·ad.
8 And Ib´zan from Beth´le·hem began to judge Israel after him. 9 And he came to have thirty sons and thirty daughters. He sent outside and brought in thirty daughters for his sons from outside. And he continued to judge Israel for seven years. 10 Then Ib´zan died and was buried in Beth´le·hem.
11 And after him E´lon the Ze·bu´lu·nite began to judge Israel. And he continued to judge Israel ten years. 12 Then E´lon the Ze·bu´lu·nite died and was buried in Ai´ja·lon in the land of Zeb´u·lun.
13 And after him Ab´don the son of Hil´lel the Pir´a·thon·ite began to judge Israel. 14 And he came to have forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy full-grown asses. And he continued to judge Israel eight years. 15 Then Ab´don the son of Hil´lel the Pir´a·thon·ite died and was buried in Pir´a·thon in the land of E´phra·im in the mountain of the A·mal´ek·ite.
Chapter 13 Angel appears to Sampson's mother.
Sampson raised up a "Nazirite of God" from before conception.
13-1 And the sons of Israel engaged again in doing what was bad in יהוה’s eyes, so that יהוה gave them into the hand of the Phi·lis´tines for forty years.
2 Meanwhile there happened to be a certain man of Zo´rah of the family of the Dan´ites, and his name was Ma·no´ah. And his wife was barren and had borne no child. 3 In time יהוה’s angel appeared to the woman and said to her: “Look, now, you are barren and have borne no child. And you will certainly become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 And now watch yourself, please, and do not drink wine or intoxicating liquor, and do not eat anything unclean. 5 For, look! you will be pregnant, and you will certainly give birth to a son, and no razor should come upon his head, because a Naz´i·rite of God is what the child will become on leaving the belly; and he it is who will take the lead in saving Israel out of the hand of the Phi·lis´tines.”
6 Then the woman went and said to her husband: “There was a man of the [true] God that came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of the [true] God, very fear-inspiring. And I did not ask him from just where he was, neither did he tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘Look! You will be pregnant, and you will certainly give birth to a son. And now do not drink wine or intoxicating liquor, and do not eat any unclean thing, because a Naz´i·rite of God is what the child will become on leaving the belly until the day of his death.’”
8 And Ma·no´ah began to entreat יהוה and say: “Excuse me, יהוה. The man of the [true] God that you just sent, let him, please, come again to us and instruct us as to what we ought to do to the child that will be born.” 9 Accordingly the [true] God listened to the voice of Ma·no´ah, and the angel of the [true] God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field, and Ma·no´ah her husband was not with her. 10 Immediately the woman hurried and ran and told her husband and said to him: “Look! The man that came the other day to me has appeared to me.”
11 At that Ma·no´ah got up and accompanied his wife and came to the man and said to him: “Are you the man that spoke to the woman?” to which he said: “I am.” 12 Then Ma·no´ah said: “Now let your words come true. What will become the child’s mode of life and his work?” 13 So יהוה’s angel said to Ma·no´ah: “From everything that I mentioned to the woman she should keep herself. 14 Nothing at all that comes forth from the wine vine should she eat, and no wine or intoxicating liquor let her drink, and no unclean thing of any sort let her eat. Everything that I have commanded her let her keep.”
15 Ma·no´ah now said to יהוה’s angel: “Let us, please, detain you and fix up a kid of the goats before you.” 16 But יהוה’s angel said to Ma·no´ah: “If you detain me, I shall not feed myself on your bread; but if you will render up a burnt offering to יהוה, you may offer it up.” For Ma·no´ah did not know that he was יהוה’s angel. 17 Then Ma·no´ah said to יהוה’s angel: “What is your name, that when your word comes true we shall certainly do you honor?” 18 However, יהוה’s angel said to him: “Just why should you ask about my name, when it is a wonderful one?”
19 And Ma·no´ah proceeded to take the kid of the goats and the grain offering and to offer it upon the rock to יהוה. And He was doing something in a wonderful way while Ma·no´ah and his wife were looking on. 20 So it came about that, as the flame ascended from off the altar heavenward, then יהוה’s angel ascended in the flame of the altar while Ma·no´ah and his wife were looking on. At once they fell upon their faces to the earth. 21 And יהוה’s angel did not repeat appearing to Ma·no´ah and his wife anymore. Then it was that Ma·no´ah knew that he had been יהוה’s angel. 22 Consequently Ma·no´ah said to his wife: “We shall positively die, because it is God that we have seen.” 23 But his wife said to him: “If יהוה had been delighted only to put us to death, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hand, and he would not have shown us all these things, and he would not as now have let us hear anything like this.”
24 Later the woman gave birth to a son and called his name Samson; and the boy kept getting bigger, and יהוה continued to bless him. 25 In time יהוה’s spirit started to impel him in Ma´ha·neh-dan between Zo´rah and Esh´ta·ol.
Chapter 14 Samson takes Philistine wife as they are ruling Israel.
Kills lion gets honey. Riddles Philistine groomsmen.
Wife conspires and reveals riddle. Kills 30 Philistines. Groomsman took his wife.
14-1 Then Samson went down to Tim´nah and saw a woman in Tim´nah of the daughters of the Phi·lis´tines. 2 So he went up and told his father and his mother and said: “There is a woman that I have seen in Tim´nah of the daughters of the Phi·lis´tines, and now get her for me as a wife.” 3 But his father and his mother said to him: “Is there not among the daughters of your brothers and among all my people a woman, so that you are going to take a wife from the uncircumcised Phi·lis´tines?” Still Samson said to his father: “Get just her for me, because she is the one just right in my eyes.” 4 As for his father and his mother, they did not know that that was from יהוה, that he was looking for an opportunity against the Phi·lis´tines, as at that particular time the Phi·lis´tines were ruling over Israel.
5 Accordingly Samson went on down with his father and his mother to Tim´nah. When he got as far as the vineyards of Tim´nah, why, look! a maned young lion roaring upon meeting him. 6 Then יהוה’s spirit became operative upon him, so that he tore it in two, just as someone tears a male kid in two, and there was nothing at all in his hand. And he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 And he continued on his way down and began to speak to the woman; and she was still right in Samson’s eyes.
8 Now after a while he went on back to take her home. Meantime he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion, and there there was a swarm of bees in the lion’s corpse, and honey. 9 So he scraped it out into his palms and walked on, eating as he walked. When he rejoined his father and his mother, he at once gave them some, and they began to eat. And he did not tell them that it was out of the corpse of the lion that he had scraped the honey.
10 And his father continued on his way down to the woman, and Samson proceeded to hold a banquet there; for that was the way the young fellows used to do. 11 And it came about that, on their seeing him, they immediately took thirty groomsmen, that these should keep with him. 12 Then Samson said to them: “Let me, please, propound a riddle to YOU. If YOU will without fail tell it to me during the seven days of the banquet and YOU do solve it, I shall in that case have to give YOU thirty undergarments and thirty outfits of clothing. 13 But if YOU are unable to tell it to me, YOU yourselves also must give me thirty undergarments and thirty outfits of clothing.” At this they said to him: “Do propound your riddle, and let us hear it.” 14 So he said to them:
“Out of the eater something to eat came forth,
And out of the strong something sweet came forth.”
And they proved unable to tell the riddle for three days. 15 And it came about on the fourth day that they began to say to Samson’s wife: “Fool your husband that he may tell us the riddle. Otherwise we shall burn you and the house of your father with fire. Was it to take our possessions that YOU people invited us here?” 16 Consequently Samson’s wife began to weep over him and to say: “You only hate me, you do, and you do not love me. There was a riddle that you propounded to the sons of my people, but to me you have not told it.” At this he said to her: “Why, to my own father and my own mother I have not told it, and ought I to tell it to you?” 17 But she kept weeping over him the seven days that the banquet continued for them, and it came about on the seventh day that finally he told her, because she had pressured him. Then she told the riddle to the sons of her people. 18 So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before ever he could go into the interior room:
“What is sweeter than honey,
And what is stronger than a lion?”
In turn he said to them:
“If YOU had not plowed with my young cow,
YOU would not have solved my riddle.”
19 And יהוה’s spirit became operative upon him, so that he went down to Ash´ke·lon and struck down thirty men of theirs and took what he stripped off them and gave the outfits to the tellers of the riddle. And his anger continued hot, and he went his way up to his father’s house.
20 And Samson’s wife came to belong to a groomsman of his who had associated with him.
Chapter 15 Samson uses foxes to set fire to Philistine crops for taking his wife.
Philistines burn his wife's whole family. Samson tied by brothers but breaks rope.
Kills 1000 Philistines with the jaw bone of an ass.
Miraculous water flow. Judges 20 years.
15-1 And it came about after a while, in the days of wheat harvest, that Samson went visiting his wife with a kid of the goats. So he said: “I will go in to my wife in the interior room.” And her father did not allow him to go in. 2 But her father said: “I really said to myself, ‘You must unquestionably hate her.’ Hence I gave her to your groomsman. Is not her younger sister better than she is? Let her, please, become yours instead of the other.” 3 However, Samson said to them: “This time I must be free of guilt against the Phi·lis´tines in case I am dealing with them to their injury.”
4 And Samson went his way and proceeded to catch three hundred foxes and to take torches and turn tail to tail and put one torch between two tails, right in the middle. 5 With that he set fire to the torches and sent them out into the fields of standing grain of the Phi·lis´tines. Thus he set on fire everything from sheaf to standing grain and the vineyards and the olive groves.
6 And the Phi·lis´tines began to say: “Who did this?” Then they said: “It was Samson the son-in-law of the Tim´nite, because he took his wife and then gave her to his groomsman.” At that the Phi·lis´tines went up and burned her and her father with fire. 7 In turn Samson said to them: “If YOU do like this, there is nothing but for me to avenge myself upon YOU, and afterward I shall quit.” 8 And he went smiting them, piling legs upon thighs with a great slaughter, after which he went down and began to dwell in a cleft of the crag E´tam.
9 Later the Phi·lis´tines came up and camped in Judah and went tramping about in Le´hi. 10 Then the men of Judah said: “Why have YOU come up against us?” to which they said: “It is to tie Samson that we have come up, to do to him just as he has done to us.” 11 So three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the crag E´tam and said to Samson: “Do you not know that the Phi·lis´tines are ruling over us? So what does this mean that you have done to us?” Then he said to them: “Just as they did to me is the way I have done to them.” 12 But they said to him: “It is to tie you that we have come down, to give you into the hand of the Phi·lis´tines.” At that Samson said to them: “Swear to me that YOU yourselves will not assault me.” 13 And they went on to say to him: “No, but we shall merely tie you, and we will give you into their hand; but we shall by no means put you to death.”
Accordingly they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up out of the crag. 14 He, for his part, came as far as Le´hi, and the Phi·lis´tines, for their part, shouted exultantly at meeting him. And יהוה’s spirit became operative upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms came to be like linen threads that have been scorched with fire, so that his fetters melted off his hands. 15 He now found a moist jawbone of a male ass and thrust his hand out and took it and went striking down a thousand men with it. 16 Then Samson said:
“With the jawbone of a male ass—one heap, two heaps!
With the jawbone of a male ass I have struck down a thousand men.”
17 And it came about that when he finished speaking, he immediately threw the jawbone out of his hand and called that place Ra´math-le´hi. 18 Now he became very thirsty, and he began to call on יהוה and say: “It was you that gave this great salvation into the hand of your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and must I fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God split open a mortar-shaped hollow that was in Le´hi, and water began to come out of it, and he proceeded to drink, after which his spirit returned and he revived. That is why he called its name En-hak·kor´e, which is in Le´hi down to this day.
20 And he continued to judge Israel in the days of the Phi·lis´tines twenty years.
Chapter 16 Pulled out city gates and posts and carried them 37 miles to Mt. Hebron.
Fell in love with Delilah and tells her the secret of his strength.
She cuts his hair and gives him to the Axix Lords.
They take him captive and blind him.
Hair grows. יהוה's spirit and his strength return.
Prays for 's help to destroy temple, killing himself
along with more Philistines than he killed all his life.
16-1 Once Samson went to Ga´za and saw a prostitute woman there and came in to her. 2 And report was made to the Ga´zites, saying: “Samson has come in here.” So the Philistines surrounded him and lay in wait for him all night long in the city gate. And they kept quiet the whole night, saying: “As soon as the morning gets light, we must also kill him.”
3 However, Samson kept lying till midnight and then rose at midnight and grabbed hold of the doors of the city gate and the two side posts and pulled them out along with the bar and put them upon his shoulders and went carrying them up to the top of the mountain that is in front of He´bron.
4 And it came about after that that he fell in love with a woman in the torrent valley of So´rek, and her name was De·li´lah. 5 And the axis lords of the Phi·lis´tines proceeded to come up to her and to say to her: “Fool him and see in what his great power is and with what we can prevail over him and with what we are certain to tie him so as to master him; and we, for our part, shall give you each one thousand one hundred silver pieces.”
6 Later De·li´lah said to Samson: “Do tell me, please, In what is your great power and with what can you be tied for one to master you?” 7 Then Samson said to her: “If they tie me with seven still-moist sinews that have not been dried out, I must also grow weak and become like an ordinary man.” 8 So the axis lords of the Phi·lis´tines brought up to her seven still-moist sinews that had not been dried out. Later she tied him with them. 9 Now the ambush was sitting in the interior room of hers, and she began to say to him: “The Phi·lis´tines are upon you, Samson!” At that he tore the sinews in two, just as a twisted thread of tow is torn in two when it smells fire. And his power did not become known.
10 Subsequently De·li´lah said to Samson: “Look! You have trifled with me that you might speak lies to me. Now tell me, do please, with what you can be tied.” 11 So he said to her: “If they tie me tight with new ropes with which no work has been done, I must also grow weak and become like an ordinary man.” 12 So De·li´lah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him: “The Phi·lis´tines are upon you, Samson!” All the while the ambush was sitting in the interior room. At that he tore them in two from off his arms like a thread.
13 After that De·li´lah said to Samson: “Up till now you have trifled with me that you might speak lies to me. Do tell me with what you can be tied.” Then he said to her: “If you will weave the seven braids of my head with the warp thread.” 14 Accordingly she fixed them with the pin, after which she said to him: “The Phi·lis´tines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the loom pin and the warp thread.
15 She now said to him: “How dare you say, ‘I do love you,’ when your heart is not with me? These three times you have trifled with me and have not told me in what your great power is.” 16 And it came about that because she pressured him with her words all the time and kept urging him, his soul got to be impatient to the point of dying. 17 Finally he disclosed to her all his heart and said to her: “A razor has never come upon my head, because I am a Naz´i·rite of God from my mother’s belly. If I did get shaved, my power also would certainly depart from me, and I should indeed grow weak and become like all other men.”
18 When De·li´lah got to see that he had disclosed to her all his heart, she immediately sent and called the Phi·lis´tine axis lords, saying: “Come up this time, for he has disclosed to me all his heart.” And the Phi·lis´tine axis lords came up to her that they might bring up the money in their hand. 19 And she proceeded to make him sleep upon her knees. Then she called the man and had him shave off the seven braids of his head, after which she started to show the mastery of him, and his power kept departing from upon him. 20 Now she said: “The Phi·lis´tines are upon you, Samson!” At that he woke up from his sleep and said: “I shall go out as at other times and shake myself free.” And he himself did not know that it was יהוה that had departed from him. 21 So the Phi·lis´tines grabbed hold of him and bored his eyes out and brought him down to Ga´za and bound him with two fetters of copper; and he came to be a grinder in the prison house. 22 Meanwhile the hair of his head started to grow luxuriantly as soon as he had been shaved.
23 As for the Phi·lis´tine axis lords, they gathered together to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Da´gon their god and for rejoicing, and they kept saying: “Our god has given into our hand Samson our enemy!” 24 When the people got to see him, they at once gave way to praising their god, “because,” said they, “our god has given into our hand our enemy and the devastator of our land and the one who multiplied our slain.”
25 And it came about that because their heart was merry, they began to say: “Call Samson that he may offer us some amusement.” So they called Samson out of the prison house that he might make sport before them; and they proceeded to stand him between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the boy that was holding him by his hand: “Do permit me to feel the pillars upon which the house is firmly established and let me lean against them.” 27 (Incidentally, the house was full of men and women and all the Phi·lis´tine axis lords were there; and upon the roof there were about three thousand men and women who were looking on while Samson offered some amusement.)
28 Samson now called to יהוה and said: “Sovereign Lord יהוה, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, just this once, O you the [true] God, and let me avenge myself upon the Phi·lis´tines with vengeance for one of my two eyes.”
29 With that Samson braced himself against the two middle pillars upon which the house was firmly established, and got a grasp on them, one with his right and the other with his left hand. 30 And Samson proceeded to say: “Let my soul die with the Phi·lis´tines.” Then he bent himself with power, and the house went falling upon the axis lords and upon all the people that were in it, so that the dead that he put to death in his own death came to be more than those he had put to death during his lifetime.
31 Later his brothers and all the household of his father came on down and lifted him up and brought him up and buried him between Zo´rah and Esh´ta·ol in the burial place of Ma·no´ah his father. As for him, he had judged Israel twenty years.
Chapter 17 Micah makes a Levite priest to his false god.
17-1 Now there happened to be a man of the mountainous region of E´phra·im whose name was Mi´cah. 2 In time he said to his mother: “The thousand one hundred silver pieces that were taken from you and over which you pronounced a curse and also said it in my hearing—look! the silver is with me. It was I who took it.” At that his mother said: “Blessed may my son be of יהוה.” Accordingly 3 he gave back the thousand one hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother went on to say: “I must without fail sanctify the silver to יהוה from my hand for my son, so as to make a carved image and a molten statue; and now I shall give it back to you.”
4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took two hundred silver pieces and gave them to the silversmith. And he went making a carved image and a molten statue; and it got to be in Mi´cah’s house. 5 As for the man Mi´cah, he had a house of gods, and he proceeded to make an eph´od and teraphim and to fill the hand of one of his sons with power, that he might serve as priest for him. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel. As for everybody, what was right in his own eyes he was accustomed to do.
7 Now there happened to be a young man of Beth´le·hem in Judah of the family of Judah, and he was a Levite. And he was residing there for a time. 8 And the man proceeded to go from the city of Beth´le·hem in Judah to reside for a time wherever he might find a place. At length while going his way he came into the mountainous region of E´phra·im as far as the house of Mi´cah. 9 Then Mi´cah said to him: “Where do you come from?” At that he said to him: “I am a Levite from Beth´le·hem in Judah, and I am on my way to reside for a time wherever I may find a place.” 10 So Mi´cah said to him: “Do dwell with me and serve as a father and priest for me, and I, for my part, shall give you ten silver pieces a year and the usual outfit of garments and your sustenance.” Accordingly the Levite went in. 11 Thus the Levite took it upon himself to dwell with the man, and the young man got to be as one of his sons to him. 12 Furthermore, Mi´cah filled the hand of the Levite with power, that the young man might serve as a priest for him and might continue in the house of Mi´cah. 13 Hence Mi´cah said: “Now I do know that יהוה will do me good, because the Levite has become priest for me.”
Chapter 18 Dan sent spies seeking inheritance of land.
Find Micah's priest and favorably inquire of God about effort.
Danites find and take land; and then build the city of Dan.
They keep Micah's Gods and priest.
18-1 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Dan´ites was looking for an inheritance for itself to dwell there; because up to that day an inheritance had not fallen to them in the midst of the tribes of Israel.
2 Eventually the sons of Dan sent five men of their family, men from among them, men who were valiant fellows, out from Zo´rah and Esh´ta·ol, to spy out the land and to explore it. So they said to them: “Go, explore the land.” In time they came into the mountainous region of E´phra·im as far as the house of Mi´cah and got to spend the night there. 3 While they were close by the house of Mi´cah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite, so that they turned aside there. And they proceeded to say to him: “Who brought you here, and what are you doing in this place, and what interest do you have here?” 4 In turn he said to them: “Thus and so Mi´cah did for me that he might hire me, and that I might serve as priest for him.” 5 Then they said to him: “Inquire, please, of God that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be successful.” 6 So the priest said to them: “Go in peace. It is before יהוה that YOUR way is in which YOU go.”
7 Accordingly the five men went on and came to La´ish and saw how the people that were within it were dwelling in self-reliance according to the custom of the Si·do´ni·ans, quiet and unsuspecting, and there was no oppressive conqueror that was molesting a thing in the land, while they were far off from the Si·do´ni·ans and they had nothing to do with mankind.
8 At length they came to their brothers at Zo´rah and Esh´ta·ol, and their brothers began to say to them: “How was it with YOU?” 9 At this they said: “Do get up, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and, look! it is very good. And YOU are hesitant. Do not be sluggish about walking to come in to take possession of the land. 10 When YOU come in, YOU will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is quite wide; for God has given it into YOUR hand, a place where there is no lack of any sort of thing that is in the earth.”
11 Then six hundred men girded with weapons of war, out of the family of the Dan´ites, departed from there, that is, from Zo´rah and Esh´ta·ol. 12 And they got on their way up and went camping at Kir´i·ath-je´a·rim in Judah. That is why they have called that place Ma´ha·neh-dan down to this day. Look! It is west of Kir´i·ath-je´a·rim. 13 After that they passed along from there to the mountainous region of E´phra·im and came as far as the house of Mi´cah.
14 Then the five men that had gone to spy out the land of La´ish answered and said to their brothers: “Did YOU know that there are in these houses an eph´od and teraphim and a carved image and a molten statue? And now have in mind what YOU ought to do.” 15 So they turned aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, at the house of Mi´cah, and began to ask how he was getting along. 16 All the while the six hundred men girded with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, were standing at the entrance of the gate. 17 The five men that had gone to spy out the land now went on up, that they might enter in there to take the carved image and the eph´od and the teraphim and the molten image. (And the priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men girded with weapons of war.) 18 And these went into the house of Mi´cah and proceeded to take the carved image, the eph´od and the teraphim and the molten image. At that the priest said to them: “What are YOU doing?” 19 But they said to him: “Be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth, and go with us and become a father and a priest for us. Which is better, for you to continue a priest to the house of one man or for you to become a priest to a tribe and family in Israel?” 20 At this the heart of the priest was pleased, and he now took the eph´od and the teraphim and the carved image and came into the midst of the people.
21 Then they turned and went their way and put the little ones and the livestock and the valuable things ahead of them. 22 They themselves had got a distance away from the house of Mi´cah when the men who were in the houses that were close by the house of Mi´cah were called together and tried to catch up with the sons of Dan. 23 When they kept crying out to the sons of Dan, then they turned their faces and said to Mi´cah: “What is the matter with you that you have been called together?” 24 So he said: “My gods that I made YOU have taken, the priest too, and YOU go YOUR way, and what do I have anymore? How, then, is it that YOU can say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” 25 At this the sons of Dan said to him: “Do not let your voice be heard close to us, for fear that men bitter of soul may assault YOU people, and you have to forfeit your own soul and the soul of your household.” 26 And the sons of Dan kept going on their way; and Mi´cah got to see that they were stronger than he was, and so he turned and went back to his house.
27 As for them, they took what Mi´cah had made and the priest that had become his, and they kept going toward La´ish, against a people quiet and unsuspecting. And they proceeded to strike them with the edge of the sword, and the city they burned with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer, for it was far away from Si´don, and they had nothing at all to do with mankind; and it was in the low plain that belonged to Beth-re´hob. Then they built the city and took up dwelling in it. 29 Furthermore, they called the name of the city Dan by the name of their father, Dan, who had been born to Israel. Nevertheless, La´ish was the city’s name at first. 30 After that the sons of Dan stood up the carved image for themselves; and Jon´a·than the son of Ger´shom, Moses’ son, he and his sons became priests to the tribe of the Dan´ites until the day of the land’s being taken into exile. 31 And they kept the carved image of Mi´cah, which he had made, set up for themselves all the days that the house of the [true] God continued in Shi´loh.
Chapter 19 Levite takes wife who is unfaithful. She returns to her father's house.
Levite goes to fetch her and spends the night in Gibeah on returning, among Benjamites.
The depraved and homosexual men of the city assaulted the house the Levite was saying in.
Took his concubine and abused her to death.
The Levite cut her into 12 pieces and sent her throughout Israel.
19-1 Now it happened in those days that there was no king in Israel. And it came about that a certain Levite was residing for a time in the remotest parts of the mountainous region of E´phra·im. In time he took as his wife a concubine from Beth´le·hem in Judah. 2 And his concubine began to commit fornication against him. Finally she went away from him to the house of her father at Beth´le·hem in Judah and continued there fully four months. 3 Then her husband got up and went after her to speak consolingly to her so as to bring her back; and there were with him his attendant and a couple of he-asses. So she had him come into her father’s house. When the father of the young woman got to see him, he at once rejoiced to meet him. 4 Consequently his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, took hold of him, so that he continued to dwell with him three days; and they would eat and drink, and he would stay overnight there.
5 And it came about on the fourth day, when they got up early in the morning as usual, he now rose to go, but the father of the young woman said to his son-in-law: “Sustain your heart with a bit of bread and afterward YOU people may go.” 6 So they sat down, and both of them began to eat and to drink together; after which the father of the young woman said to the man: “Come on, please, and stay overnight, and let your heart feel good.” 7 When the man rose to go, his father-in-law kept begging him, so that he stayed overnight there again.
8 When he got up early in the morning on the fifth day to go, the father of the young woman then said: “Please, take sustenance for your heart.” And they lingered until the fading away of the day. And both of them kept eating. 9 The man now rose to go, he and his concubine and his attendant; but his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him: “Look, now! The day has declined toward becoming evening. Please, STAY overnight. Here the day is settling down. Stay here overnight, and let your heart feel good. And tomorrow YOU people must get up early for YOUR journey, and you must go to your tent.” 10 However, the man did not consent to stay overnight, but he rose and got on his way and came as far as in front of Je´bus, that is to say, Jerusalem; and with him there were the couple of he-asses saddled up, and his concubine and his attendant.
11 While they were close by Je´bus, as the daylight had gone down considerably, the attendant now said to his master: “O come, now, and let us turn aside to this city of the Jeb´u·sites and stay in it overnight.” 12 But his master said to him: “Let us not turn aside to a city of foreigners who are no part of the sons of Israel; and we have to pass on as far as Gib´e·ah.” 13 And he went on to say to his attendant: “Come and let us approach one of the places, and we must stay overnight either in Gib´e·ah or in Ra´mah.” 14 So they passed along and kept on their way, and the sun began to set upon them when near to Gib´e·ah, which belongs to Benjamin.
15 Consequently they turned aside there to go in to stay overnight in Gib´e·ah. And they proceeded to go in and sit down in the public square of the city, and there was nobody taking them on into the house to stay overnight. 16 Eventually, look! an old man coming in from his work in the field at evening, and the man was from the mountainous region of E´phra·im, and he was residing for a time in Gib´e·ah; but the men of the place were Ben´ja·mites. 17 When he raised his eyes he got to see the man, the traveler, in the public square of the city. So the old man said: “Where are you going, and where do you come from?” 18 In turn he said to him: “We are passing along from Beth´le·hem in Judah to the remotest parts of the mountainous region of E´phra·im. That is where I am from, but I went to Beth´le·hem in Judah; and it is to my own house that I am going, and there is nobody taking me on into the house. 19 And there are both straw and fodder for our he-asses, and there are both bread and wine for me and your slave girl and for the attendant with your servant. There is no lack of a single thing.” 20 However, the old man said: “May you have peace! Just let any lack of yours be upon me. Only do not stay overnight in the public square.” 21 With that he brought him into his house and threw mash to the he-asses. Then they washed their feet and began to eat and drink.
22 While they were making their hearts feel good, look! the men of the city, mere good-for-nothing men, surrounded the house, shoving one another against the door; and they kept saying to the old man, the owner of the house: “Bring out the man that came into your house, that we may have intercourse with him.” 23 At that the owner of the house went on out to them and said to them: “No, my brothers, do not do anything wrong, please, since this man has come into my house. Do not commit this disgraceful folly. 24 Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out, please, and YOU rape them and do to them what is good in YOUR eyes. But to this man YOU must not do this disgraceful, foolish thing.”
25 And the men did not want to listen to him. Hence the man took hold of his concubine and brought her forth to them outside; and they began to have intercourse with her, and kept on abusing her all night long until the morning, after which they sent her off at the ascending of the dawn. 26 Then the woman came as it was turning to morning, and fell down at the entrance of the man’s house where her master was,—until daylight. 27 Later her master rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to get on his way, and, look! the woman, his concubine, fallen at the entrance of the house with her hands upon the threshold! 28 So he said to her: “Rise up, and let us go.” But there was no one answering. At that the man took her upon the ass and rose up and went to his place.
29 Then he entered his house and took the slaughtering knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her up according to her bones into twelve pieces and sent her into every territory of Israel. 30 And it occurred that everybody seeing it said: “Such a thing as this has never been brought about or been seen from the day that the sons of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt down to this day. Set YOUR hearts upon it, take counsel and speak.”
Chapter 20 All Israel rises up against Gibea of Benjamin.
Israel demands Benjamin give over the good for nothing men of Gibea.
Tribe of Benjamin came out to fight for the evil doers.
Benjamin nearly destroyed.
20-1 Consequently all the sons of Israel went out and the assembly congregated themselves as one man, from Dan down to Be´er-she´ba along with the land of Gil´e·ad, to יהוה at Miz´pah. 2 So the keymen of all the people and all the tribes of Israel took their station in the congregation of the people of the [true] God, four hundred thousand men on foot who drew the sword.
3 And the sons of Benjamin got to hear that the sons of Israel had gone up to Miz´pah.
Then the sons of Israel said: “SPEAK. How has this bad thing been brought about?” 4 At this the man, the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered and said: “It was to Gib´e·ah, which belongs to Benjamin, that I came, I and my concubine, to stay overnight. 5 And the landowners of Gib´e·ah proceeded to rise up against me and to surround the house against me by night. It was I that they figured on killing, but it was my concubine that they raped, and she gradually died. 6 Hence I grasped my concubine and cut her up and sent her into every field of Israel’s inheritance, because they had carried on loose conduct and disgraceful folly in Israel. 7 Look! All YOU sons of Israel, give YOUR word and counsel here.”
8 So all the people rose up as one man, saying: “We shall not go any of us to his tent, nor shall we turn aside any of us to his house. 9 And now this is the thing that we shall do to Gib´e·ah. Let us go up by lot against it. 10 And we must take ten men out of a hundred of all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to procure provisions for the people, that they may take action by going against Gib´e·ah of Benjamin, in view of all the disgraceful folly that they did in Israel.” 11 Thus all the men of Israel were gathered against the city as one man, as allies.
12 Accordingly the tribes of Israel sent men to all the tribesmen of Benjamin, saying: “What is this bad thing that has been brought about among YOU? 13 And now give over the men, the good-for-nothing men, that are in Gib´e·ah, that we may put them to death, and let us clear out what is bad from Israel.” And the sons of Benjamin did not want to listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.
14 Then the sons of Benjamin went gathering together out of the cities to Gib´e·ah to go out to battle against the sons of Israel. 15 So the sons of Benjamin got to be mustered on that day from the cities, twenty-six thousand men drawing sword, apart from the inhabitants of Gib´e·ah, of whom seven hundred chosen men were mustered. 16 Out of all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed. Every one of these was a slinger of stones to a hairbreadth and would not miss.
17 And the men of Israel were mustered apart from Benjamin, four hundred thousand men drawing sword. Every one of these was a man of war. 18 And they proceeded to rise up and go on up to Beth´el and to inquire of God. Then the sons of Israel said: “Who of us should go up in the lead to the battle against the sons of Benjamin?” To this יהוה said: “Judah in the lead.”
19 After that the sons of Israel rose up in the morning and camped against Gib´e·ah.
20 The men of Israel now went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel proceeded to draw up in battle formation against them at Gib´e·ah. 21 So the sons of Benjamin came on out from Gib´e·ah and brought twenty-two thousand men in Israel down to ruin to the earth on that day. 22 However, the people, the men of Israel, showed themselves courageous and again went drawing up in battle formation in the place where they had drawn up in formation on the first day. 23 Then the sons of Israel went up and wept before יהוה until the evening and inquired of יהוה, saying: “Shall I again approach for battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother?” To this יהוה said: “Go up against him.”
24 Accordingly the sons of Israel drew near to the sons of Benjamin on the second day. 25 In turn Benjamin came on out from Gib´e·ah to meet them on the second day and brought a further eighteen thousand men among the sons of Israel down to ruin to the earth, all of these drawing sword. 26 At that all the sons of Israel, even all the people, went on up and came to Beth´el and wept and sat there before יהוה and fasted on that day until the evening and offered up burnt offerings and communion offerings before יהוה. After that 27 the sons of Israel inquired of יהוה, as it was there that the ark of the covenant of the [true] God was in those days. 28 Now Phin´e·has the son of El·e·a´zar, the son of Aaron, was standing before it in those days, saying: “Shall I go out yet again to battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother or shall I cease to?” To this יהוה said: “Go up, because tomorrow I shall give him into your hand.” 29 Then Israel set men in ambush against Gib´e·ah all around.
30 And the sons of Israel proceeded to go up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day, and to draw up in formation against Gib´e·ah the same as at the other times. 31 When the sons of Benjamin went on out to meet the people, they were drawn away from the city. Then, the same as at the other times, they started to strike down some of the people mortally wounded on the highways, one of which goes up to Beth´el and the other to Gib´e·ah, in the field, about thirty men in Israel. 32 So the sons of Benjamin began to say: “They are suffering defeat before us the same as at the first.” As for the sons of Israel, they said: “Let us flee, and we shall certainly draw them away from the city onto the highways.” 33 And all the men of Israel rose up from their places and went drawing up in formation at Ba´al-ta´mar, while those of Israel in ambush were making a charge out of their places in the vicinity of Gib´e·ah. 34 Thus ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came in front of Gib´e·ah, and the fighting was heavy; and the Ben´ja·mites did not know that calamity was impending over them.
35 And יהוה proceeded to defeat Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel on that day brought down to ruin in Benjamin twenty-five thousand one hundred men, all of these drawing sword.
36 However, the sons of Benjamin imagined that the men of Israel faced defeat when they kept giving ground to Benjamin because they trusted in the ambush that they had set against Gib´e·ah. 37 As for the ambush, they acted quickly and went dashing toward Gib´e·ah. Then the ambush spread out and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.
38 Now the men of Israel had come to the arrangement with the ambush for them to make a smoke signal go up from the city.
39 When the sons of Israel turned around in the battle, Benjamin started to strike down about thirty men mortally wounded among the men of Israel, for they said: “They are unquestionably suffering nothing but defeat before us just as in the first battle.” 40 And the signal started to go up from the city as a pillar of smoke. So when Benjamin turned his face back, look! the whole city went up heavenward. 41 And the men of Israel made an about-face, and the men of Benjamin were disturbed, for they saw that calamity had reached them. 42 Hence they turned before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness, and the battle followed them up closely, while the men from out of the cities were bringing them down to ruin in their midst. 43 They surrounded Benjamin. They pursued him without a place to rest. They trampled him down directly in front of Gib´e·ah toward the rising of the sun. 44 Finally there fell eighteen thousand men of Benjamin, all of these being valiant men.
45 Thus they turned and went fleeing to the wilderness to the crag of Rim´mon. And they made a gleaning of five thousand men of them on the highways, and they kept following closely after them as far as Gi´dom and so struck down two thousand more men of them. 46 And all those of Benjamin that fell on that day amounted at last to twenty-five thousand men drawing sword, all these being valiant men. 47 But six hundred men turned and went fleeing to the wilderness to the crag of Rim´mon, and they continued to dwell on the crag of Rim´mon four months.
48 And the men of Israel came back against the sons of Benjamin and went striking with the edge of the sword those of the city, [from] men to domestic animal up to all that were found. Also, all the cities that were found they consigned to the fire.
Chapter 21 Israel feels regret over the near loss of Benjamin.
Take them wives from Jabeshgilead, who had not helped rid the bad.
The remaining Benjamites were also permitted to abduct wives
from Shiloh at a festival once a year; so no Israelite was "giving" them his daughter.
21-1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Miz´pah, saying: “Not a man of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2 Consequently the people came to Beth´el and kept sitting there before the [true] God until the evening and continued to raise their voice and indulge in a great deal of weeping. 3 And they would say: “Why, O יהוה the God of Israel, has this occurred in Israel, for one tribe to be missing today from Israel?” 4 And it came about the next day that the people proceeded to get up early and to build an altar there and to offer up burnt offerings and communion offerings.
5 Then the sons of Israel said: “Who is there out of all the tribes of Israel that has not come up in the congregation to יהוה against the wicked men of Gibea, for there is a great oath that has taken place respecting the one that has not come up to יהוה at Miz´pah, saying, ‘Let him be put to death without fail.’” 6 And the sons of Israel began to feel regret over Benjamin their brother. So they said: “Today one tribe has been chopped off from Israel. 7 What shall we do to those who are left over as to wives, now that we ourselves have sworn by יהוה not to give them any of our daughters as wives?”
8 And they went on to say: “Which one out of the tribes of Israel is it that has not come up to יהוה at Miz´pah?” And, look! no one had come into the camp from Ja´besh-gil´e·ad to the congregation to war against the sins of Gibea. 9 When the people were counted, well, look! there was not a man there from the inhabitants of Ja´besh-gil´e·ad. 10 Hence the assembly proceeded to send twelve thousand of the most valiant men there and to command them, saying: “Go, and YOU must strike the inhabitants of Ja´besh-gil´e·ad with the edge of the sword, even the women and the little ones. 11 And this is the thing that YOU should do: Every male and every woman that has experienced lying with a male YOU should devote to destruction.” 12 However, they found out of the inhabitants of Ja´besh-gil´e·ad four hundred girls, virgins, that had not had intercourse with a man by lying with a male. So they brought them to the camp at Shi´loh, which is in the land of Ca´naan.
13 And all the assembly now sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin that were on the crag of Rim´mon and offered them peace. 14 Accordingly Benjamin came back at that time. Then they gave them the women that they had preserved alive from the women of Ja´besh-gil´e·ad; but they did not find enough for them. 15 And the people felt regret over Benjamin because יהוה had made a rupture between the tribes of Israel. 16 Consequently the older men of the assembly said: “What shall we do to the men that are left over as to wives, for womankind has been annihilated out of Benjamin?” 17 Then they said: “There should be a possession for those who have escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe might not be wiped out of Israel. 18 As for us, we are not allowed to give them wives from our daughters, because the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, ‘Cursed is the one that gives a wife to Benjamin.’”
19 Finally they said: “Look! There is a festival of יהוה from year to year in Shi´loh, which is to the north of Beth´el, toward the east of the highway that goes up from Beth´el to She´chem and toward the south of Le·bo´nah.” 20 So they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying: “Go, and YOU must lie in wait in the vineyards. 21 And YOU must look, and, there now, when the daughters of Shi´loh come on out to dance in circle dances, YOU must also come out from the vineyards and carry off for yourselves by force each one his wife from the daughters of Shi´loh, and YOU must go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And it must occur that should their fathers or their brothers come to conduct a legal case against us, we also shall certainly say to them, ‘Do us a favor for their sakes, because we have not taken for each one his wife by war, for it was not YOU that did the giving to them at a time when YOU would become guilty.’”
23 Accordingly the sons of Benjamin did just that way, and they proceeded to carry off wives for their number from the women dancing around, whom they snatched away; after which they went off and returned to their inheritance and built the cities and took up dwelling in them.
24 And the sons of Israel began to disperse from there at that time, each one to his own tribe and his own family; and they went their way out from there, each one to his own inheritance.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. What was right in his own eyes was what each one was accustomed to do.
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You will note the reference windows often include more than one translation of the Bible. The reason is to strive to gain the best possible understanding of the original Hebrew and Greek. Since we don't speak those languages, we rely on those who have come before and made the effort to translate those texts into English for us. Considering several translations gives the benefit of the understanding of several translation committees or individuals. The Translations we quote are:
ALT - Analytical Literal Translation
ASV - American Standard Version (by the American revision committee in 1897).
BBE - 1965 Bible in Basic English
Bishops - 1568 Bishop's Bible
Calvin - 1856 by Calvin Translation Society
CEV - Contemporary English Version
Coverdale - 1535 Miles Coverdale Bible
Darby - 1889 Darby Bible
DRB - 1899 Douay-Rheims Bible
ESV - English Standard Version
GNB - Good News Bible
GW - God's Word Bible
ISV - International Standard Version
KJV - 1769 King James Version
KJV-1611 - Old King James Version from 1611
LitNT - Literal New Testament
LITV - Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
MKJV - 1962 Modern King James Version
Murdock - 1851 James Murdock New Testament
MWT - Modern World Translation
NWT - New World Translation
RV - Revised Version
Webster - 1833 Webster Bible
WTNT - 1525-26 William Tyndale New Testament
Wycliffe - 1394 Wycliffe Bible
YLT - 1862/1898 Young's Literal Translation
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