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The Bible/Judges written by [[|]], translated by [[User:Poetlister]]

[[Category:Translations by User:Poetlister]]

Contents 1 Chapter 1 2 Chapter 2 3 Chapter 3 4 Chapter 4 5 Chapter 5 6 Chapter 6 7 Chapter 7 8 Chapter 8 9 Chapter 9 10 Chapter 10 11 Chapter 11 12 Chapter 12 13 Chapter 13 14 Chapter 14 15 Chapter 15 16 Chapter 16 17 Chapter 17 18 Chapter 18 19 Chapter 19 20 Chapter 20 21 Chapter 21 22 Footnotes

Chapter 1

1 And it happened after the death of Joshua that the Israelis enquired of the LORD, saying: "Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?" 2 And LORD said: "Judah shall go up; behold, I have delivered the land into his hand." 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother: "Come up with me into my territory, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and likewise I will go with you into your territory". So Simeon went with him. 4 And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand; and they struck down ten thousand men in Bezek. 5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck down the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. 7 And Adoni-bezek said: "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, gathered food under my table; as I have done, so has God punished me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 And the tribe of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and destroyed it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 9 And afterwards the tribe of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the hill-country, and in the South, and in the Lowland. 10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron (and the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba) and they killed Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai. 11 And from there he^[1] went against the inhabitants of Debir (and the name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher). 12 And Caleb said: "Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher, and takes it, I will give him Achsah my daughter as a wife." 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife. 14 And it happened, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field; and she climbed down from her ass; and Caleb said to her: "What would you like?" 15 And she said to him: "Give me a present; since you have put me in the Negev Desert, please give me springs of water." And Caleb gave her the Upper Springs and the Lower Springs.

16 And the descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the city of palm-trees with the tribe of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt with the people. 17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they attacked the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was Hormah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border. 19 And the LORD was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the hill-country; but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had iron chariots. 20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken; and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there. 21 And the tribe of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwelt with the tribe of Benjamin in Jerusalem, to this day.

22 And the descendants^[2] of Joseph also went up against Beth-el; and the LORD was with them. 23 And the descendants of Joseph sent spies to Beth-el (and the name of the city was formerly Luz). 24 And the watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him: "Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will deal kindly you." 25 And he showed them the entrance to the city, and they destroyed the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go, and all his family. 26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

27 And Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its towns, nor of Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; and the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. 28 And it happened, when the Israelis had grown strong, that they made the Canaanites do task-work, but they did not drive them out at all. 29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became their vassals. 31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob; 32 but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out. 33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became their vassals. 34 And the Amorites forced the tribe of Dan into the hill-country; for they would not let them come down to the valley. 35 But the Amorites were determined to dwell in Harheres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; yet the power^[3] of the descendants of Joseph prevailed, so that they became their vassals. 36 And the border of the Amorites was from the foothills of Akrabbim, from Sela, and upwards.

Chapter 2

1 And the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said: "I caused you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I promised on oath to your fathers; and I said: I will never break My covenant with you; 2 and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars; but ye have not paid attention to My voice; what is this you have done? 3 Therefore I also said: I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be snares for you, and their gods shall be a trap for you.' 4 And it happened, when the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the Israelis, that the people wept in a loud voice. 5 And they called that place Bochim^[4]; and they sacrificed there to the LORD.

6 Now when Joshua had sent the people away, every man of the Israelis went to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 And the people served 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 performed for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten years. 9 And they buried him at the edge of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, who did not know the LORD, nor the work which He had performed for Israel.

11 And the Israelis did things that were evil in the sight of the LORD, and worshipped the Baalim. 12 And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, some of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and worshipped them; and they provoked the LORD. 13 And they abandoned the LORD, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14 And the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of ransackers who ransacked them, and He gave them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken, and as the LORD had sworn unto them; and they were painfully distressed. 16 And the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who ransacked them. 17 And yet they did not pay attention to their judges, for they went astray after other gods, and worshipped them; they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers had walked, obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so. 18 And when the LORD raised up judges for them, then the LORD was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD repented because of their groaning caused by those who oppressed them and crushed them. 19 But it happened, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and acted more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to worship them; they left nothing undone of their practices, nor of their stubborn way. 20 And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel; and He said: "Since this nation have transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not paid attention to My voice; 21 I also will no longer drive out from before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died; 22 that I may test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not." 23 So the LORD left those nations, without driving them out quickly; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

Chapter 3

1 And these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, all the people who had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 in order that that the generations of the Israelis might know, to teach them war, at least those who previously had known nothing about it; namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Zidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 4 And they were there, to test Israel by them, to know whether they would pay attention to the commandments of the LORD, which He commanded to their fathers by the agency of Moses. 5 And the Israelis dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites; 6 and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Othniel
7 And the Israelis did things that were evil in the LORD's sight, and forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baalim and the Asheroth. 8 Therefore the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aramnaharaim; and the Israelis served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 And when the Israelis cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a saviour to the Israelis, who saved them; he was Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 And the LORD's spirit came upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim. 11 And the land was at peace for forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud the son of Gera
12 And the Israelis again did things that were evil in the LORD's sight; and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done things that were evil in the LORD's sight. 13 And he gathered the Ammonites and Amalekites to himself; and he went and ravaged Israel, and they possessed the city of palm-trees. 14 And the Israelis served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. 15 But when the Israelis cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a saviour for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the Israelis sent Eglon the king of Moab a present by him. 16 And Ehud made for himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit long; and he put it on a belt under his garment upon his right thigh. 17 And he offered the present to Eglon king of Moab. And Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when he^[5] had finished offering the present, he sent away the people who carried the present. 19 But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said: "I have a secret errand for thee, O king." And he said: "Keep silence." And all that stood by him went out from his presence. 20 And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in his cool upper chamber. And Ehud said: "I have a message from God for thee." And he stood up from his seat. 21 And Ehud stretched out his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his^[6] belly. 22 And the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed round the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and it came out of his back. 23 Then Ehud went out of there into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper chamber behind him, and locked them. 24 Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the upper chamber were locked; and they said: "Surely he is covering his feet in the cabinet of the cool chamber."^[7] 25 And they hung around until they were ashamed; and, behold, he did not open the doors of the upper chamber; so they took the key, and opened them; and, behold, their lord had fallen down dead on the earth. 26 And Ehud escaped while they lingered, having passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah. 27 And it happened, when he had come, that he blew a horn in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the Israelis went down with him from the hill-country, and he was leading them. 28 And he said to them: "Follow after me; for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand." And they went down after him, and captured the fords of the Jordan from the Moabites, and would not let any man pass over. 29 And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, every vigorous man, and every man of valour; and not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was at peace for eighty years.

Shamgar
31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred Philistine men with an ox-goad; and he also saved Israel.

Chapter 4

Deborah
1 And the Israelis again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. 2 And the LORD gave them over into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of his host was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-goiim. 3 And the Israelis cried to the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he oppressed the children of Israel greatly for twenty years.

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. 5 And she sat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came to her for judgment. 6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him: "Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, saying: Go and draw toward 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 Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude, to the Kishon Brook; and I will deliver him into your hand." 8 And Barak said to her: "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go." 9 And she said: "I will certainly go with you,but the journey that you take will not be for your honour; for the LORD will give Sisera over into the hand of a woman." And Deborah gotup, and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and ten thousand men went up, following him; and Deborah went up with him. 11 Now Heber the Kenite had dissociated himself from the Kenites - from the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses - and had pitched his tent as far away as Elon-bezaanannim, which is close to Kedesh. 12 And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, the nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth-goiim, to the Kishon Brook. 14 And Deborah said to Barak: "Get up; for this is the day on which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men after him. 15 And the LORD defeated Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got out of his chariot, and fled away by foot. 16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth-goiim; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not one man left. 17 However, Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him: "Come in, my lord, come in to me; do not be afraid." And he came in to her, into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 And he said to her, "Give me, please, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty." And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him some to drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, "Stand at the entrance to the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and asks you, and says: Is there any man here? then you shall say: No." 21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went quietly to him, and smashed the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep. So he fainted and died. 22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, "Come, and I shall show you the man you are seeking." And he came to her; and, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent-pin was through his temples. 23 So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. 24 And the power of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Gideon

1 And the children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and due to Midian, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. 3 For whenever Israel had sown seed, the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the East; they came up to attack them; 4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the produce of the earth, as far as the border with Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor oxen, nor asses. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came in as numerous as locusts; neither they nor their camels could not be counted; and they came into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to the LORD.

7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8 that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel; and he said to them: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; 9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you: I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but you have not heeded My voice."

11 And the angel of the LORD came, and sat under the oak at Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite; and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him: "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valour." 13 And Gideon said to him: "Oh, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonderful works which our fathers told us about, saying: Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? But now the LORD has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian." 14 And the LORD turned to him, and said: "Go in this might of yours, and save Israel from the hand of Midian; have I not sent you?" 15 And he said to him: Oh, my lord, with what can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family^[9]." 16 And the LORD said to him: "Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as if they were only one man^[10]." 17 And he said to him: "If now I have found favour in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talks with me. 18 Do not leave here, please, until I come back to you, and bring forth my present, and lay it before you." And he said: "I will wait until you come back." 19 And Gideon went indoors, and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

20 And the angel of God 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 Then the angel of the LORD reached out with 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 burnt up the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 And Gideon realised that he was the angel of the LORD; and Gideon said: "Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." 23 And the LORD said to him: "Peace to you; do not fear; you shalt not die.' 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it 'The Lord is peace'; it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites to this day.

25 And on the same night, the LORD said to him: "Take your father's bull, and the second bull that is seven years old, and pull down your father's altar of Baal, and cut down the sacred tree that is next to it; 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this stronghold, in the levelled area, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the sacred tree which you shall cut down." 27 Then Gideon took ten men from his servants, and did what the LORD had spoken to him; and it happened, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. 28 And when the men of the city got up early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was pulled down, and the sacred tree next to it was cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the altar that had been built. 29 And they said to each other: "Who has done this thing?" And when they enquired and asked, they said: "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing." 30 Then the men of the city said to Joash: "Bring out your son, that he may die; because he has pulled down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the sacred tree that was next to it." 31 And Joash said to all who stood in front of him: "Will you fight for Baal? Or will you defend his cause? Whoever will fight for him shall be put to death before morning; if he be a god, let him fight for himself, because someone has pulled down his altar." 32 Therefore on that day he was called Jerubbaal, meaning: "Let Baal fight against him", because he has broken down his altar.

33 Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled together; and they crossed over, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 But the spirit of the LORD covered Gideon; and he blew a horn; and the clan of Abiezer was gathered together to follow him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they were also gathered together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. 36 And Gideon said to God: "If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken, 37 behold, I will put a woollen fleece on the threshing-floor; if there is dew only on the fleece, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken." 38 And it was so; for he rose early the next day, and squeezed the fleece, and wrung dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39 And Gideon said to God: "Do not let Your anger be kindled against me, and I will only speak once: let me make a trial, please, just once with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground." 40 And God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and there was dew on all the ground.

Chapter 7

Gideon continued

1 Then Jerubbaal, known as Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and camped next to En-harod; and Midian's camp was to their north, next to Gibeath-moreh, in the valley. 2 And the LORD said to Gideon: "The people who are with you are too numerous for Me to give the Midianites into their power, in case Israel boast against Me, saying: my own power has saved me. 3 Now therefore proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying: 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and depart early 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 numerous; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there; and it shall be that if I say of someone to you: This one shall go with you, that one shall go with you; and if I say of someone to you: This one shall not go with you, that one shall not go." 5 So he brought down the people to the water, and the LORD said to Gideon: "Everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall put him by himself; likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink." 6 And three hundred men lapped, putting their hand to their mouth; but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the LORD said to Gideon: "I shall save you using the three hundred men who lapped, and deliver the Midianites into your power; and let all the other men go home." 8 So they picked up the people's food, and their horns; and he sent all the men of Israel back to their tents, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

9 And it happened the same night, that the LORD said to him: "Rise up, get down upon the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand. 10 But if you fear to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp. 11 And you shall hear what they say; and afterwards your hands shall be strengthened to go down upon the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outermost edge of the armed men who were in the camp. 12 Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley, as numerous as locusts; and they had innumerable camels, as many as grains of sand on the sea-shore. 13 And when Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his fellow, and saying: "Behold, I dreamed, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and hit it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat." 14 And his fellow replied: "This is the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: God has delivered Midian and all the army into his hand." 15 And when Gideon heard the narration of the dream, and its interpretation, he worshipped; and he returned to the camp of Israel, and said: "Arise; for the LORD has delivered the army of Midian into your hand." 16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he gave bugles, and empty pitchers, with torches inside the pitchers, to all of them. 17 And he said to them: "Look on me, and do what I do; and, behold, when I come to the outermost edge of the camp, whatever I do, you shall do. 18 When I blow the bugle, I and all who are with me, then you shall also blow the bugles on every side of all the camp, and say: For the LORD and for Gideon!"

19 So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the outermost edge of the camp at the start of the middle night-watch, when they had only just set the watchmen; and they blew the bugles, and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 And the three companies blew the bugles, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the bugles for blowing in their right hands; and they yelled: "The sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" 21 And every man stood in his place round about the camp; and all the army ran; and they shouted, and fled. 22 And they blew the three hundred bugles, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, throughout all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, next to Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel were assembled from Naphtali, and from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian. 24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying: "Come down against Midian, and seize the waters in front of them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the River Jordan." So all of the men of Ephraim were assembled, and took the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the River Jordan. 25 And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb at the Rock of Oreb, and they slew Zeeb at the Winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 8

Gideon continued

1 And the men of Ephraim said to him: "Why have you treated us like this, that you did not call us when you went to fight with Midian?" And they chided him sharply. 2 And he said to them: "What have I now done in comparison with you? Aren't the gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3 God has delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb into your hand; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger with him was abated, after he said that. 4 And Gideon came to the Jordan, and crossed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him; they were exhausted, yet still pursuing. 5 And he said to the men of Succoth: " Please give some loaves of bread to my followers, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian." 6 And the princes of Succoth said: "Are the forces of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your power, that we should give bread to your army?" 7 And Gideon said: "Because of this, when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers." 8 And he went from there to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way; and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. 9 And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying: "When I come back in peace, I will break down this tower."

10 And Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the children of the east; for a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen that drew sword had fallen. 11 And Gideon went up by the caravan route to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army; for the army was off guard. 12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he pursued after them; and he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and threw all the army into a panic. 13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle via the ascent of Heres. 14 And he caught a young man, one of the men of Succoth, and questioned him; and he wrote down for him the princes of Succoth, and its elders, seventy seven men. 15 And he came to the men of Succoth, and said: "Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying: 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your power, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?'" 16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns from the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. 17 And he broke down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city. 18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna: "Where are the men whom you slew at Tabor?" And they replied: "As you are, so were they; they resembled the children of a king." 19 And he said: "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother; as the LORD lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not slay you." 20 And he said to Jether his first-born: "Up, and slay them." But the youth did nor draw his sword; for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. 21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said: "Get up yourself, and fall upon us; for as the man is, so is his strength." And Gideon rose up, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels' necks.

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon: "Rule over us, both you, and your son, and also your son's son; for you have saved us from the hand of Midian." 23 And Gideon said to them: "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you." 24 And Gideon said to them: "I would ask a favour of you, that every man of you will give me the earrings from his spoils." For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites. 25 And they answered: "We will willingly give them." And they spread a garment, and every man threw the earrings of his spoils on it. 26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; as well as the crescents, the pendants and the purple garments that were on the kings of Midian, and as well as the chains that were about their camels' necks. 27 And Gideon made an ephod of the gold, and put it in his city, in Ophrah; and all Israel falsely worshipped it there; and it became a snare to Gideon, and to his house. 28 So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they did not exalt themselves again. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

29 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. 30 And Gideon fathered seventy sons; for he had many wives. 31 And his concubine who was in Shechem she also bore him a son, and he gave him the name Abimelech. 32 And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 33 And it happened, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again went astray, worshipping the Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god. 34 And the children of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side; 35 nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, to rerurn all the good that he had done for Israel.

Chapter 9

The children of Gideon

1 And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother's family, and spoke with them, and with all of his mother's father's family, saying: 2 "Speak, please, to all the men of Shechem: Which is better for you, that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you? Rremember also that I am your flesh and blood." 3 And his mother's family spoke all these words about him to all the men of Shechem; and they agreed in their hearts to follow Abimelech; for they said: "He is our brother." 4 And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired reckless and worthless fellows, who followed him. 5 And he went to his father's family at Ophrah, and slew his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, upon one stone; but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left alive, for he hid himself.

6 And all the men of Shechem assembled together, and all Beth-millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak next to the pillar that was in Shechem. 7 And when they told this to Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim, and spoke in a loud voice, and said to them: "Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you. 8 Once upon a time, the trees went out to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive-tree: Reign over us. 9 But the olive-tree said to them: Should I stop making oil, seeing that by me they honour God and man, and go to hold sway over the trees? 10 And the trees said to the fig-tree: Come, and reign over us. 11 But the fig-tree said unto them: Should I stop making sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to hold sway over the trees? 12 And the trees said to the vine: Come, and reign over us. 13 And the vine said to them: Should I stop making my wine, which cheers God and man, and go to hold sway over the trees? 14 Then all the trees said to the bramble: Come, and reign over us. 15 And the bramble said to the trees: If in truth you will anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. 16 Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and uprightly, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him what his deeds deserved – 17 for my father fought for you, and risked his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; 18 and you have today risen up against my father's house, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother – 19 if you then have dealt truly and uprightly with Jerubbaal and with his house today, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. 20 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech." 21 And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and lived there, being afraid of Abimelech his brother.

22 And Abimelech was prince over Israel for three years. 23 And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech; 24 that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid upon Abimelech their brother, who slew them, and upon the men of Shechem, who helped him to slay his brothers. 25 And the men of Shechem put men in ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all that passed by them along that way; and Abimelech was told.

26 And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers, and went to Shechem; and the men of Shechem trusted him. 27 And they went out into the field, and harvested their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and held a festival, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. 28 And Gaal the son of Ebed said: "Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? 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 would that this people were under my control! Then I would remove Abimelech." And he said to Abimelech: "Recruit your army, and come out." 30 And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, he became angry. 31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech in Tormah, saying: "Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and, behold, they will incite the city against you. 32 Now therefore, get up in the middle of the night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. 33 And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early, and attack the city; and, behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then may you do to them whatever you can." 34 And Abimelech rose up, and all the people who were with him, by night, and they lay in wait about Shechem in four companies. 35 And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city; and Abimelech rose up, and the people who were with him, from the ambush. 36 And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul: "Behold, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains." And Zebul said to him: "You seest the shadow of the mountains and think they are men." 37 And Gaal spoke again and said: "See, people come down from the centre of the land, and one company comes by way of Elon-meonenim." 38 Then Zebul said to him: "Where now is your mouth, that you said: Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Is this not the people that you have despised? Go out now, please, and fight with them." 39 And Gaal went out in the view of the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. 40 And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many fell wounded, right up to the entrance of the gate. 41 And Abimelech stayed at Arumah; and Zebul expelled Gaal and his brothers, so that they should not live in Shechem. 42 And it came to pass, the next day, that the people went out into the field; and Abimelech was told. 43 And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the field; and he looked, and, behold, the people were coming out of the city; and he rose up against them, and devastated them. 44 And Abimelech, and the companies that were with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city; and the two companies rushed upon all who were in the field, and devastated them. 45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people in it; and he smashed down the city, and sowed it with salt.

46 And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard about this, they went into the stronghold of the house of El-berith. 47 And Abimelech was told that all the men of the tower of Shechem had gathered together. 48 And Abimelech went up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder; and he said to the people that were with him: 'What you have seen me do, hurry, and do as I have done.' 49 And of all the people, each man also cut down his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them against the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire with them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and captured it. 51 But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women fled there, everyone from of the city, and shut themselves in, and got up to the roof of the tower. 52 And Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and went close to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 And a certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and broke his skull. 54 Then he called hastily to the young man, his armour-bearer, and said to him: "Draw your sword, and kill me, so that men do not say of me: A woman slew him." And his young man thrust right through him, and he died. 55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, every man departed back to his place. 56 Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in slaying his seventy brothers; 57 and all the wickedness of the men of Shechem God repaid on their heads; and on them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

Chapter 10

The Israelis in trouble

1. And after Abimelech Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of the tribe of Issachar arose to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim. 2. And he judged Israel for twenty-three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. 3. And after him arose Jair, from Gilead, and he judged Israel for twenty-two years. 4. And he had thirty sons, who rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth-jair until today, which are in the land of Gilead. 5. And Jair died, and was buried in Kamon.

6. And the children of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baalim, and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they abandoned the Lord, and did not serve Him. 7. And the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and He gave them over into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the Ammonites. 8. And they oppressed and crushed the children of Israel that year; for eighteen years they oppressed they all the Israelis who were across the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9. And the Ammonites also crossed over the Jordan to fight against the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim, so that the Israelis were greatlyly distressed.

10 And the Israelis cried to the LORDaying: "We have sinned against You, for we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baalim." 11 And the LORD said to the Israelis: "Did I not save you from the Egyptians and the Amorites, from the Ammonites and the Philistines? 12 Also the Zidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to Me, and I saved you out of their hand. 13 Yet you have abandoned Me, and served other gods; so I will not save you any more. 14 Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress." 15 And the Israelis said to the Lord: "We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, today." 16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD; and His soul was grieved for the misery of the Israelis. 17 Then the Ammonites gathered together, and camped in Gilead. And the Israelis assembled, and camped in Mizpah. 18 And the people, the princes of Gilead, said to each other: "Which man will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be ruler over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

Chapter 11

Jephthah

1 Now Jephthah of Gilead was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of a prostitute; and Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him: "You shalt not inherit in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman." 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men gathered around Jephthah, and they went out raiding with him.

4 And it came to pass after a while, that the Ammonites made war against Israel. 5 And it came to pass that when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 And they said to Jephthah: "Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the Ammonites." 7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: "Did you not hate me, and drive me out of my father's house? So why have you come to me now when you are in distress?" 8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah: "That is why we have returned to you now, so that you may go with us, and fight with the Ammonites, and you shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead." 9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: "If you bring me back home to fight with the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them over to me, I will be your head." 10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah: 'The LORD shall be witness between us; surely we shall do according to your word." 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their head and chief; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying: 'What have you to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?' 13 And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah: 'Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the River Arnon to the River Jabbok, and to the River Jordan; so now restore those cities peacefully.' 14 And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the Ammonites; 15 and he said to him: 'Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the Ammonites. 16 But when they came up from Egypt, and Israel walked through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh; 17 then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying: Please let me pass through your land; but the king of Edom would not listen. And in the same way he sent messengers to the king of Moab; but he would not listen; and Israel stayed in Kadesh. 18 Then he walked through the wilderness, and went rounf the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they set up camp on the other side of the Arnon; but they did not come across the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him: Please let us pass through your land to my place. 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and set up camp in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the power of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22 And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan. 23 So now the LORD, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites in favour of His people Israel, and should you possess them? 24 Will you not possess that which Chemosh thy god gives you to possess? So whoever the LORD our God has dispossessed in our favour, we will possess them. 25 And now, are you in any way better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever make war with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? 26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the bank of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? 27 So I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me; let the LORD, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelis and the Ammonites.' 28 However, the king of the Ammonites would not listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent TO him.

29 Then the LORD gave his spirit to Jephthah, and he went through Gilead and Manasseh, and through Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he went forward to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said: 'If You will indeed deliver the Ammonites into my power, 31 then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the Ammonites, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it as a burnt-offering.' 32 So Jephthah went forward to the Ammonites to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his power. 33 And he smote them from Aroer all the way to Minnith, yes twenty cities, and to Abel-cheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelis.

34 And Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances; and she was his only child; other than her, he had neither a son nor a daughter. 35 And so, when he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said: 'Alas, my daughter! you have brought me very low, and you have become my troubler; for I have made a declaration to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it.' 36 And she said to him: 'My father, you have made a declaration to the LORD; do to me according to what you have declared; because the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, yes, on the Ammonites.' 37 And she said to her father: 'Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone for two months, so that I may depart and go into the mountains, and grieve for my virginity, I and my companions.' 38 And he said: 'Go.' And he sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and grieve for her virginity in the mountains. 39 And so at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had made; and she had not slept with a man. And it was a custom in Israel, 40 that the daughters of Israel went every year to lament the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead, four days in a year.

Chapter 12

Jephthah continued

1 And the men of Ephraim gathered together, and went to Zaphon; and they said to Jephthah: 'Why did you go and fight against the Ammonites, and did not call us to go with you? we will burn your house, with you in it, with fire.' 2 And Jephthah said to them: 'I and my people had a great strife with the Ammonites; and when I called you, you would not save me from their power. 3 And when I saw that you would not save me, I put my life in my hand, and went up against the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my power. Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me?' 4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said: 'You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the middle of Ephraim, and in the middle of Manasseh.' 5 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the River Jordan against the Ephraimites; and it happened, that when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said: 'Let me go over,' the Gileadites said to him: 'Are you an Ephraimite?' If he said: 'No'; 6 they then said to him: 'Say Shibboleth'; and he said 'Sibboleth'; for he could not shape his mouth to pronounce it right; then they took hold of him, and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. And forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell at that time. 7 And Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

Three more Judges

8 And after him Ibzan of Beth-lehem judged Israel. 9 And he had thirty sons, and he sent thirty daughters abroad, and he brought thirty daughters in from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 And Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem.

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

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

Chapter 13

The birth of Samson

1 And the children of Israel again did things that were evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the power of the Philistines for forty years.

2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and had no children. 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her: 'Behold now, you are barren, and have had no children; but you shall conceive, and bear a son. 4 Now therefore please take care, and drink no wine and no alcohol, and do not eat any unclean thing. 5 For, lo, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall touch his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel out of the power of the Philistines.' 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying: 'A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God, very terrible; and I asked him not where he was from, nor did he tell me his name; 7 but he said to me: Behold, you shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine and no alcohol, and do not eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'

8 Then Manoah begged the LORD, and said: 'Oh, LORD, I pray You, let the man of God whom You sent come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born.' 9 And God listened to the prayer of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 And the woman hurried, and ran, and told her husband, and said to him: 'Behold, the man has appeared to me, that came to me that day.' 11 And Manoah got up, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him: 'Are you the man who spoke to the woman?' And he said: 'I am.' 12 And Manoah said: 'Now when your word comes true, what shall be the rule for the child, and what shall be done with him?' 13 And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah: 'Of all that I said unto the woman let her take care. 14 She may not eat anything that comes from a grapevine, nor let her drink wine or alcohol, nor eat any unclean thing; let her carry out all that I commanded her.' {S} 15 And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD: 'Please, let us detain you, that we may make ready a kid for you.' 16 And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah: 'Though you detain me, I will not eat of your bread; and if you will make ready a burnt-offering, you must offer it to the LORD.' For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD. 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD: 'What is your name, that when your words come true we may pay you honour?' 18 And the angel of the LORD said to him: 'Why do you ask about my name, seeing it is hidden?'

19 So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it up on the rock to the LORD; and he^[11] performed a wonder, and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 For it happened, when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar; and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell to the ground on their faces. 21 But the angel of the LORD never appeared again to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said to his wife: 'We shall surely die, because we have seen God.' 23 But his wife said to him: 'If the LORD were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt-offering and a meal-offering from us, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would he now have told us such things as these.' 24 And the woman bore a son, and gave him the name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25 And the spirit of the LORD began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Chapter 14

Samson continued

1 And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman there, a Philistine. 2 And he came back, and said to his father and his mother: 'I have seen a woman in Timnah, a Philistine; now therefore get her for me as a wife.' 3 Then his father and his mother said to him: 'Is there really no woman among the daughters of your people, or among all my people, that you want to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?' And Samson said to his father: 'Get her for me; for she pleases me well.' 4 But his father and his mother did not know that it was from the LORD; for he sought an excuse to attack the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. 5 Then Samson went down, with his father and his mother, to Timnah, and came to the vineyards there; and, behold, a young lion roared at him. 6 And the spirit of the LORD came mightily on him, and he tore him as one would have torn a kid, and he was barehanded; but he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. 8 And after a while he returned to take her, and he detoured to see the carcass of the lion; and, behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 And he scraped it^[12] out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went, and he came to his father and mother, and gave some to them, and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion. 10 And his father went to the woman; and there Samson made a feast; for that was what the young men used to do. 11 And it happened, when the people saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said to them: 'Let me now ask you a riddle; if you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing; 13 but if you cannot solve it for me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.' And they said to him: 'Ask your riddle, that we may hear it.' 14 And he said to them: Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not solve the riddle in three days. 15 And it happened on the seventh day, that they said to Samson's wife: 'Entice your husband, that he may tell us the answer to the riddle; otherwise we will burn you and your father's house with fire; have you called us here to impoverish us?' 16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said: 'You just hate me, and don't love me; you have asked my people a riddle, and will you not tell it to me?' And he said to her: 'Behold, I have not told it to my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?' 17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and it happened on the seventh day, that he told her, because she pressed him sorely; and she told the riddle to 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 ploughed with my cow, ye would not have found out my riddle. 19 And the spirit of the LORD came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and killed thirty men there, and took their spoil, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had answered the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. 20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.

Chapter 15

Samson continued

1 But it happened after a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife, bringing a kid; and he said: 'I will go in to my wife, into her room.' But her father would not let him go in. 2 And her father said: 'I really thought that you utterly hated her; so I gave her to your companion. Isn't her younger sister fairer than she is? Please take her, instead of her.' 3 And Samson said to them: 'This time I shall be quits with the Philistines, when I do them a mischief.' 4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned [the foxes] tail to tail, and put a torch in the middle between every two tails. 5 And when he had set the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and they burnt up both the harvested bundles and the standing corn, and also the olive yards. 6 Then the Philistines said: 'Who has done this?' And they said: 'Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to his companion.' And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them: 'If you behave like that, surely I will have revenge on you, and after that I will stop.' 8 And he left them a tangle of legs and thighs with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in a crevice in the rock of Etam.

9 Then the Philistines went up, and camped in Judah, and arrayed themselves against Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said: 'Why have you come up against us?' And they said: 'We have come to bind Samson, to do to him what he did to us.' 11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the crevice in the rock of Etam, and said to Samson: 'Don't you know that the Philistines rule over us? So what have you done to us?' And he said to them: 'What they did to me, I have done to them.' 12 And they said to him: 'We have come to bind you, so that we may deliver you into the power of the Philistines.' And Samson said to them: 'Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.' 13 And they said to him: 'No; but we will bind you firmly, and deliver you into their power; but certainly we will not kill you.' And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock. 14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax burnt with fire, and his bonds dropped from off his hands. 15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and reached out, and took it, and smote a thousand men with it. 16 And Samson said: With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass I have killed a thousand men. 17 And it happened, when he had finished speaking, that he threw away the jawbone from his hand; and that place was called Ramath-lehi. 18 And he was very thirsty, and called on the LORD, and said: 'You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?' 19 But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it; and when he had drunk, his strength came back, and he revived. Therefore it was named En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Chapter 16

Samson continued

1 And Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and 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 city gate, and were quiet all the night, saying: 'Wait until morning light, then we will kill him.' 3 And Samson lay until midnight, and got up at midnight, and laid hold of the city gates, and the two gateposts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is in front of Hebron.

4 And afterwards, it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came to her, and said to her: 'Lure him, and see where his great strength lies, and how we can defeat him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will all contribute, and give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.' 6 And Delilah said to Samson: 'Please, tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound to afflict you.' 7 And Samson said to her: 'If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that were never dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.' 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had people lying in wait in her inner room. And she said to him: 'The Philistines are attacking you, Samson.' And he broke the bowstrings like a string of flax breaks when it touches a fire. So [the cause of] his strength was not known. 10 And Delilah said to Samson: 'Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies; now please tell me how you might be bound.'11 And he said to her: 'If they only bind me with new ropes, unused ones, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.' 12 So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him: 'The Philistines are attacking you, Samson.' And the people were lying in wait in her inner room. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread. 13 And Delilah said to Samson: 'Up to now you have mocked me, and told me lies; tell me how you might be bound.' And he said unto her: 'If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web [and make it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man]^[13].' 14 [So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head, and wove them into the web.]^[14] And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him: 'The Philistines are attacking you, Samson.' And he woke up, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web. 15 And she said to him: 'How can you say: I love you, when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.' 16 And it happened, when she nagged him daily with her words, and pestered him, that he became sick to death. 17 And he told her everything, and said to her: 'There has never been a razor on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb; if I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.' 18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying: 'Come up at once, for he has told me everything.' Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hands. 19 And she made him sleep on her lap; and she called for a man, and had the seven locks of his head shaved off; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20 And she said: 'The Philistines are attacking you, Samson.' And he woke up, and said: 'I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.' But he did not know that the LORD had left him. 21 And the Philistines laid hold of him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at the mill in the prison. 22 However, the hair on his head began to grow again after it was shaved.

23 And the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said: 'Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our power.' 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: 'Our god has delivered into our power our enemy, the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us.' 25 And it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said: 'Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.' And they called for Samson out of the prison; and he entertained them; and they set him between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand: 'Let me feel the pillars that support the house, that I may lean on them.' 27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were about three thousand men and women on the roof, who watched while Samson entertained them. 28 And Samson called on the LORD, and said: 'O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me, just this once, O God, so that I may now have revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.' 29 And Samson took a firm grip on the two middle pillars that supported the house, and leaned on them, one with his right hand, and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said: 'Let me die with the Philistines.' And he bent with all his might; and the house fell down on the lords, and on all the people in it. So the number that he slew at his death were more than those that he slew in his life. 31 Then his family and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

Chapter 17

Micah and his idols

1 Now there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother: 'The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen from you, about which you made a curse, and also talked about it with me, behold, the silver is with me; I stole it.' And his mother said: 'May the LORD bless my son.' 3 And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said: 'I shall certainly dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make an idol, a cast metal idol; now therefore I will give it back to you.' 4 And when he gave the money back to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the metal worker, who made from them an idol and a cast metal idol; and it was in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a chapel to worship God, and he made a priestly robe, and statues, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did whatever was right in his own view.

7 And there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah - in the province of the tribe of Judah - who was a Levite, and he lived there. 8 And the man left the city, Bethlehem in Judah, to live wherever he could find a place; and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he travelled. 9 And Micah said to him: 'Where are you from?' And he said to him: 'I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to live wherever I can find a place.' 10 And Micah said to him: 'Dwell with me, and be a minister and a priest for me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, and a suit of clothes, and your food.' So the Levite went into [his house]. 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was like a son to him. 12 And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said: 'Now I know that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite as my priest.'

Chapter 18

Micah and the tribe of Dan

1 In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the tribe of Dan looked for an area of the land to dwell in; for until that day there had been no allocation for them among the tribes of Israel for an area to dwell in.

2 And the tribe of Dan sent five men selected from their whole number, brave men, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said to them: 'Go, search the land'; and they came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to Micah's house, and stayed there temporarily. 3 When they were at Micah's house, they recognised the voice of the young Levite; and they turned towards him, and said to him: 'Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? and what have you here?' 4 And he said to them: 'This is how Micah treated me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest.' 5 And they said to him: 'Please, ask God's advice, so that we may know whether what we are doing will prosper.' 6 And the priest said to them: 'Go in peace; the way you are going is under the eye of the LORD.'

7 Then the five men left, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were there, how they lived safely, like the Zidonians, quiet and secure; for there was nobodt in the land with authority, who might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no dealings with anyone. 8 And they came back to their tribe, to Zorah and Eshtaol; and their tribe said to them: 'What do you say?' 9 And they said: 'Get up, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good; and are you lying about? Don't be too lazy to go and to enter in to take over the land. 10 When you go, you shall come to a secure people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your power; a place where there is no shortage; it has everything that is in the earth.' 11 And six hundred men of the tribe of Dan, bearing weapons of war, set out from there, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol. 12 And they went up, and camped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah; and so that place was called The Camp of Dan until this day; behold, it is behind Kiriath-jearim. 13 And they went from there to the hill-country of Ephraim, and came to Micah's house. 14 Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish spoke and said to their kinsmen: 'Do you know that there is in these houses a priestly robe, and statues, an idol and a cast metal idol? Now therefore consider what you have to do.' 15 And they turned and went there, and came to the house of the young Levite, yes, to Micah's house, and asked him how he was. 16 And the six hundred men bearing weapons of war, who were of the tribe of Dan, stood by the gateway. 17 And the five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came into the house, and took the idol, and the priestly robe, and the statues, and the cast metal idol; and the priest stood by the gateway with the six hundred men bearing weapons of war. 18 And when they went into Micah's house, and fetched the idol, and the priestly robe, and the statues, and the cast metal idol, the priest said to them: 'What are you doing?' 19 And they said to him: 'Keep quiet, put your hand over your mouth, and go with us, and be our minister and priest; is it better for you to be priest of the house of one man, or to be priest of a tribe and a family in Israel?' 20 And the priest was happy, and he took the priestly robe, and the statues, and the cast metal idol, and went off in the middle of the people. 21 So they turned and departed, and they put their children and the cattle and the goods in the lead. 22 When they were some distance from Micah's house, the men who lived in the houses near to Micah's house gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. 23 And they shouted at the children of Dan. And they turned around, and said to Micah: 'What's the matter, that you come with such a company?' 24 And he said: 'You have taken away my god which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what else do I have? So why are you saying to me: What's the matter?' 25 And the tribe of Dan said to him: 'Don't let us hear your voice, or angry fellows may attack you, and you would lose your life, and the lives of your household.' 26 And the tribe of Dan went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. 27 And they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and massacred them with swords; and they burnt the city with fire. 28 And there was nobody to rescue the town, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no dealings with anyone; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and lived in it. 29 And they named the city Dan, after Dan their ancestor, the son of Israel; however, the name of the city had previously been Laish. 30 And the tribe of Dan set up the idol for themselves; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh^[15], he and his descendants were priests to the tribe of Dan until the land was conquered^[16]. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah's idol which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Chapter 19

The Levite and his mistress

1 And it happened in those days, when there was no king of Israel, that a certain Levite dwelt on the far side of the hill-country of Ephraim. He took for himself a mistress from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 And his mistress was unfaithful to him, and left him to go back to her father's house, to Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for four months. 3 And her husband got up, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her back, tsking his servant with him, and a couple of asses; and she took him into her father's house. And when the girl's father saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4 And his father-in-law, the girl's father, persuaded him to stay; and he stayed with him for three days. So they ate and drank, and lived there. 5 And it happened on the fourth day, that they got up early in the morning, and he got ready to depart; and the girl's father said to his son-in-law: 'Satisfy yourself with a piece of bread, and afterwards you shall go on your way.' 6 So they sat down, and ate and drank, the two together; and the girl's father said to the man: 'Please be content, and linger all night, and let yourself be merry.' 7 And the man got ready to leave; but his father-in-law urged him, and he stayed there again. 8 And he got up early in the morning on the fifth day to leave; and the girl's father said: 'Please don't be so eager to leave, and linger until the late afternoon'; and they ate, both of them. 9 And when the man got ready to leave, he, and his mistress, and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him: 'Look, now evening draws on; please linger all night; look, the day draws to an end; stay here, that you may be merry; and tomorrow you can get on your way early, that you may go home.' 10 But the man would not linger that night, but he got up and left, and came near to Jebus - which is Jerusalem; and there were with him a couple of saddled asses; his mistress also was with him.

11 When they reached Jebus - it was nearly nightfall - the servant said to his master: 'Please, let's go and turn into this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night in it.' 12 And his master said to him: 'We will not turn into the city of a foreigner, who is not of the Israelis; but we will go over to Gibeah.' 13 And he said to his servant: 'Come and let us go near to one of these places; and we will spend the night in Gibeah, or in Ramah.' 14 So they went on and continued their journey; and the sun set near to Gibeah, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin. 15 And they turned in there, to go in to spend the night in Gibeah; and he went in, and sat down in the public place of the city; for nobody took them into his house to spend the night. 16 And, behold, an old man came from his work in the fields at evening time; now the man was from the hill-country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were of the tribe of Benjamin. 17 And he looked, and saw the wayfarer in the public place of the city; and the old man said: 'Where are you going, and where have you come from?' 18 And he said to him: 'We are travelling from Bethlehem in Judah to the far side of the hill-country of Ephraim; I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am now going to the house of the LORD; and nobody will take me into his house. 19 Yet there is both straw and food for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your maidservant, and for the young man who is with your servants; we are not short of anything.' 20 And the old man said: 'May you have peace; however, let me provide all you need; only don't pass the night in the public place.' 21 So he brought him into his house, and gave the asses fodder; and they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

22 As they were getting merry, behold, the men of the city, some good-for-nothings, stood round the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying: 'Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.' 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them: 'No, please, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not do this awful deed. 24 Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his mistress; I will bring them out now, and ravish them, and do with them what seems good to you; but do not do such an awful thing to this man.' 25 But the men would not listen to him; so the man laid hold of his mistress, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all the night until the morning; and when the day began to dawn, they let her go. 26 Then the woman came at dawn, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, until it was light. 27 And her master got up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to continue his journey; and, behold, the woman his mistress was lying, fallen at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 And he said to her. 'Up, and let us be going'; but nobody answered; then he put her up on the ass; and the man got up, and went home. 29 And when he had come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold of his mistress, and divided her, limb from limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. 30 And it happened, that all who saw it said: 'No such a thing has happened nor been seen from the day that the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt up to this day; consider it, take advice, and speak.'

Chapter 20

The War against the Tribe of Benjamin

1 Then all the Israelis went out, and the congregation assembled in unity, from Dan all the way to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, and went to the LORD at Mizpah. 2 And the chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen with swords. 3 Now the tribe of Benjamin heard that the Israelis had gone up to Mizpah. And the Israelis said: 'Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?' 4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said: 'I came to Gibeah that belongs to the tribe of Benjamin, I and my mistress, to lodge. 5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and laid siege to the house by night; me they wanted to kill, and my mistress they raped, and she is dead. 6 And I took my mistress, and cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the territory of Israel; for they have committed an obscene and vile act in Israel. 7 Look, you are all here, Israelis; give your advice and council.' 8 And all the people arose in unison, saying: 'None of us will return to his tent, nor will any of us return to his house. 9 But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot. 10 We will take ten men out of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch supplies for the people, that they may repay, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, all the vile acts that they have done in Israel.' 11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

12 And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying: 'What wickedness is this that has happened among you? 13 Now therefore deliver up the men, the evil people who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel.' But the tribe of Benjamin would not listen to what their brothers the Israelites said. 14 And the tribe of Benjamin gathered together out of their cities to Gibeah, to battle against the Israelis. 15 And the tribe of Benjamin numbered on that day out of the cities twenty six thousand men with swords, as well as the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred chosen men. 16 All of these people, the seven hundred chosen men, were left-handed; every one could sling stones at a hair-breadth, and not miss. 17 And the Israelis, other than Benjamin, numbered four hundred thousand men with swords; all these were warriors. 18 And the Israelis arose, and went up to Bethel, and asked for advice from God; and they said: 'Who shall go up for us first to battle against the tribe of Benjamin?' And the LORD said: 'Judah first.' 19 And the Israelis rose up in the morning, and camped next to Gibeah. 20 And the Israelis went out to battle against Benjamin; and the Israelis drew up battle lines against them at Gibeah. 21 And the tribe of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and on that day they struck down twenty-two thousand men of the Israelis. 22 And the people, the Israelis, rallied themselves, and drew up battle lines again in the place where they had drawn up lines on the first day. 23 And the Israelis went up and wept before the LORD until the evening; and they asked advice from the LORD, saying: 'Shall I again draw near to battle against the tribe of Benjamin my brother?' And the LORD said: 'Go up against him.'

24 And the Israelis came close to the tribe of Benjamin on the second day. 25 And Benjamin went out of Gibeah against them on the second day, and again destroyed eighteen thousand men of the Israelis down to the ground; all these were swordsmen. 26 Then all the Israelis, all the people, went up, and came to Beth-el, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until the evening; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to the LORD. 27 And the Israelis enquired from the LORD--for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days--saying: 'Shall I go out to battle yet again against the tribe of Benjamin my brother, or shall I stop?' And the LORD said: 'Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.' 29 And the Israelis set ambushers all around Gibeah.

30 And the Israelis went up to attack the tribe of Benjamin on the third day, and arrayed themselves against Gibeah, as they did before. 31 And the tribe of Benjamin went out against the people, and were lured away from the city; and they began to strike and kill the people, as before, in the field, on the highways, of which one goes up to Beth-el, and the other to Gibeah, about thirty Israelis. 32 And the tribe of Benjamin said: 'They have been routed before us, as before.' But the Israelis said: 'Let us flee, and lure them away from the city to the highways.' 33 And all the Israelis rose up out of their place, and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar; and the Israeli ambushers rushed out of their place, out of Maareh-geba. 34 And ten thousand chosen men from all Israel came against Gibeah , and the battle was fierce; but they^[17] did not realise that disaster was about to strike.

35 And the LORD routed Benjamin before Israel; and that day the Israelis destroyed twenty five thousand and a hundred men of Benjamin; all these were swordsmen. 36 So the tribe of Benjamin saw that they were destroyed. And the Israelis gave ground to Benjamin, because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah. 37 And the ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; and the ambushers moved out, and destroyed all the city with their swords. 38 Now the Israelis and the ambushers had agreed a sign, that they should make a great beacon of smoke rise up out of the city. 39 And the Israelis turned in the battle, and the tribe of Benjamin began to strike and kill about thirty Israelis; for they said: 'Surely they have been struck down before us, as in the first battle.' 40 But when the beacon began to rise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven. 41 And the Israelis turned, and the Benjamites were amazed; for they saw that disaster had struck. 42 Therefore they turned their backs on the Israelis and headed towards the wilderness; but the battle followed closely after them; and those who came out of the city destroyed them in the middle of the Israelis. 43 They surrounded the Benjamites, and chased them, and caught them at their resting-place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the east. 44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were brave men. 45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon; and they^[18] cut down five thousand of them on the highways; and hotly pursued them to Gidom, and killed two thousand men. 46 So that in total twenty-five thousand swordsmen of Benjamin fell that day; all these were brave men. 47 But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and lived beside the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48 And the Israelis turned back upon the tribe of Benjamin, and struck them down with swords, both the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found. And all the cities which they found they set on fire.

Chapter 21

The Aftermath of the War

1 Now the Israelis had sworn in Mizpah, saying: 'None of us shall give his daughter to a Benjamite as a wife.' 2 And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till evening before God, and raised their voices, and wept very sadly. 3 And they said: 'O LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be a tribe lacking in Israel to-day?' 4 And on the next day the people rose early, and built an altar there, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.

5 And the Israelis said: 'Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the LORD?' For they had made a mighty oath about anyone who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah, saying: 'He shall surely be put to death.' 6 And the Israelis regretted what they had done to Benjamin their brother, and said: 'Today, there is one tribe cut off from Israel. 7 What shall we do to provide wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters as wives?' 8 And they said: 'Who is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah?' And, behold, nobody came to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. 9 For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. 10 And the congregation sent twelve thousand of the bravest men there, and commanded them, saying: 'Go and destroy the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with swords, with the women and the children. 11 And this is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has slept with a man.' 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, who had never slept with a man; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

3 And the whole congregation sent messengers to the Benjamites who were in the rock of Rimmon, and offered them peace. 14 And then Benjamin came back; and they gave them those of the women of Jabesh-gilead whom they had spared; but there were not enough for them. 15 And the people regretted what they had done to Benjamin, because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. 16 Then the elders of the congregation said: 'What shall we do about wives for those who remain, seeing that all the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?' 17 And they said: 'Those who have escaped must be heirs for Benjamin, so that a tribe is not blotted out from Israel. 18 However, we may not give them our daughters as wives.' For the children of Israel had sworn, saying: 'May he who gives a wife to Benjamin be cursed.' {S} 19 And they said: 'Behold, there is the feast of the LORD each year in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah.' 20 And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying: 'Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; 21 and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then you can come out of the vineyards, and each man can catch a wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their family come to complain to us, that we will say to them: Grant them generously to us; because we did not capture in battle a wife for each of them; nor did you give them to them, that you should now be guilty.' 23 And the children of Benjamin did this, and took themselves wives, according to their number, from those who danced, whom they carried off; and they went and returned to their land, and built the cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And then the Israelis departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and every man went from there to his land.

25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own view.

Strength

Footnotes

1. ↑ i.e. the detachment of the tribe of Judah commanded by Caleb
2. ↑ lit. house
3. ↑ lit. hand
4. ↑ i.e. Weepers
5. ↑ i.e. Ehud
6. ↑ i.e. Eglon's
7. ↑ i.e. he is going to the toilet
8. ↑ Per RSV
9. ↑ lit. father's house
10. ↑ lit. as one man
11. ↑ the angel
12. ↑ the honey
13. ↑ The phrase in brackets is in the Greek, not the Hebrew
14. ↑ The phrase in brackets is in the Greek, not the Hebrew
15. ↑ Many scholars think that this should be Moses
16. ↑ by the Assyrians
17. ↑ the tribe of Benjamin
18. ↑ the Israelis

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