Jonathan Judges

Judah and Simeon Conquer Their Territories

1 And after Joshua died, the children of Israel inquired through the Memra of the Lord, saying, “Who will go up for us first against the Canaanites, to wage war against them?” 2 And the Lord said, “Judah will go up. Look, I have handed the inhabitants of the land over to him.” 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Go up with me into my allotted territory, and let us wage war against the Canaanites, and I too will go with you into your allotted territory.” And Simeon went with him.

4 And those of the house of Judah went up, and the Lord handed the Canaanites and the Perizzites over to them, and they struck down ten thousand men in Bezek. 5 And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and they waged war against him, and they struck down the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 And Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. 7 And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, with their thumbs and their big toes cut off, used to gather bread under my table. As I have done, so has the Lord repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 And the children of Judah waged war against Jerusalem and conquered it, and struck it with the sword, and they set the city on fire. 9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to wage war against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the south, and in the lowland.

10 And those of the house of Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron and Hebron was formerly called Kiriath Arba, and they struck down Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai. 11 And they went from there against the inhabitants of Debir and Debir was formerly called Kiriath Archei.

12 And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Achsah as a wife to whoever attacks Kiriath Archei and conquers it.” 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, who was younger than Caleb, conquered it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife.

14 And when she came to him, she counseled him to ask her father for an inheritance. And she got down from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” 15 And she said to him, “Give me an inheritance, for you have given me the land of the south. Give me also a source of water for irrigation.” And Caleb gave her the upper and lower sources of water for irrigation.

16 And the children of Shalmai, the father-in-law of Moses, went up from the city of Jericho with the children of Judah to the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad. And they went and lived with the people.

17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck down the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and they completely destroyed it. And he named the city Hormah. 18 And Judah conquered Gaza and its border, and Ashkelon and its border, and Ekron and its border. 19 And the Memra of the Lord helped the house of Judah, and they drove out the inhabitants of the hill country. But after they had sinned, they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron.

20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken. And he drove out from there the three sons of the giants.

21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. And the Jebusites lived with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

The House of Joseph Takes Bethel

22 And those of the house of Joseph also went up to Bethel, and the Memra of the Lord helped them.

23 And those of the house of Joseph sent spies to Bethel and the city was formerly called Luz.

24 And the watchmen saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Show us now the entrance of the city, and we will treat you kindly.” 25 And he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with the sword. But they spared the man and all his family.

26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and named it Luz. That is its name to this day.

Territories That Remain Unconquered

27 And those of the house of Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, nor Taanach and its villages, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages. And the Canaanites began to live in this land.

28 And when Israel became strong, they made the Canaanites tribute payers, but they did not drive them out at all.

29 And those of the house of Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. And the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.

30 Those of the house of Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol. And the Canaanites lived among them and became tribute payers.

31 Those of the house of Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor Ahlab, nor Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor Rehob. 32 And those of the house of Asher lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

33 Those of the house of Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath. And they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. And the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became tribute payers to them.

34 And the Amorites pressed the children of Dan into the hill country, for they did not let them come down to the plain.

35 And the Amorites began to live in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim. And the house of Joseph gained power, and they became tribute payers. 36 And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock and upward.

The Prophet at Bochim

1 And a prophet went up on a mission from the Lord, from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, “I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you into the land which I swore to your ancestors, and I said, ‘I will not change My covenant with you ever.’ 2 And you must make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You must tear down their altars. But you did not accept My Memra. What is this that you have done? 3 And I also said, ‘I will not drive them out ahead of you. And they will oppress you, and their idols will be a stumbling block for you.’”

4 And when the prophet of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people raised their voices and wept. 5 And they named that place Bochim, and they offered holy sacrifices there before the Lord.

Joshua’s Death and Israel’s Disobedience

6 And Joshua sent the people away, and the children of Israel went, each man to his inheritance, to take possession of the land.

7 And the people served before the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, one hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him within the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of the house of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

10 And also all that generation died and joined their ancestors. And another generation grew up after them, who did not know how to fear before the Lord, or know about the work which He had done for Israel.

11 And the children of Israel did what was evil before the Lord, and they served the Baalim. 12 And they abandoned the service of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they strayed after the idols of the nations, of the idols of the nations that were around them, and they bowed down to them, and they provoked anger before the Lord. 13 And they abandoned the service of the Lord, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

14 And the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel, and He handed them over to plunderers, and they plundered them. And He handed them over to their surrounding enemies, and they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the Lord struck them with disaster, as the Lord had spoken, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.

The Lord Raises Up Leaders

16 And the Lord raised up leaders, and they saved them from their plunderers.

17 And they would not even listen to their leaders, for they strayed after the idols of the nations and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way their ancestors had followed by accepting the commandments of the Lord. They did not do so.

18 And when the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Memra of the Lord helped the leader, and He saved them from their enemies all the days of the leader. For He would relent concerning the word which the Lord had spoken, and accept their prayer, and save them from their oppressors and enslavers.

19 And when the leader died, they would turn back and act more corruptly than their ancestors, to go after the idols of the nations, to serve them and to bow down to them. They did not abandon their evil deeds and their corrupt way.

The Nations Left to Test Israel

20 And the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel, and He said, “Because this people has violated My covenant which I commanded their ancestors, and they have not accepted My Memra, 21 I too will no longer drive out ahead of them anyone from the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel through them, whether they will keep the ways that are proper before the Lord, to follow them, as their ancestors did, or not.”

23 And the Lord left all these nations, so as not to drive them out quickly, and He did not hand them over to Joshua.

The Nations That Remain

1 And these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel through them, all those who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan. 2 This was only to teach warfare to the generations of the children of Israel who had not experienced it before. 3 The five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the hill country of Lebanon, from the mountain of the plain of Hermon to the entrance to Hamath.

4 And they were there to test Israel through them, to know whether they would accept the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their ancestors through Moses.

5 And the children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 And they married their daughters, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their idols.

Othniel Delivers Israel

7 And the children of Israel did what was evil before the Lord, and they forgot the service of the Lord their God, and they served the Baalim and the Asheroth. 8 And the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel, and He handed them over to Cushan the wicked, the king of Aram that is on the Euphrates. And the children of Israel served Cushan the wicked eight years.

9 And the children of Israel cried out before the Lord, and the Lord raised up a savior for the children of Israel, and he saved them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, who was younger than Caleb.

10 And a spirit of prophecy from before the Lord rested on him, and he judged Israel, and he went out to wage war. And the Lord handed Cushan the wicked, the king of Aram that is on the Euphrates, over to him, and he gained power over Cushan the wicked.

11 And the land of Israel was at rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud Defeats Moab

12 And the children of Israel again did what was evil before the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil before the Lord.

13 And he gathered to himself the children of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and struck down Israel, and they took possession of the city of Jericho. 14 And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 And the children of Israel cried out before the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, a man whose right hand was withered. And the children of Israel sent an offering with him to Eglon the king of Moab.

16 And Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he fastened it under his clothing on his right thigh. 17 And he presented the offering to Eglon the king of Moab. And Eglon was a very fat man.

18 And when he had finished presenting the offering, he sent away the people who had carried the offering.

19 But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and he said, “I have a secret matter to speak with you, Your Majesty.” And he said, “Go out!” And all who stood by him went out from beside him.

20 And Ehud came in to him, and he was sitting in the upstairs room of his summer house, by himself. And Ehud said, “I have a word of the Lord to speak with you.” And he rose up from his throne. 21 And Ehud reached out with his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly. And his food came out, spilled.

23 And Ehud went out to the portico, and closed the doors of the upstairs room behind him, and locked them.

24 And he went out, and his servants came in, and they saw, and the doors of the upstairs room were locked. And they said, “Surely he is relieving himself in the chamber of the summer house.” 25 And they waited a long while, and no one was opening the doors of the upstairs room. And they took the key and opened, and their master had fallen and was lying on the ground, dead.

26 And Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the quarries and escaped to Seirah.

27 And when he arrived, he sounded the shofar in the hill country of the house of Ephraim. And the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, with him leading them.

28 And he said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord has handed your enemies, the Moabites, over to you.” And they went down after him, and seized the fords of the crossings of the Jordan toward Moab, and did not let a man cross.

29 And they killed about ten thousand Moabite men at that time, all of them strong, brave warriors. And not a man escaped.

30 And the Moabites were broken on that day under the power of the men of Israel. And the land of Israel was at rest eighty years.

Shamgar Delivers Israel

31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, and he killed six hundred Philistines with the ox goad. And he too saved Israel.

Deborah and Barak

1 And the children of Israel again did what was evil before the Lord, when Ehud was dead. 2 And the Lord handed them over to Jabin the king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. And the commander of his army was Sisera, and he lived in the stronghold of the cities of the nations.

3 And the children of Israel cried out before the Lord, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron. And he oppressed the children of Israel harshly for twenty years.

4 And Deborah, a woman who was a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. 5 And she lived in her city, in Ataroth. Deborah supported herself from her own property: she had palm trees in Jericho, orchards in Ramah, olive trees yielding oil in the valley, a place of irrigation in Bethel, and white earth in the King’s Mountain. And the children of Israel would go up to her for judgment.

6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh of the house of Naphtali, and she said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and draw the army to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun. 7 and I will draw to you, to the brook Kishon, Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, and his chariots and his army, and I will hand him over to you’?”

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

9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Only, you will receive no glory on the journey you are making, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.” And Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

10 And Barak gathered the tribe of Zebulun and the tribe of Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up with him. And Deborah went up with him.

Sisera’s Army Is Defeated

11 And Heber the Shalmaite had separated himself from the Shalmaites, from the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and he had pitched his tent as far as the plain of the pools, which is by Kedesh.

12 And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 And Sisera gathered all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from the stronghold of the cities of the nations to the brook Kishon.

14 And Deborah said to Barak, “Get up, for this is the day on which the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the angel of the Lord gone ahead of you to bring you success?” And Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

15 And the Lord broke Sisera, and all the chariots, and the entire army, with the sword before Barak. And Sisera got down from the chariot and fled on foot.

16 And Barak pursued the chariots and the army, as far as the stronghold of the cities of the nations. And all the army of Sisera was killed with the sword. Not even one remained.

Jael and Sisera

17 And Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Shalmaite. For there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Shalmaite.

18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Come in, my master, come in to me. Do not be afraid.” And he went in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

19 And he said to her, “Give me now a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” And she opened the skin of milk and gave him a drink, and covered him.

20 And he said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent. And if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ you must say, ‘No.’”

21 And Jael, the wife of Heber, took the peg of the tent, and put the hammer in her hand, and came to him in secret, and drove the peg into his temple, and it went into the ground. For he was asleep and weary. And he died.

22 And Barak was pursuing Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for.” And he came in to her, and Sisera had fallen dead, and the peg was in his temple.

23 And on that day the Lord defeated Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. 24 And the power of the children of Israel went on growing stronger against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.

Deborah and Barak’s Song

1 And Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam gave praise for the miracle and the deliverance that Israel experienced on that day, saying:

2 “When the house of Israel rebelled against the Torah, the nations attacked them and drove them out of their cities. And when they returned to obey the Torah, they defeated their enemies and drove them out of the entire territory of the land of Israel. Therefore, for the punishment inflicted on Sisera and his entire army, and for the miracle and the deliverance that Israel experienced, therefore the Sages returned to sit in the synagogues openly and to teach the people the words of the Torah. Therefore, bless and give thanks before the Lord.

3 “Listen, kings who came with Sisera to battle. Listen, rulers who were with Jabin the king of Canaan: you did not prevail or advance by your own might or strength against the house of Israel. Deborah said in prophecy before the Lord: I give praise, thanks, and blessing before the Lord, the God of Israel.

4 “Lord, concerning Your Torah which You gave to Israel, when they violate it, the nations rule over them, and when they return to it, they defeat their enemies. Lord, on the day You revealed Yourself to give it to them, You revealed Yourself to them from Seir in the appearances of Your glory on the borders of Edom. The earth trembled, the heavens also bent down, the clouds also dripped rain. 5 The mountains trembled before the Lord: Mount Tabor, Mount Hermon, and Mount Carmel were in turmoil together, and spoke to each other. This one said, ‘Let His Shekinah rest on me, for it is right for me,’ and that one said, ‘Let His Shekinah rest on me, for it is right for me.’ He caused His Shekinah to rest on Mount Sinai, which is weaker and smaller than all the mountains. This Sinai shook and trembled, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, because the glory of the Lord, the God of Israel, was revealed on it.

6 “When they sinned, in the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, travelers stopped using the roads. Those who used to walk on regular paths turned to walk on hidden paths.

7 “The open cities that were inhabited in the land of Israel became deserted. They were devastated, and their inhabitants wandered, until I, Deborah, was sent. I was sent to prophesy concerning the house of Israel.

8 “When the children of Israel chose to serve new idols, which had been recently made, with which their ancestors had not concerned themselves, the nations attacked them and drove them out of their cities. And when they returned to obey the Torah, the nations could not defeat them, until they had grown strong. And Sisera, the enemy and oppressor, came up against them with forty thousand camp commanders, with fifty thousand swordsmen, with sixty thousand spearmen, with seventy thousand shield bearers, with eighty thousand archers, besides the nine hundred chariots of iron that were with him, and his chariots. Yet all these thousands and all these camps could not stand before Barak and before the ten thousand men who were with him.

9 “Deborah said in prophecy: I am sent to praise the scribes of Israel, who, when that distress came, did not stop explaining the Torah. And now it is right for them to sit in the synagogues openly and teach the people the words of the Torah, and bless and give thanks before the Lord.

10 “Those who used to leave their business, riding on female donkeys marked with all kinds of designs, and going about throughout the territory of the land of Israel, and joining together to sit in judgment, and those who used to walk on their ways and tell of the mighty deeds that were done for them in the land of Israel.

11 “From the place where they used to rob them and take what they carried, the place frequented by bandits and the station of tax collectors, by the cisterns, the place of drawing water, to the place where the daughters of Israel used to go out to draw water, where they could not let the sound of their footsteps be heard because of the enemy and oppressor: there they will give thanks for the righteous deeds of the Lord, and for the righteous deeds of him who settled the open cities in the land of Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down from the strong cities to live in the open cities.

12 “Give praise, give praise, Deborah. Give praise and give thanks, sing a song of praise. Get up, Barak, and take your captives captive, son of Abinoam.

13 “Then one went down from the camp of Israel and broke the might of the mighty men of the nations. Look, this did not come from their own might. Rather, the Lord broke the might of their enemies’ warriors before His people.

14 “From the house of Ephraim came Joshua the son of Nun. At first he waged war against the house of Amalek. After him came King Saul from the house of Benjamin, and he killed those of the house of Amalek and waged war against the rest of the nations. From the house of Machir they came down, when they were enrolled for battle. From the tribe of Zebulun, those who write with the pen of a scribe.

15 “And the princes of Issachar listened to the words of Deborah, and the rest of the tribe of Issachar served before Barak, sent among the cities of the camp. To every place where they were needed, they went at his command. In the families of Reuben there were many who lacked courage.

16 “Why did you return from the camp of battle, to sit between the borders, at the fork in the road, to hear the news, from each other? To Barak you say, ‘We are yours.’ To Sisera you say, ‘We are yours.’ You listen to the news to know which camp is victorious in battle, so that you can join it. How can it be right for you to act this way, house of Reuben? Don’t you know that the thoughts of the heart are revealed before Him?

17 “Those of the house of Gilead encamped beyond the Jordan. And those of the house of Dan crossed over, they crossed the Jordan, and put their possessions in ships. Those of the house of Asher encamped on the shore of the seas. They returned to the cities of the nations they had destroyed, rebuilt them, and lived in them.

18 “Those of the house of Zebulun and those of the house of Naphtali gave themselves over to death against the nations who blasphemed before the Lord. All the peoples of the earth will praise them.

19 “The kings who were with Sisera came and waged war. Then the kings of Canaan waged war. In Taanach they were encamped, and they reached as far as the waters of Megiddo. They did not accept silver money.

20 “From heaven war was waged with them. From the place where the stars come out, subduing their leaders, there war was waged with Sisera.

21 “The brook Kishon broke them, the brook in which miracles and mighty deeds were performed for Israel long ago. That is the brook Kishon. There my soul trampled the bodies of their mighty men with strength.

22 “Then the hooves of their horses slipped, from the prancing with which they pranced before the chariots of his mighty men.

23 “‘Curse Meroz,’ said Barak, the prophet of the Lord. ‘curse and break its inhabitants, for they did not come to the aid of the people of the Lord, when it waged war against the mighty men.’

24 “May Jael, the wife of Heber the Shalmaite, be blessed with the blessing of good women. May she be blessed like one of the women who serve in the houses of study.

25 “The wicked Sisera asked her for water. She gave him milk to drink, to know whether his senses were still with him. She served him the cream of cheeses in the bowls of the mighty.

26 “Jael, the wife of Heber the Shalmaite, deserves praise, for she fulfilled what is written in the book of the Torah of Moses: ‘A man’s weapon must not be on a woman, nor must a man adorn himself with the adornments of a woman.’ Rather, she reached out her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the smiths’ hammer, to break the wicked and the oppressors. She struck Sisera, broke his head, split his brain, drove the peg through his temple.

27 “Between her feet he knelt, he fell, he lay. Between her feet he knelt, he fell. In the place where he knelt, there Sisera fell, stripped.

28 “Through the window the mother of Sisera looked out and peered through the lattice. She said, ‘Why are the chariots of Sisera my son late in coming? Why are the runners delayed who used to bring me letters of victory?’

29 “The wisest of her noblewomen answer her. She too replies with wisdom and says to them:

30 “‘Aren’t they finding and dividing the captured goods, giving to each man and his household, to each and every one, many captured goods? Captured dyed embroideries are set before Sisera and around his neck, with the possessions of the wealthy and valuable vessels before his mighty men who plundered.’

31 “So may all the enemies of Your people die like Sisera, Lord. And those who love Him, the righteous, will be destined to shine like the shining of His glory, three hundred and forty-three times over, as the sun comes out in its might.” And the land of Israel was at rest from making war forty years.

Midian Oppresses Israel

1 And the children of Israel did what was evil before the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to the Midianites seven years. 2 And the Midianites gained power over Israel. Because of the Midianites the children of Israel made for themselves the hiding places that are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.

3 And whenever Israel planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east would come up. They would come up against them. 4 And they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the entrance to Gaza, and they would leave nothing to keep anyone alive in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

5 For they would come up with their cattle and their tents, and they would come in huge numbers like a swarm of locusts. And they and their camels could not be counted. And they would come into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out before the Lord.

The Lord Sends a Prophet

7 And when the children of Israel cried out before the Lord because of the Midianites,

8 the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said: I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 and I saved you from the Egyptians and all your oppressors, and I drove them out ahead of you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not fear the idols of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you did not accept My Memra.”

Gideon Is Called

11 And the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. And Gideon his son was beating out wheat in the winepress, to flee with it from the Midianites.

12 And the angel of the Lord revealed himself to him and said to him, “The Memra of the Lord helps you, mighty warrior.”

13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my master, is the Shekinah of the Lord helping us? Then why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders which our ancestors told us about, saying, ‘Didn’t the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours, and you will save Israel from the Midianites. Haven’t I sent you?”

15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Look, my family is the smallest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the weakest in my father’s house.”

16 And the Lord said to him, “Because My Memra will help you, you will strike down Midian as if they were one man.”

17 And he said to him, “If I have found favor with you, give me a sign that it is you who speaks with me. 18 Do not leave from here now, until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before you.” And he said, “I will wait until you return.”

19 And Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread baked from a measure of flour. He put the meat in a basket, and the broth in a pot. And he brought it out to him, under the tree, and presented it.

20 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.

21 And the angel of the Lord stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire went up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord disappeared from his sight.

22 And Gideon saw that he was an angel of the Lord, and Gideon said, “Please, Lord God, I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face!”

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

24 And Gideon built an altar there before the Lord, and he worshiped on it before the Lord, who had made peace for him. To this very day, it is in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon Tears Down Baal’s Altar

25 And that night the Lord said to him, “Take the young bull that is your father’s, and the second bull that has been fattened seven years, and tear down the altar of Baal that is your father’s, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it. 26 And build an altar before the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold, properly arranged. And take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you will cut down.”

27 And Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the Lord had spoken with him. And because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it at night.

28 And the men of the city rose early in the morning, and they saw that the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.

29 And they said to each other, “Who has done this thing?” And they inquired and searched, and they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”

30 And the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so that he may be put to death, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and cut down the Asherah that was beside it.”

31 And Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you take vengeance for Baal? Will you save him? Whoever would take vengeance for him will be put to death. But give him until morning: if he has any real power, let Baal take vengeance for himself, because Gideon has torn down his altar.”

32 And on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal take vengeance on him, because he has torn down his altar.”

Gideon Gathers Israel

33 And all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east gathered together, and they crossed over and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.

34 And a spirit of power from the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the shofar, and the men of Abiezer gathered after him.

35 And he sent messengers throughout the entire territory of Manasseh, and they too gathered after him. And he sent messengers among the tribe of Asher, and among the tribe of Zebulun, and among the tribe of Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

36 And Gideon said before the Lord, “If You will save Israel through me, as You have spoken, 37 look, I am placing a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and dryness on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel through me, as You have spoken.”

38 And it was so. And he rose early the next day, and he pressed the fleece and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.

39 And Gideon said before the Lord, “Do not become angry with me, and I will speak just this once. Let me make just one more test with the fleece: let there now be dryness on the fleece alone, and on all the ground let there be dew.”

40 And the Lord did so on that night. And there was dryness on the fleece alone, and on all the ground there was dew.

Gideon’s Army Is Reduced

1 And Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early, and they encamped by the spring of Harod. And the camp of the Midianites was encamped opposite him, to the north, from the hill of the lookout, toward the plain.

2 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand the Midianites over to them, because Israel might boast before Me, saying, ‘Our own power has saved us.’

3 “And now, proclaim before the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and be singled out from Mount Gilead.’” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

4 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And when I say to you about someone, ‘This one will go with you,’ he will go with you. And when I say to you about someone, ‘This one will not go with you,’ he will not go.”

5 And he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, set him apart. And likewise everyone who kneels on his knees to drink.”

6 And the number of those who threw water with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men. And all the rest of the people knelt on their knees to drink water.

7 And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you through the three hundred men who threw water with their hand to their mouth, and I will hand the Midianites over to you. And let all the people go, each man to his place.”

8 And they took the provisions of the people in their hand, and their shofars. And he sent away all the men of Israel, each man to his cities, but he kept the three hundred men. And the camp of the Midianites was encamped opposite him, in the lower part of the plain.

The Dream in the Midianite Camp

9 And that night the Lord said to him, “Get up, go down against the camp, for I have handed them over to you.

10 “But if you are afraid to go down, go down, you and Purah your servant, to the camp, 11 and you will hear what they are saying, and afterward you will be strengthened, and you will go down against the camp.” And he went down, he and Purah his servant, to the side of the armed men who were in the camp.

12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east were lying in the plain in huge numbers like locusts. And their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

13 And Gideon came, and a man was telling a dream to his companion, and he said, “Look, I had a dream, and a cake of barley bread was rolling through the camp of the Midianites, and it came as far as the tent and struck it, and it fell. And it turned it upside down, and the tent fell.”

14 And his companion answered and said, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. The Lord has handed the Midianites and the whole camp over to him.”

15 And when Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he gave thanks. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the Lord has handed the Midianite camp over to you.”

Gideon Attacks Midian

16 And he divided the three hundred men into three camps, and he put shofars into the hands of all of them, and empty jars, and torches inside the jars.

17 And he said to them, “Watch me and do the same. And look, when I come to the edge of the camp, do what I do. 18 And I will sound the shofar, I and all who are with me, and you too must sound the shofars around all the camp, and you must say, ‘A sword of slaughter from before the Lord, and victory by the hand of Gideon!’”

19 And Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch. They had only just set up the watchmen. And they sounded the shofars and smashed the jars that were in their hands.

20 And the three camps sounded the shofars and broke the jars, and they held the torches in their left hand and the shofars in their right hand to sound, and they said, “A sword from before the Lord, and victory by the hand of Gideon!”

21 And they stood, each man in his place, around the camp. And all the camp ran, and they cried out and fled.

22 And they sounded the three hundred shofars, and the Lord set each man’s sword against his companion, and throughout all the camp. And the camp fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of the plain of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

Israel Pursues Midian

23 And the men of Israel gathered from Naphtali, and from the tribe of Asher, and from all the tribe of Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites.

24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of the house of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to meet the Midianites, and seize the fords ahead of them as far as Beth Barah, and the Jordan.” And all the men of Ephraim gathered and seized the fords as far as Beth Barah, and the Jordan.

25 And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And they killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb in the plain of Zeeb. And they pursued the Midianites, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.

Gideon and Ephraim

1 And the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this thing that you have done to us, not calling us when you went to wage war against Midian?” And they argued fiercely with him. 2 And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Aren’t the weak ones of the house of Ephraim better than the strong ones of the house of Abiezer? 3 The Lord handed the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, over to you. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger toward him subsided, when he spoke this word.

Gideon Pursues the Kings of Midian

4 And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted but still pursuing.

5 And he said to the men of Sukkoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are with me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

6 And the princes of Sukkoth said, “Have Zebah and Zalmunna already been handed over to you, so that we should give bread to your army?”

7 And Gideon said, “Therefore, when the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with the briars.”

8 And he went up from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Sukkoth had answered.

9 And he also spoke to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower.”

10 And Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their camps with them, about fifteen thousand, all who were left of all the camp of the children of the east. And those who had been killed were a hundred and twenty thousand men armed with swords.

11 And Gideon went up by the way of the camp of the Arabs who live in tents in the wilderness, east of Nobah and Ramatha, and he attacked the camp. And the camp was camped without fear.

12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them, and he caught the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the camp into a panic.

Gideon Returns to Sukkoth and Penuel

13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle before the sun went down.

14 And he caught a young man of the men of Sukkoth and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the princes of Sukkoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

15 And he came to the men of Sukkoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Have Zebah and Zalmunna already been handed over to you, so that we should give bread to your exhausted men?’”

16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briars, and with them he broke the men of Sukkoth.

17 And he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

The Kings of Midian Are Killed

18 And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?” And they said, “They were like you. Each one of them looked like a king’s son.”

19 And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, had you kept them alive, I would not kill you.”

20 And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a child.

21 And Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up yourself and attack us, for a man’s strength matches the man.” And Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the necklaces that were on their camels’ necks.

Gideon’s Ephod

22 And the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you, and your son, and your grandson, for you have saved us from the Midianites.”

23 And Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.”

24 And Gideon said to them, “I would like to ask you something: let each man give me his earring from the captured goods.” For they had golden earrings, because they were Arabs.

25 And they said, “We will surely give them.” And they spread out the piece of clothing, and each man threw his earring from the captured goods onto it.

26 And the weight of the golden earrings which he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents, and the crown, and the purple clothes that were on the kings of Midian, and besides the necklaces that were on their camels’ necks.

27 And Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel strayed after it there, and it became a stumbling block to Gideon and to his house.

28 And the Midianites were broken before the children of Israel, and they did not raise their heads again. And the land of Israel was at rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

Gideon’s Family and Death

29 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his house.

30 And Gideon had seventy sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives.

31 And his concubine who was in Shechem also gave him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

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

33 And when Gideon died, the children of Israel turned back and strayed after the Baalim, and they made for themselves Baal-berith into an idol.

34 And the children of Israel did not remember the service of the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their surrounding enemies. 35 And they did not treat kindly the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

Abimelech Becomes King

1 And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers, and he spoke with them and with all the family of his maternal grandfather’s household, saying, 2 “Speak now before all the inhabitants of Shechem: Which is better for you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you? And remember that I am your own flesh and blood.”

3 And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words concerning him before all the inhabitants of Shechem, and their hearts turned toward Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”

4 And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith, and with them Abimelech hired idle and worthless men, and they followed him.

5 And he came to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he had hidden himself.

6 And all the inhabitants of Shechem and all the house of Millo gathered, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that is in Shechem.

Jotham’s Fable and Warning

7 And they told Jotham, and he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and he raised his voice and called, and said to them, “Listen to me, inhabitants of Shechem, so that the Lord may accept your prayer.

8 “The trees went out to appoint a king over themselves, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

9 “And the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my oil, with which they give honor before the Lord, and with which men delight themselves, and go to rule over the trees?’

10 “And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come, reign over us.’

11 “And the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my sweetness and my fine figs, and go to rule over the trees?’

12 “And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come, reign over us.’

13 “And the vine said to them, ‘Should I leave my wine, from which they pour drink offerings before the Lord, and which brings joy to princes, and go to rule over the trees?’

14 “And all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come, reign over us.’

15 “And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If you truly mean it and you are anointing me to be king over you, come, take shelter in my shade. And if not, let fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

16 “And now, if you have acted honestly and with integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have treated Jerubbaal and his household well, and if you have treated him as his deeds deserve, 17 for my father waged war for you, and gave his life over to the risk of death, and saved you from the Midianites. 18 But you have risen up against my father’s house today, and killed his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the inhabitants of Shechem, because he is your brother. 19 If, then, you have acted honestly and with integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house today, take joy in Abimelech, and let him also take joy in you.

20 “But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the inhabitants of Shechem and the house of Millo. And let fire come out from the inhabitants of Shechem and from the house of Millo and consume Abimelech.”

21 And Jotham fled and ran away, and went to Beer, and lived there, because of Abimelech his brother.

Shechem Turns Against Abimelech

22 And Abimelech reigned over Israel three years.

23 And the Lord sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Shechem, and the inhabitants of Shechem betrayed Abimelech. 24 This was to bring retribution for the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, and to lay responsibility for their blood on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the inhabitants of Shechem, who helped him kill his brothers.

25 And the inhabitants of Shechem set ambushes against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by them along the road. And it was told to Abimelech.

Gaal Challenges Abimelech

26 And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers, and they passed through Shechem. And the inhabitants of Shechem put their trust in him.

27 And they went out into the field and harvested their vineyards, and trod on the grapes, and held festivities, and went into the house of their idol, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

28 And Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve him? 29 And if only someone would put this people under my command, so that I could remove Abimelech!” And he said to Abimelech, “Prepare your army and come out.”

30 And Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, and his anger flared up.

31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech in secret, saying, “Look, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers are coming to Shechem, and look, they are besieging the city against you. 32 And now, get up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in ambush in the field. 33 And in the morning, as the sun rises, get up early and advance against the city. And look, he and the people who are with him will come out to meet you, and do to him whatever you can.”

Abimelech Defeats Gaal

34 And Abimelech and all the people who were with him got up by night, and they lay in ambush against Shechem, four camps.

35 And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate. And Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from the ambush.

36 And Gaal saw the people, and he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” And Zebul said to him, “You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.”

37 And Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from the stronghold of the land, and one camp is coming by the way of the plain of the diviners.”

38 And Zebul said to him, “What about your words when you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Isn’t this the people whom you despised? Go out now and wage war against it.”

39 And Gaal went out before the inhabitants of Shechem and waged war against Abimelech.

40 And Abimelech pursued him, and he fled from him, and many fell dead, as far as the entrance of the gate.

41 And Abimelech lived in Arumah. And Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers from living in Shechem.

Shechem Is Destroyed

42 And the next day the people went out into the field. And they told Abimelech.

43 And he took the people and divided them into three camps, and lay in ambush in the field. And he saw that the people were coming out of the city. And he rose up against them and attacked them.

44 And Abimelech and all the camps that were with him spread out and stood at the entrance of the city gate. And two camps spread out against all who were in the field and killed them.

45 And Abimelech waged war against the city all that day, and he conquered the city, and killed the people that were in it. And he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

46 And all the inhabitants of the tower of Shechem heard, and they came to the stronghold of Bethel, to make a covenant.

47 And it was told to Abimelech that all the inhabitants of the tower of Shechem had gathered.

48 And Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took the axes in his hand and cut down a tree branch, and lifted it and put it on his shoulder. And he said to the people who were with him, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”

49 And all the people each cut down his own branch in the same way, and followed Abimelech, and put them against the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire over them. And all the men of the tower of Shechem were also killed, about a thousand men and women.

Abimelech Dies at Thebez

50 And Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and conquered it.

51 And there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and the women and all the inhabitants of the city fled there. And they shut the doors before them and went up onto the roof of the tower.

52 And Abimelech came to the tower and waged war against it, and came close to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

53 And a certain woman threw half of an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and crushed his skull.

54 And he called quickly to the young man who carried his weapons, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they will not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man killed him, and he died.

55 And the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, and they went, each man to his place.

56 And the Lord repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. 57 And the Lord repaid the men of Shechem for all their wickedness. And the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

Tola and Jair

1 And after Abimelech, Tola rose up to save Israel, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of the tribe of the house of Issachar. And he lived in Shamir, in the hill country of the house of Ephraim. 2 And he judged Israel twenty-three years, and he died and was buried in Shamir.

3 And after him Jair the Gileadite rose up, and he judged Israel twenty-two years. 4 And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty cities. These are called the villages of Jair to this day and are in the land of Gilead.

5 And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Israel Serves Other Idols

6 And the children of Israel again did what was evil before the Lord, and they served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and the idols of Aram, and the idols of Sidon, and the idols of Moab, and the idols of the children of Ammon, and the idols of the Philistines. And they abandoned the service of the Lord and did not serve before Him.

7 And the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel, and He handed them over to the Philistines and the children of Ammon. 8 And they oppressed and subjugated the children of Israel in that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel who were beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites which is in Gilead.

9 And the children of Ammon crossed the Jordan to wage war also against Judah, and against those of the house of Benjamin, and against those of the house of Ephraim. And Israel was greatly distressed.

10 And the children of Israel cried out before the Lord, saying, “We have sinned before You, for we have abandoned the service of the Lord our God and have served the Baalim.”

11 And the Lord said to the children of Israel, “Wasn’t it from Egypt, and from the Amorites, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines, 12 and the Sidonians and the Amalekites and the men of Maon oppressed you, and you prayed before Me, and I saved you from them?

13 “But you have abandoned My service and served the idols of the nations. Therefore I will no longer save you.

14 “Go and pray to the idols in which you have taken pleasure. Can they save you in the time of your distress?”

15 And the children of Israel said before the Lord, “We have sinned. Do to us whatever You consider right. Only save us now, today.”

16 And they removed the idols of the nations from among them, and served before the Lord. And His soul was distressed by the affliction of Israel.

Israel and Ammon Gather for War

17 And the children of Ammon gathered and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel gathered and encamped in Mizpah.

18 And the people, the princes of Gilead, said to each other, “Who is the man who will begin to wage war against the children of Ammon? He will be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah and the Elders of Gilead

1 And Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, and he was the son of a woman who was an innkeeper. And Gilead fathered Jephthah.

2 And Gilead’s wife gave him sons. And the wife’s sons grew up, and they drove out Jephthah and said to him, “You will not inherit in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”

3 And Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. And idle men gathered to Jephthah and went out with him.

4 And after some time, the children of Ammon waged war against Israel.

5 And when the children of Ammon waged war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.

6 And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, and we will wage war against the children of Ammon.”

7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? And why have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”

8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore we have now returned to you, so that you may go with us and wage war against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to wage war against the children of Ammon, and the Lord hands them over to me, I will be your head.”

10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Memra of the Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do what you say.”

11 And Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him head and chief over them. And Jephthah stated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.

Jephthah Sends Messengers to Ammon

12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What is there between us, that you have come to me to wage war in my land?”

13 And the king of the children of Ammon said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel took my land when he came up from Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. And now restore them in peace.”

14 And Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon.

15 And he said to him, “This is what Jephthah said: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon.

16 “For when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness as far as the Sea of Reeds, and came to Rekem. 17 And Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Let me pass now through your land.’ But the king of Edom did not listen. And he also sent to the king of Moab, but he did not consent. And Israel lived in Rekem.

18 “And he went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped beyond the Arnon. And they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon is the border of Moab.

19 “And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon. And Israel said to him, ‘Let us pass now through your land to my place.’

20 “But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. And Sihon gathered all his people, and they encamped in Jahaz, and he waged war against Israel.

21 “And the Lord, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel, and they struck them down. And Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land. 22 And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

23 “And now, the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites ahead of His people Israel, and you think you can take possession of it?

24 “Don’t you take possession of whatever Chemosh your idol gives you? So we will take possession of all that the Lord our God has driven out ahead of us.

25 “And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever challenge Israel, or did he ever wage war against them?

26 “While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are along the borders of the Arnon, three hundred years, why didn’t you recover them at that time?

27 “I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong in waging war against me. May the Lord, who gives judgment, judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.”

28 But the king of the children of Ammon did not accept the words of Jephthah which he sent to him.

Jephthah’s Vow and Victory

29 And a spirit of power from the Lord rested on Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.

30 And Jephthah made a vow before the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed hand the children of Ammon over to me, 31 then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it will be before the Lord, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

32 And Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to wage war against them, and the Lord handed them over to him.

33 And he struck them down from Aroer to the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. And the children of Ammon were broken before the children of Israel.

Jephthah’s Daughter

34 And Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house, and look, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

35 And when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, my daughter! You have surely brought me to despair, and you have become one of those who trouble me. For I have made a spoken vow before the Lord, and I cannot go back.”

36 And she said to him, “My father, you have made a spoken vow before the Lord. Do to me what you have spoken, since the Lord has taken revenge for you on your enemies, on the children of Ammon.”

37 And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: give me two months, so that my companions and I may go and wander on the mountains and weep over my virginity.”

38 And he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months. And she went, she and her companions, and wept over her virginity on the mountains.

39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, and he carried out the vow he had made concerning her. And she had never had sexual relations with a man. And it became a decree in Israel, that a man should not offer up his son or his daughter as a burnt offering, as Jephthah the Gileadite did, who did not ask Phinehas the priest. For had he asked Phinehas the priest, he would have redeemed her with money.

40 From time to time the daughters of Israel would go to lament over the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days each year.

Jephthah and Ephraim

1 And the men of Ephraim gathered, and crossed over to the north, and they said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to wage war against the children of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.”

2 And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a severe conflict with the children of Ammon. And I asked you for help, but you did not save me from them.

3 “And I saw that you were not saving me, and I gave my life over to the risk of death, and I crossed over to the children of Ammon, and the Lord handed them over to me. So why have you come up to me today to wage war against me?”

4 And Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead, and waged war against those of the house of Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck down those of the house of Ephraim, because the fugitives of the house of Ephraim said, “What importance do you have, those of the house of Gilead, sons of the house of Ephraim among the house of Manasseh?”

5 And those of the house of Gilead seized the fords of the Jordan against those of the house of Ephraim. And when one of the fugitives of the house of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” And he would say, “No.”

6 Then they would say to him, “Say now Shibboleth,” and he would say “Sibboleth,” and he could not pronounce it correctly. And they would seize him and slaughter him at the fords of the Jordan. And forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.

7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. And Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in the cities of Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

8 And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 And he had thirty sons. And he sent thirty daughters to marry outside his family, and brought in thirty daughters-in-law for his sons from outside. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 And Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

11 And after him Elon of the house of Zebulun judged Israel. And he judged Israel ten years. 12 And Elon of the house of Zebulun died, and was buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun.

13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, of Pirathon, judged Israel. 14 And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkey colts. And he judged Israel eight years. 15 And Abdon the son of Hillel, of Pirathon, died, and was buried in Pirathon, in the land of the tribe of Ephraim, in the hill country of the house of Amalek.

Samson’s Birth Is Announced

1 And the children of Israel again did what was evil before the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to the Philistines forty years. 2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of Dan, and his name was Manoah. And his wife was unable to have children and had no child.

3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Look, you are unable to have children and have no child. But you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 And now, be careful, and do not drink wine, new or old, and do not eat anything unclean. 5 For look, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor will pass over his head. For the child will be a Nazirite of the Lord from the womb, and he will begin to save Israel from the Philistines.”

6 And the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A prophet of the Lord came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of the Lord, deeply awe-inspiring. And I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 And he said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And now, do not drink wine, new or old, and do not eat anything unclean, for the child will be a Nazirite of the Lord from the womb until the day of his death.’”

Manoah Meets the Messenger

8 And Manoah prayed before the Lord and said, “Please, Lord, let the prophet of the Lord You sent come to us again, and teach us what we should do for the child that will be born.”

9 And the prayer of Manoah was heard before the Lord, and the angel of the Lord came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field. And Manoah her husband was not with her.

10 And the woman hurried and ran and told her husband, and she said to him, “Look, the man who came to me that day has appeared to me.”

11 And Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke with the woman?” And he said, “I am.”

12 And Manoah said, “Now let your words be fulfilled. What will be right for the child, and what should we do for him?”

13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Let the woman carefully follow everything I told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, and she must not drink wine, new or old, and she must not eat anything unclean. Let her follow everything I commanded her.”

15 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Let us keep you here and prepare a young goat for you.”

16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you keep me here, I will not eat your bread. And if you would prepare a burnt offering before the Lord, offer it up.” For Manoah did not know that he was an angel of the Lord.

17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that when your words are fulfilled we may honor you?”

18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why is it that you ask my name, since it is wondrous?”

19 And Manoah took the young goat and the meal offering, and offered them on the rock before the Lord. And he performed a wonder, while Manoah and his wife were looking on.

20 And as the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife were looking on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

21 And the angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen an angel of the Lord.”

23 And his wife said to him, “If the Lord intended to put us to death, He would not have accepted from us a burnt offering and a meal offering, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear such news at this time.”

Samson Is Born

24 And the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And a spirit of power from the Lord began to strengthen him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson’s Marriage

1 And Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

2 And he came up and told his father and his mother, and said, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. And now, get her for me as a wife.”

3 And his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she seems right to me.”

4 And his father and his mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was looking for an opportunity against the Philistines. And at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

Samson and the Lion

5 And Samson went down, and his father and his mother, to Timnah, and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah. And look, a young lion came roaring toward him.

6 And a spirit of power from the Lord rested on him, and he tore it as one tears apart a young goat, and he had nothing in his hand. And he did not tell his father and his mother what he had done.

7 And he went down and spoke with the woman, and she seemed right to Samson.

8 And after some days he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And look, a swarm of bees was in the carcass of the lion, and honey.

9 And he scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he went to his father and to his mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the carcass of the lion.

The Wedding Feast and the Riddle

10 And his father went down to arrange matters concerning the woman. And Samson made a feast there, for that was what young men used to do.

11 And when they saw him, they brought thirty companions, and they were with him.

12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now tell a riddle to you. If you will indeed explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, I will give you thirty linen sheets and thirty sets of clothes.

13 “But if you cannot explain it to me, then you must give me thirty linen sheets and thirty sets of clothes.” And they said to him, “Tell your riddle so that we can hear it.”

14 And he said to them, “Out of the eater came food, and out of the strong came sweetness.” And they could not explain the riddle in three days.

15 And on the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you called us here to impoverish us?”

16 And Samson’s wife cried to him and said, “You only hate me and do not love me. You have told a riddle to the children of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” And he said to her, “Look, I have not told my father and my mother, and should I tell you?”

17 And she cried to him the seven days during which they had the feast. And on the seventh day he told her, because she kept pressuring him. And she told the riddle to the children of her people.

18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not investigated the matter through my wife, you would not have found out my riddle.”

19 And a spirit of power from the Lord rested on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, and took their gear, and gave the robes to those who had explained the riddle. And he became furious, and he went up to his father’s house.

20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his groomsman.

Samson’s Revenge

1 And after some days, during the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat, and he said, “I will go in to my wife, to the bedroom.” But her father did not let him go in.

2 And her father said, “I was sure that you hated her completely, and I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Let her be yours now in her place.”

3 And Samson said to them, “I am blameless this time toward the Philistines, when I do them harm.”

4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and tied tail to tail, and put one torch between two tails, in the middle. 5 And he set fire to the torches and sent them into the standing grain of the Philistines, and he burned everything, from the stacks to the standing grain, and to the vineyards and the olive trees.

6 And the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

7 And Samson said to them, “If you do this, I will not rest until I have taken revenge on you, and after that I will stop.”

8 And he struck them down, horsemen together with foot soldiers, with a great slaughter. And he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

Judah Hands Samson Over

9 And the Philistines went up and encamped in the land of the house of Judah, and they spread out against Lehi.

10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to tie Samson up and do to him what he has done to us.”

11 And three thousand men of the house of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “I have done to them what they did to me.”

12 And they said to him, “We have come down to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not attack me.”

13 And they spoke to him, saying, “No. But we will surely tie you up and hand you over to them, but we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

Samson Defeats the Philistines

14 He came as far as Lehi, and the Philistines shouted toward him. And a spirit of power from the Lord rested on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that fire has touched, and his bonds melted off his hands.

15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and he reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.

16 And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey I have thrown them down in heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men.”

17 And when he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand. And he called that place Ramath Lehi.

18 And he was very thirsty, and he prayed before the Lord and said, “You have brought this great deliverance through Your servant. And now will I die of thirst and be handed over to the uncircumcised?”

19 And the Lord split the rock that was in Lehi, and water came out of it, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore its name was called the Spring that was Given through the Prayer of Samson. It stands in Lehi to this day.

20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Samson at Gaza

1 And Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a woman who was an innkeeper, and he went in to her.

2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded him and lay in wait for him all night at the entrance of the city gate. And they kept quiet all night, saying, “Wait until the light of morning, and we will kill him.”

3 And Samson lay until midnight, and he got up at midnight and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two doorposts, and pulled them up together with the bar, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that faces Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

4 And after this, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Persuade him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him and bind him to hurt him. And we will give you, each man, eleven hundred selaim of silver.”

6 And Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me now where your great strength lies, and with what you might be bound to hurt you.”

7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven moist cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

8 And the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven moist cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 And men were waiting in ambush for her in the bedroom. And she said to him, “The Philistines are coming for you, Samson!” And he snapped the cords as a thread of flax is snapped when fire touches it. And his strength was not made known.

10 And Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have deceived me and told me lies. Now, tell me now with what you might be bound.”

11 And he said to her, “If they surely bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

12 And Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are coming for you, Samson!” And men were waiting in ambush in the bedroom. And he snapped them off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me now with what you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head with the beam of the warp.”

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are coming for you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the weavers’ beam and the warp.

15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? These three times you have deceived me, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”

16 And when she troubled him with her words every day and kept pressuring him, he was distressed to the point of death.

17 And he told her everything in his heart, and said to her, “No razor has passed over my head, for I have been a Nazirite of the Lord from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will depart from me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

18 And Delilah saw that he had told her everything in his heart, and she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up just this once, for he has told me everything in his heart.” And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the money in their hand.

19 And she made him sleep on her knees, and she called the man and had him cut off the seven braids of his head. And she began to hurt him, and his strength departed from him.

20 And she said, “The Philistines are coming for you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and gain strength.” And he did not know that the might of the Lord had departed from him.

Samson Is Captured

21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with chains of bronze. And he was grinding at the mill in the prison.

22 And the hair of his head began to grow after he had been shaved.

Samson’s Death

23 And the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their idol, and to celebrate. And they said, “Our deity has handed Samson our enemy over to us.”

24 And the people saw him and praised their idol, for they said, “Our deity has handed our enemy over to us, and the destroyer of our land, and the one who killed so many of us.”

25 And when they were in high spirits, they said, “Call for Samson, so that he may entertain us.” And they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed before them. And they stood him between the pillars.

26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by his hand, “Let me be, and let me feel the pillars on which the house is set, so that I may lean on them.”

27 And the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And on the roof were about three thousand men and women who were watching Samson’s performance.

28 And Samson prayed before the Lord and said, “Lord God, remember me, and strengthen me now, just this once, Lord, so that I may take revenge once for my two eyes, which the Philistines gouged out for me.”

29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house was set, and he leaned on them, one with his right hand and one with his left.

30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he bent with all his strength, and the house fell on the lords and on all the people that were in it. And he killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life.

31 And his brothers and all his father’s house came down and carried him, and they went up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the grave of Manoah his father. And he had judged Israel twenty years.

Micah’s Shrine

1 And there was a man of the hill country of the house of Ephraim, and his name was Micaiah.

2 And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred selaim of silver that were taken from you, about which you swore, and also said before me: look, the silver is with me. I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son before the Lord.”

3 And he returned the eleven hundred selaim of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I have completely dedicated the silver before the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an image and a cast image. And now I will return it to you.”

4 And he returned the silver to his mother. And his mother took two hundred selaim of silver and gave it to the smith, and he made it into an image and a cast image. And it was in the house of Micaiah.

5 And the man Micah had a house of idols. And he made an ephod and images, and presented the offering of one of his sons, and he became his idol-priest.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Each man would do what seemed right to him.

A Levite Becomes Micah’s Priest

7 And there was a young man from Bethlehem of Judah, of the family of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he stayed there.

8 And the man went from his city, from Bethlehem of Judah, to stay wherever he would find a place. And he came to the hill country of the house of Ephraim, as far as the house of Micah, as he went on his way.

9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem of Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I may find a place.”

10 And Micah said to him, “Live with me, and be a father and a priest. And I will give you ten selaim of silver a year, and a set of clothes, and your food.” And the Levite went in.

11 And the Levite agreed to live with the man. And he treated the young man like one of his sons.

12 And Micah presented the offering of the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and he was in the house of Micah.

13 And Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will treat me well, since I have a Levite as an idol-priest.”

Dan Seeks a Territory

1 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the house of Dan was looking for an inheritance to live in, for until that day an inheritance had not been allotted to them among the tribes of Israel as a possession.

2 And the children of Dan sent from their family five men from their whole number, brave men, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go, search the land.” And they came to the hill country of the house of Ephraim, as far as the house of Micah, and lodged there.

3 They were by the house of Micah, and they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite. And they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing here? And what do you have here?”

4 And he said to them, “Micah has done such and such for me. And he has hired me, and I have become his idol-priest.”

5 And they said to him, “Inquire now through the Memra of the Lord, so that we may know whether our journey will succeed.”

6 And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The Lord has made the journey you are taking right.”

7 And the five men went and came to Laish, and they saw the people that were in it living securely, like the Sidonians, quiet and living securely. And there was no one in the land who did harm in any matter, possessing small holdings. And they were far from the Sidonians, and they had no dealings with anyone.

8 And they came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What news have you?”

9 And they said, “Get up, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and look, it is very good. And you are silent? Do not be slow to go in and take possession of the land.

10 “When you come, you will come to a people living securely, and the land is spacious. For the Lord has handed it over to you, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

The Danites Take Micah’s Images

11 And six hundred men of the family of Dan, equipped with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol.

12 And they went up and encamped in Kiriath Jearim, in the land of the house of Judah. Therefore they called that place the Camp of Dan to this day. Look, it is behind Kiriath Jearim.

13 And they passed from there to the hill country of the house of Ephraim, and came as far as the house of Micah.

14 And the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish answered and said to their brothers, “Do you know that these houses contain an ephod and images, and an image and a cast image? And now, consider what you should do.”

15 And they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, the house of Micah, and greeted him in peace.

16 And the six hundred men equipped with their weapons of war, who were of the tribe of the children of Dan, stood at the entrance of the gate.

17 And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up. They came in there and took the image, and the ephod, and the images, and the cast image. And the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men who were equipped with weapons of war.

18 And these came into the house of Micah and took the image of the ephod, and the images, and the cast image. And the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

19 And they said to him, “Be quiet, put your hand over your mouth, and go with us, and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better that you be priest to one man’s household, or that you be priest to a tribe and to a family in Israel?”

20 And the priest was happy, and he took the ephod, and the images, and the image, and went in among the people.

21 And they turned and went, and they put the children, and the cattle, and the possessions before them.

22 They had gone far from the house of Micah, when the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered and overtook the children of Dan.

23 And they called to the children of Dan. And they turned around and said to Micah, “What is wrong, that you have gathered together?”

24 And he said, “You have taken my deity which I made, and the priest, and have gone away. And what do I have left? And how is it that you say to me, ‘What is wrong?’”

25 And the children of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, or angry men may attack you, and you may lose your life and the lives of the men of your house.”

26 And the children of Dan went on their way. And Micah saw that they were stronger than he, and he turned and went back to his house.

The Danites Capture Laish

27 And they took what Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and living securely. And they struck them with the sword, and they burned the city with fire.

28 And there was no one to save them, for it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. And it was in the plain that belongs to Beth Rehob. And they built the city and lived in it.

29 And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel. But the city was formerly called Laish.

30 And the children of Dan set up for themselves the image. And Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were idol-priests to the tribe of the house of Dan, until the day that the inhabitants of the land went into exile.

31 And they set up for themselves the image of Micah which he had made, all the days that the Sanctuary of the Lord stood in Shiloh.

The Levite Goes to Bethlehem

1 And in those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a Levite man staying on the far side of the hill country of the house of Ephraim. And he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem of the house of Judah.

2 And his concubine treated him with contempt, and she went away from him to her father’s house, to Bethlehem of the house of Judah, and she was there for a time, four months.

3 And her husband got up and went after her, to speak tenderly to her, to bring her back. And his servant was with him, and a pair of donkeys. And she brought him into her father’s house. And the young woman’s father saw him, and was delighted to meet him.

4 And his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, persuaded him to stay, and he stayed with him three days. And they ate and drank and lodged there.

5 And on the fourth day they rose early in the morning, and he got up to go. And the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward you can go.”

6 And they sat down and ate, the two of them together, and drank. And the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please stay here tonight and enjoy yourself.”

7 And the man got up to go, but his father-in-law pressed him, and he returned and lodged there.

8 And he rose early in the morning on the fifth day to go. And the young woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself now, and wait until later in the day.” And the two of them ate.

9 And the man got up to go, he and his concubine and his servant. And his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Look, it is getting late, toward evening. Stay here tonight. Stay just this day, and enjoy yourself. And tomorrow you can rise early on your way, and you can go to your cities.”

The Journey to Gibeah

10 But the man was not willing to lodge there, and he got up and went, and came as far as opposite Jebus, that is Jerusalem. And with him were a pair of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him.

11 They were by Jebus, and it was getting very late. And the servant said to his master, “Come now, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and lodge in it.”

12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of the sons of the nations, who are not of the children of Israel. But we will reach as far as Gibeah.”

13 And he said to his servant, “Come, and let us go to one of the places, and lodge in Gibeah or in Ramah.”

14 And they passed on and went, and the sun set while they were beside Gibeah, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin.

15 And they turned aside there, to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the square of the city, and there was no man who took them into his house to lodge.

An Old Man Offers Hospitality

16 And look, an old man was coming from his work, from the field, in the evening. And the man was of the hill country of the house of Ephraim, and he stayed in Gibeah. But the men of the place were of the tribe of the house of Benjamin.

17 And he looked up and saw the traveler in the square of the city. And the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem of the house of Judah to the far side of the hill country of the house of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went as far as Bethlehem of the house of Judah. And I am going to the Sanctuary of the Lord. And there is no man who takes me into his house. 19 Yet we have both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, and for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servant. There is no lack of anything.”

20 And the old man said, “Peace to you. Only let me take care of all your needs. Only do not stay in the square.”

21 And he brought him into his house, and gave fodder to his donkeys. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

The Attack in Gibeah

22 As they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, wicked men, surrounded the house, pressing to break the door. And they said to the man, the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have sexual relations with him.”

23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “Please, my brothers, do not do evil. Since this man has come into my house, do not do this disgraceful thing.

24 “Here are my daughter, a virgin, and his concubine. Let me bring them out now, and abuse them, and do with them whatever you think right. But do not do this disgraceful thing to this man.”

25 But the men were not willing to listen to him. So the man took hold of his concubine and brought her out to them outside. And they had sexual relations with her and abused her all night until the morning, and they let her go at dawn.

26 And the woman came at daybreak, and fell at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.

The Levite Returns Home

27 And her master got up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go on his way. And look, the woman, his concubine, was lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

28 And he said to her, “Get up, and let us go.” But she did not answer. And he took her on the donkey, and the man got up and went to his place.

29 And he came to his house, and took the knife, and took hold of his concubine, and cut her up by her limbs into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the entire territory of the land of Israel.

30 And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has not happened nor been seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Think about it, discuss it, and speak.”

Israel Assembles at Mizpah

1 And all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation gathered as one, from Dan to Beer Sheba, with the land of Gilead, before the Lord at Mizpah. 2 And the leaders of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of the Lord, four hundred thousand foot soldiers armed with swords.

3 And the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. And the children of Israel said, “Speak: how did this evil come about?”

4 And the Levite man, the husband of the woman who was killed, answered and said, “I came to Gibeah, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. 5 And the inhabitants of Gibeah rose up against me, and surrounded the house against me by night. They intended to kill me, and they abused my concubine, and she died. 6 And I took hold of my concubine and cut her up, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of the land of Israel. For they carried out a sinful plan and acted improperly in Israel.

7 “Look, all of you, children of Israel, give your opinion and advice here.”

8 And all the people rose as one, saying, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. 9 And now, this is the thing that we will do to Gibeah: we will be appointed against it by lot. 10 And we will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to take provisions for the people, so that they may act, when they come to Gibeah of the house of Benjamin, according to all the disgrace that has been done in Israel.”

11 And all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one.

Benjamin Refuses Israel’s Demand

12 And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil that has been done among you?

13 “And now, hand over the wicked men who are in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death and remove those who do evil from Israel.” But the children of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

14 And the children of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to wage war against the children of Israel.

15 And the children of Benjamin were counted on that day from the cities, twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were counted, seven hundred chosen men. 16 Of all this people there were seven hundred chosen men whose right hand was withered. Every one of these could sling a stone and aim at a hair’s breadth, and not miss.

17 And the men of Israel were counted, besides those of the house of Benjamin, four hundred thousand men armed with swords. All these were warriors.

Israel’s First Two Defeats

18 And they got up and went up to Bethel, and inquired through the Memra of the Lord. And the children of Israel said, “Who will go up for us first to wage war against the children of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Judah first.”

19 And the children of Israel got up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

20 And the men of Israel went out to wage war against those of the house of Benjamin, and the men of Israel formed up for battle against them at Gibeah.

21 And the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and destroyed in Israel on that day twenty-two thousand men, killed and thrown to the ground.

22 And the people, the men of Israel, strengthened themselves, and again formed up for battle in the place where they had formed up on the first day.

23 And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and inquired through the Memra of the Lord, saying, “Should I approach again to wage war against the children of Benjamin my brother?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.”

24 And the children of Israel approached to the children of Benjamin on the second day.

25 And Benjamin went out to meet them from Gibeah on the second day, and destroyed among the children of Israel eighteen thousand more men, killed and thrown to the ground. All these were armed with swords.

Israel Consults the Lord

26 And all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up and came to Bethel, and they wept and sat there before the Lord, and fasted on that day until evening. And they offered up burnt offerings and holy sacrifices before the Lord.

27 And the children of Israel inquired through the Memra of the Lord. And the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was there in those days, 28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days, saying, “Should I again go out to wage war against the children of Benjamin my brother, or should I stop?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”

Benjamin Is Defeated

29 And Israel set ambushes against Gibeah all around.

30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and formed up for battle against Gibeah as at other times.

31 And the children of Benjamin went out to meet the people. They were drawn away from the city, and they began to kill people, as at other times, on the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel and one to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

32 And the children of Benjamin said, “They are broken before us, as before.” But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.”

33 And all the men of Israel rose up from their place and formed up for battle in the plains of Jericho. And the ambush of Israel burst out from its place, from the plain of Gibeah.

34 And there came from the south of Gibeah ten thousand chosen men from all Israel, and the battle was fierce. But they did not know that disaster was about to overtake them.

35 And the Lord broke Benjamin before Israel, and the children of Israel destroyed among those of the house of Benjamin on that day twenty-five thousand and one hundred men. All these were armed with swords.

36 And the children of Benjamin saw that they were broken. And the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin, for they relied on the ambush which they had set against Gibeah.

37 And the ambush hurried and spread out against Gibeah. And the ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the sword.

38 And there was an appointed signal for the men of Israel with the ambush, that they should make a great column of smoke rise from the city.

39 And the men of Israel turned around in the battle. And those of the house of Benjamin had begun to kill some of the men of Israel, about thirty men, for they said, “Surely they are broken, broken before us, as in the first battle.”

40 And the smoke began to rise from the city, a column of smoke. And those of the house of Benjamin turned behind them, and look, the smoke of the city was going up toward heaven.

41 And the men of Israel turned around, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, for they saw that disaster was about to overtake them.

42 And they turned before the men of Israel toward the way of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them. And the men of the ambush rose up from their cities, killing them on this side and on that.

43 They harassed those of the house of Benjamin. They pursued them from their resting place. They drove them as far as opposite Gibeah, toward the sunrise.

44 And eighteen thousand men of the house of Benjamin were killed. All these were warriors.

45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon. And five thousand men were hidden away on the highways. And they pursued them as far as Gidom, and killed two thousand men.

46 And all who were killed of the house of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who were armed with swords on that day. All these were warriors.

47 And six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and they lived at the rock of Rimmon four months.

48 And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the sword, from each city. They destroyed them, including the cattle and everything that was found. They also burned all the cities they found with fire.

Israel Mourns for Benjamin

1 And the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to those of the house of Benjamin as a wife.”

2 And the people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before the Lord, and they raised their voices and wept bitterly.

3 And they said, “Why, Lord, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that one tribe should today be missing from Israel?”

4 And the next day the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered up burnt offerings and holy sacrifices.

5 And the children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly before the Lord?” For a great oath had been taken concerning him who did not come up before the Lord to Mizpah, saying, “He will surely be put to death.”

6 And the children of Israel had regrets concerning those of the house of Benjamin their brother, and they said, “One tribe has been lost from Israel today.

7 “What should we do about wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the Memra of the Lord not to give them any of our daughters as wives?”

Wives from Jabesh Gilead

8 And they said, “Which one of the tribes of Israel is it that did not come up before the Lord to Mizpah?” And look, no man had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead, to the assembly.

9 And the people were counted, and look, there was not a man there of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead.

10 And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men, armed, brave men, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the sword, with the women and the children. 11 And this is the thing that you must do: every male, and every woman who has had sexual relations with a male, you must completely destroy.”

12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not had sexual relations with a male. And they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

13 And all the congregation sent and spoke with the children of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and spoke words of peace to them.

14 And the children of Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had kept alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead. But even so there were not enough for them.

Wives from Shiloh

15 And the people had regrets concerning those of the house of Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.

16 And the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who are left, since women have been wiped out from the house of Benjamin?”

17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of the children of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be wiped out from Israel.

18 “But we cannot give them our daughters as wives, for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, ‘Cursed is anyone who gives a wife to those of the house of Benjamin.’”

19 And they said, “Look, there is a festival before the Lord in Shiloh each year, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

20 And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and watch, and look, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to celebrate in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and each seize a wife for himself, from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of the tribe of Benjamin.

22 “And when their fathers or brothers come to bring a case before us, we will say to them, ‘Be gracious and grant them to them, for we did not obtain a wife for each man in the war. For it is not you who gave them to them, so you will not be guilty now.’”

23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took wives one for each man from the dancers whom they carried off. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the cities and lived in them.

24 And the children of Israel went from there at that time, each man to his tribe and to his family. And they went out from there, each man to his inheritance.

25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Each man would do what seemed right to him.