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JUDGESThe

BOOK OF JUDGES 1

CHAPTER 11 And it was, after the death

of Joshua, that the children of Is-rael asked Jehovah, saying, Whoshall go up for us against theCanaanites at the opening to de-vour them?

2 And Jehovah said, Judahshall go up; behold, I have giventhe land into his hand.

3 And Judah said to Simeon,his brother, Go up with me into myallotment, and we will devour theCanaanites, and I likewise will gowith you into your allotment, andSimeon walked with him.

4 And Judah went up, andJehovah gave the Canaanites andthe Perizzites into their hand, andthey struck ten thousand men ofthem in Bezek.

5 And they found AdoniBezek in Bezek, and they devouredhim; and they struck the Canaanitesand the Perizzites.

6 And Adoni Bezek fled; andthey pursued after him, and seizedhim, and chopped off the big mem-bers6 of his hands and his feet.

7 And Adoni Bezek said,Seventy kings, with the big mem-bers of their hands and their feetchopped off, were gathered undermy table; what I have done, so Godhas completed to me. And theybrought him to Jerusalem, and hedied there.

8 And the children of Judahdevoured Jerusalem, and capturedit, and struck it with the mouth of

the sword, and sent up the city byfire.

9 And afterward the childrenof Judah went down to devour theCanaanites dwelling in the moun-tain, and in the Negev, and in thecoastal slopes.

10 And Judah walked againstthe Canaanites dwelling in Hebron(now the name of Hebron formerlywas Kirjath Arba1 0), and theystruck Sheshai, and Ahiman, andTalmai.

11 And he walked from there,walking against the inhabitants ofDebir, and the name of Debir for-merly was Kirjath Sepher;1 1

12 And Caleb said, He whostrikes Kirjath Sepher and capturesit, I will give to him Achsah, mydaughter, as wife.

13 And Othniel, the son ofKenaz, Caleb’s younger brother,captured it, and he gave himAchsah, his daughter, as wife.

14 And it was, she came, andshe prodded him to ask of her fa-ther a field; and she dismountedfrom her donkey; and Caleb saidto her, What do you want?

15 And she said to him, Giveme a blessing; since you have givenme the land of the Negev, give mealso springs of water; and Calebgave her upper springs and lowersprings.

16 And the children of theKenite, Moses’ father in law, wentup out of the city of palm trees with

6 1:6 big member, bohen, the same wordmeans the thumb on the hand and the big toeon the foot.

10 1:10 Kirjath Arba, City of Four Giants.11 1:11 Kirjath Sepher, City of Branches.

Jehovah appoints Judah to lead in conquering the land and devouring the Canaanites

416

JUDGES 1the children of Judah into the desertof Judah, which is in the Negev ofArad, and they walked and dweltamong the people.

17 And Judah walked withSimeon, his brother, and theystruck the Canaanites who inhab-ited Zephath and devoted it. Andthe name of the city was calledHormah.

18 Also Judah captured Gazawith its border, and Askelon withits border, and Ekron with its bor-der.

19 And Jehovah was withJudah, and he possessed the moun-tain, but did not drive out the in-habitants of the valley, becausethere were chariots of iron to them.

20 And they gave Hebron toCaleb, what Moses spoke, and hedrove out from there the three sonsof Anak.

21 And the children of Ben-jamin did not drive out the Jebusiteswho inhabited Jerusalem, and theJebusites dwell with the children ofBenjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

22 And the house of Josephalso was on the go to gain Bethel,and Jehovah was with them.

23 And the house of Josephwas on the go to gain Bethel. Andthe name of the city formerly wasLuz.

24 And the guards saw a mancome forth out of the city, and theysaid to him, Please cause us to seethe entrance into the city, and wewill do mercy to you.

25 And when he caused themto see the entrance to the city, theystruck the city with the mouth ofthe sword, and they sent the man

away and all his family.26 And the man walked to the

land of the Hittites, and built a city,and called its name Luz; this is itsname to this day.

27 And Manasseh did nottake possession of Beth Shean andits daughters, nor Taanach and itsdaughters, nor the inhabitants ofDor and its daughters, nor the in-habitants of Ibleam and its daugh-ters, nor the inhabitants of Megiddoand its daughters; but theCanaanites yielded to dwell in thatland. See Num 21:25

28 And it was, since Israelwas strong, that they put theCanaanites under tribute, and driv-ing out, did not drive them out.

29 And Ephraim did not driveout the Canaanites who dwelt inGezer, and the Canaanites dwelt intheir midst in Gezer.

30 Zebulun did not drive outthe inhabitants of Kitron and theinhabitants of Nahalol, and theCanaanites dwelt in their midst, andwere in servitude.

31 Asher did not drive out theinhabitants of Accho, and the in-habitants of Zidon, and of Ahlab,and of Achzib, and of Helbah, andof Aphik, and of Rehob;

32 And the Asherites dwelt inthe midst of the Canaanites, the in-habitants of the land, because theydid not drive them out.

33 Naphtali did not drive outthe inhabitants of Beth Shemesh,and the inhabitants of Beth Anath,and they dwelt in the midst of theCanaanites, the inhabitants of theland; and the inhabitants of BethShemesh and of Beth Anath were

The conquest of the various tribes with Judah leading

417

JUDGES 2in servitude to them.

34 And the Amorites pressedthe children of Dan into the moun-tain, because they would not givethem permission to come down tothe valley,

35 And the Amorites yieldedto dwell in Mount Heres in Aijalonand in Shaalbim; yet the hand ofthe house of Joseph was heavy sothat they were in servitude. TheAmorites were in servitude.

36 And the boundary of theAmorites was from the Steep ofScorpion, from the lofty rock andupward.

CHAPTER 21 And the Messenger of Je-

hovah came up from Gilgal toBochim, and said, I caused you togo up out of Egypt, and havebrought you to the land which Iswore to your fathers; and I said, Iwill not ever break my covenantwith you.

2 And you shall cut no cov-enant with the inhabitants of thisland; you shall tear down their al-tars; but you have not attentivelyheard my voice; what is this youhave done?

3 And also I have said, I willnot drive them out from before yourface, and they shall be in your sides,and their gods shall be a snare toyou.

4 And it was, when the Mes-senger of Jehovah spoke thesewords to all the children of Israel,that the people lifted up their voiceand wept.

5 And they called the nameof that place Weepers, and theysacrificed there to Jehovah.

6 And Joshua sent the peopleaway; the children of Israel walkedevery man to his inheritance to pos-sess the land.

7 And the people served Je-hovah all the days of Joshua, andall the days of the elders whosedays were prolonged after Joshuawho saw all the great works of Je-hovah that he did for Israel.

8 And Joshua, the son ofNun, the servant of Jehovah, died,a son of a hundred and ten years.

9 And they buried him withinthe border of his inheritance inTimnathheres, in the mount ofEphraim, north of the hill Gaash.

10 And all that generationwere also gathered to their fathers,and there arose another generationafter them who did not know byseeing Jehovah, not even the workswhich he had done for Israel.

11 And the children of Israeldid evil in the eyes of Jehovah, andserved Baals;

12 And they left Jehovah Godof their fathers, who brought themout of the land of Egypt, and walkedafter other gods, the gods of thepeople who were around them, andprostrated themselves to them, andprovoked Jehovah.

13 And they left Jehovah, andserved Baal and Ashtaroth.

14 And the nostrils of Jeho-vah burned against Israel, and hegave them into the hands of plun-derers who plundered them, and hesold them into the hands of thosewho hated them all around, so that

A warning from the Messenger of Jehovah; apostasy of the next generation

418

JUDGES 3they were not able any longer tostand before the face of those whohated them.

15 The hand of Jehovah wastowards them for evil everywherethey went out, what Jehovah hadspoken, and what Jehovah hadsworn to them; and they were ex-ceedingly distressed.

16 And Jehovah raised upthose to judge, who saved them outof the hand of those who plunderedthem.

17 And yet they would nothear attentively the ones judgingthem, but they went whoring afterother gods, and prostrated them-selves to them; they turned quicklyout of the way in which their fa-thers walked, hearing attentively thecommandments of Jehovah; theydid not so.

18 And since Jehovah raisedup for them those to judge, thenJehovah was with the one whojudged, and saved them out of thehand of those who hated them allthe days of the judge, because Je-hovah comforted himself becauseof their groanings before the faceof them who oppressed them, anddrove them.

19 And it was, at the death ofthe judge that they turned back anddestroyed themselves more thantheir fathers, in walking after othergods to serve them, and to pros-trate themselves to them; they didnot fall away from their own do-ings nor from their hardened way.

20 And the nostrils of Jeho-vah burned against Israel, and hesaid, Because this people hascrossed over my covenant which I

commanded their fathers, and havenot attentively heard my voice,

21 I also will not any moredrive out men from before the faceof the peoples which Joshua leftwhen he died,

22 So that I may prove Israelthrough them, if they will hedgeabout the way of Jehovah to walkin it as their fathers hedged it about,or not.

23 And Jehovah left thosepeoples without driving them outhastily, and did not give them intothe hand of Joshua.

CHAPTER 31 And these are the peoples

which Jehovah left to prove Israelby them, all who did not know byseeing all the wars of Canaan,

2 Only that the generations ofthe children of Israel might haveknowledge to teach them war, es-pecially those who formerly did notknow:

3 Five lords of the Palestin-ians, and all the Canaanites, and theSidonians, and the Hivites dwellingin Mount Lebanon, from MountBaal Hermon to the entering in ofHamath.

4 And they were to proveIsrael by them, to know if theywould hear attentively the com-mandments of Jehovah, which hecommanded their fathers by thehand of Moses.

5 And the children of Israeldwelt in the midst of the Canaanites,Hittites, and Amorites, andPerizzites, and Hivites, andJebusites;

They relapse into idolatry, are conquered by enemies, they cry to God; He raises a judge

419

JUDGES 36 And they took their daugh-

ters to themselves for wives, andgave their daughters to their sons,and served their gods.

7 And the children of Israeldid evil in the eyes of Jehovah, andforgot Jehovah, their God, andserved Baals and pole images ofAshteroth.7

8 And the nostrils of Jeho-vah burned against Israel, and hesold them into the hand of ChushanRishathaim,8 king of Mesopotamia,and the children of Israel servedChushan Rishathaim eight years.

9 And when the children ofIsrael cried to Jehovah, Jehovahraised up a savior to the children ofIsrael who saved them, Othniel, theson of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngerbrother.

10 And the Spirit of Jehovahwas upon him, and he judged Is-rael, and went out to war; and Je-hovah gave Chushan Rishathaim,king of Mesopotamia, into his hand,and his hand was strong againstChushan Rishathaim.

11 And the land rested fortyyears, and Othniel, the son ofKenaz, died.

12 And again the children ofIsrael did evil in the eyes of Jeho-vah, and Jehovah strengthenedEglon, the king of Moab, againstIsrael, because they had done evilin the eyes of Jehovah.

13 And he gathered to him thechildren of Ammon and Amalek,and walked, and struck Israel, andpossessed the city of palm trees.

14 And the children of Israelserved Eglon, the king of Moab,eighteen years.

15 And the children of Israelcried to Jehovah, and Jehovahraised them up a savior, Ehud, theson of Gera, a Benjamite, a manimpeded in his right hand; and byhis hand the children of Israel senta present to Eglon, the king ofMoab.

16 And Ehud made him a dag-ger with two mouths, of a cubitlength, and he girded it under hisclothing on his right thigh.

17 And he brought the presentto Eglon, king of Moab, and Eglonwas a man very fat.

18 And it was when he had fin-ished presenting the present, hesent away the people who bore thepresent.

19 And he himself turned backfrom the graven images that wereby Gilgal, and said, There is a se-cret word with me for you, Oh king;who said, Keep silence; and all whostood by him went out from him.

20 And Ehud came to him, andhe was sitting in a cooling parlor,which was for him separately, andEhud said, There is a word fromGod with me for you, and he aroseout of his covered throne.

21 And Ehud sent out his lefthand, and took the dagger from hisright thigh, and drove it into hisbelly;

7 3:7 pole images of Ashteroth, asherah.This word is always translated groves in KJV.It refers to the wooden poles or images madefor Ashteroth, the mother of Baal, and fe-male goddess who always appeared with Baal.These asherah images were always numerousat an altar to Baal and Asteroth.

8 3:8 Chushan Rishathaim. Chushan ofDouble Wickedess.

Israel serves Baals, are conquered; Judges Othniel and Ehud deliver them

420

JUDGES 422 And the handle also went

in after the blade, and the fat closedupon the blade, so that he couldnot pull the dagger out of his belly,and it came out through his straddle.

23 And Ehud went out throughthe porch, and shut the doors ofthe parlor covering him, and boltedthem.

24 When he had gone out, hisservants came, and they saw andbehold, the doors of the parlorwere bolted, and they said, Surelyhe has entwined his feet in his cool-ing apartment.

25 And they twisted arounduntil they paled in shame, and lo,he did not open the doors of theparlor; and they took a key, andopened them; and lo, their lord wasfallen down dead on the earth.

26 And Ehud escaped whilethey hesitated, and crossed over bythe graven images, and escaped toSeirath.

27 And it was, he came, andhe sounded a trumpet in the moun-tain of Ephraim; and the children ofIsrael went down with him from themount, and he before their face.

28 And he said to them, Runafter me because Jehovah has giventhe Moabites, those who hate you,into your hand, and they went downafter him, and captured the fordsof Jordan toward Moab, and didnot give any man permission tocross over.

29 And they struck of Moabat that time about ten thousandmen, all robust, and all men of re-sources; and not a man escaped.

30 And Moab bent the kneethat day under the hand of Israel.And the land rested eighty years.3 0

31 And after him wasShamgar the son of Anath, whostruck of the Palestinians six hun-dred men with an ox goad, and healso saved Israel.

CHAPTER 41 And the children of Israel

again did evil in the eyes of Jeho-vah, and Ehud was dead.

2 And Jehovah sold theminto the hand of Jabin, king ofCanaan, who reigned in Hazor; andthe chief ruler of his host was Sisera,and he dwelt in Harosheth of thepeoples.

3 And the children of Israelcried to Jehovah, because to himwere nine hundred chariots of iron,and he exceedingly oppressed thechildren of Israel twenty years.

4 And Deborah, a womanprophet, the wife of Lapidoth, wasjudging Israel at that time.

5 And she dwelt under thepalm tree of Deborah betweenRamah and Bethel in MountEphraim, and the children of Israelcame up to her for judgment.

30 3:30 eighty years. Note the long peri-ods of time throughout Judges when God gaveIsrael peace, and during which time Israel fol-lowed Jehovah God. If you read the book ofJudges without noting these short statementsthat the land had peace for eighty years, orwhatever the number is, you get the impres-sion that they were always prostrating them-selves to pagan gods, and in war, but this isnot true. These periods, like this eighty years,are stated in one phrase of a sentence withoutelaboration. So do not think that Israel wasunder bondage or fighting wars during thisentire four hundred years. There were longperiods in which they followed God, were atpeace, and prospered.

Exploits of Ehud against Moab; the exploits of Deborah against Jabin and Sisera

421

JUDGES 46 And she sent and called

Barak, the son of Abinoam, fromKedesh Naphtali, and said to him,Has not Jehovah God of Israelcommanded, Walk and draw to-ward Mount Tabor, and take withyou ten thousand men of the chil-dren of Naphtali, and of the chil-dren of Zebulun?

7 And I will draw Sisera, thechief ruler of Jabin’s host, to you,to the stream Kishon, with his chari-ots and his multitude, and I will givehim into your hand.

8 And Barak said to her, Ifyou will walk with me, I will walk,and if you will not walk with me, Iwill not walk.

9 And she said, walking, Iwill walk with you; however, it shallnot be an ornament to you, the jour-ney that you walk, because Jeho-vah shall sell Sisera into the handof a woman; and Deborah rose,and walked with Barak to Kedesh.

10 And Barak proclaimed toZebulun and Naphtali to assembleto Kedesh, and he went up withten thousand men at his feet, andDeborah went up with him.

11 And Heber, the Kenite,had separated from the Kenites ofthe children of Hobab, the father inlaw to Moses, and stretched outhis tent near the oak in Zaanaim,which is near Kedesh.

12 And they caused to standout boldly to Sisera that Barak, theson of Abinoam, had gone up toMount Tabor.

13 And Sisera proclaimed toassemble all his chariots, nine hun-dred chariots of iron, and all thepeople who were with him, from

Harosheth of the peoples to thestream of Kishon.

14 And Deborah said toBarak, Rise up, because this is theday in which Jehovah has givenSisera into your hand; has not Je-hovah gone out before your face?And Barak went down from MountTabor and ten thousand men afterhim.

15 And Jehovah put Sisera incommotion, and all his chariots andall his army, with the mouth of thesword before the face of Barak, sothat Sisera descended from hischariot, and fled on his feet.

16 And Barak ran after thechariots and after the army toHarosheth of the peoples, and allthe army of Sisera fell upon themouth of the sword, and there wasnot one left.

17 And Sisera fled on his feetto the tent of Jael, the wife ofHeber, the Kenite, because therewas peace between Jabin, the kingof Hazor, and the house of Heber,the Kenite.

18 And Jael went out to meetSisera, and said to him, Turn in, mylord, turn in to me; do not fear. Andwhen he had turned in to her intothe tent, she covered him with aquilt.

19 And he said to her, Giveme, please, a little water to drink,because I am thirsty; and sheopened a skin bag of milk, and gavehim drink, and covered him.

20 Again he said to her, Standin the door of the tent, and it shallbe, if any man comes, and inquiresof you, and says, Is there any manhere? You shall say, No.

The exploits of Deborah and Barak against Jabin and Sisera

422

JUDGES 521 And Jael, Heber’s wife,

took a pin of the tent, and put ahammer in her hand; and went co-vertly to him, and drove the pin intohis temples; and drove it throughto the ground, and he was in a deepsleep, and covered, and he died.

22 And lo, Barak running af-ter Sisera, Jael came out to meethim, and said to him, Walk, and Iwill cause you to see the man whomyou are seeking; and he came intoher - behold, Sisera, fallen dead,and the pin in his temples!

23 And God caused Jabin, theking of Canaan, to bend the kneeon that day before the face of thechildren of Israel.

24 And the hand of the chil-dren of Israel, walking, walked on,and hard against Jabin, the king ofCanaan, until they had cut off Jabin,king of Canaan.

CHAPTER 51 And Deborah and Barak,

the son of Abinoam, sang on thatday, saying,

2 For the commanders in Is-rael baring themselves, for thepeople who offered themselveswillingly, kneel down with goodnessto Jehovah.

3 Hear attentively, Oh kings;broaden your ear, Oh princes; I,even I will sing to Jehovah; I willplay and sing to Jehovah God ofIsrael.

4 Oh Jehovah, when youwent out of Seir, when youmarched out of the field of Edom,the earth trembled, and the heav-ens distilled, yes, the dark clouds

dropped water.5 The mountains flowed be-

fore the face of Jehovah, that Sinaibefore the face of Jehovah God ofIsrael.

6 In the days of Shamgar, theson of Anath, in the days of Jael,the well trod roads ceased to be,and those used to walking theroads walked winding paths.

7 Chieftains ceased in Israel;they ceased until I arose, Deborah;I arose a mother in Israel.

8 They tried new gods; thenwar at the gates! A shield - if onewas seen - or a spear - among fortythousand in Israel!

9 My heart is toward thecommanders of Israel, who offeredthemselves willingly among thepeople. Bless Jehovah.

10 You riders of white don-keys, you sitters in the height, andwalkers by the way, ponder!

11 The voice of those who cutoff spoil between the wateringtroughs - there they shall celebratethe righteousness of Jehovah, therighteousness toward his rulers inIsrael; then the people of Jehovahwent down to the gates.

12 Awake, awake, Deborah;awake, awake, speak a song!Arise, Barak, and lead captive yourcaptives, son of Abinoam.

13 At that time the remnant ofthe lordly leaders of the people trod;Jehovah trod over the mighty forme.

14 Out of Ephraim, their rootagainst Amalek; after you, Ben-jamin, among your people; out ofMachir came down lawgivers, and

Jael kills Sisera in her tent; the Song of Deborah and Barak

423

JUDGES 5out of Zebulun, they who draw outthe pen of those who mark the tally.

15 And my commanders inIssachar with Deborah; as Issachar,so Barak; into the valley they weresent on foot. For the divisions ofReuben, great enactments of heart.

16 Why did you sit betweenthe cattle pens, to hear the bleatingsof the flocks? Among the divisionsof Reuben, great searchings of theheart.

17 Gilead beyond Jordandwelt; and Dan, why did he lodgein ships? Asher sat down in thecoves of the sea, and dwelt in hisports.

18 Zebulun, a people who ex-posed their souls to death - andNaphtali - in the high places of thefield.

19 Kings came; they de-voured; then devoured the kings ofCanaan in Taanach by the watersof Megiddo; they took no plunderof silver.

20 They devoured from out ofthe heavens; the stars in theircourses devoured Sisera.

21 The stream of Kishonswept them away; ancient stream,the stream Kishon. Oh my soul, youhave trodden down strength.

22 Then beat the hoofs of thehorses, from the galloping, gallop-ing of their mighty ones.

23 Curse Meroz, said theMessenger of Jehovah, cursing,curse the inhabitants, because theycame not to the help of Jehovah, tothe help of Jehovah, against themighty.

24 Blessed among women,Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite,among women in the tent she isblessed.

25 Water he asked; milk shegave; in a large dish she broughtnear curdled milk.

26 Her hand to the pin she put,and her right hand to the workman’shammer; and she hammeredSisera; she crushed his head; sheplunged into and passed through histemples.

27 He bent down his kneesbetween her feet; he fell; he laydown; he bent down his knees be-tween her feet; he fell; where he bentdown his knees, there he fell downravaged.

28 Through the window sheleaned out; Yes, she cried, themother of Sisera, through the lat-tice, Why does his chariot pale inshame to come? Why do thestrokes of his chariot tarry?

29 Her wise ladies answeredher; Yes, she turned back saying toherself,

30 Have they not found anddivided the spoil? A womb, twowombs,3 0 to the head of everymighty man; a spoil of dyed gar-

30 5:30 A womb, two wombs, to the headof every mighty man. This is the literal ren-dering of this sentence. The interpretation is:A woman, two women, to the head of everymighty warrior, meaning that each mightyman in a successful army always returned withfemale captives which he took as female ser-vants, or concubines, or wives for himself orfor his sons. In referring to them as wombs,she is simply acknowledging that those capturedand kept, not killed, were females for bearing chil-dren, who could be absorbed into the tribe by mar-riage without danger to the tribe. God’s Word isnot condoning this practice, only reporting thewords that Deborah sang and attributed to themother of Sisera as the attitude of Canaanites.

The Song of Deborah and Barak

424

JUDGES 6ments to Sisera; a spoil of dyedgarments of embroidery, of twodyed garments of embroidery forthe necks of the spoiler?

31 So let all those who hateyou be lost, Oh Jehovah, but thosewho love him as the going forth ofthe sun in its might. And the landrested forty years.

CHAPTER 61 And the children of Israel

did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, andJehovah gave them into the handof Midian seven years.

2 And the hand of Midianwas strong against Israel; before thefaces of Midian the children of Is-rael made for themselves the denswhich are in the mountains, andcaves, and strongholds.

3 And it was, when Israel hadsown, that the Midianites came up,and the Amalekites, and the chil-dren of the east, and they came upagainst them;

4 And camped against them,and destroyed the produce of theearth, until you come to Gaza, andleft nothing to preserve life for Is-rael, neither flock animal, nor ox,nor donkey,

5 Because they came upwith their livestock and their tents,and they came as locusts for abun-dance; and to them and to theircamels there was no number; andthey came into the land to destroyit.

6 And Israel hung down verylimp before the face of theMidianites, and the children of Is-rael cried to Jehovah.

7 And it was, because thechildren of Israel cried to Jehovahagainst the turnings7 of theMidianites,

8 That Jehovah sent a man,a prophet, to the children of Israel,and said to them, Thus says Jeho-vah God of Israel, I brought youup from Egypt, and brought you outof the house of bondage;

9 And I snatched you out ofthe hand of the Egyptians, and outof the hand of all your oppressors,and drove them out before yourface, and gave you their land;

10 And I said to you, I amJehovah your God; you shall notfear the gods of the Amorites, inwhose land you dwell, and youhave not attentively heard my voice.

11 And the Messenger of Je-hovah came, and sat under an oakwhich is in Ophrah, which was toJoash, the Abi Ezrite; and Gideon,his son, was knocking out wheat inthe winepress, to hide it from theface of the Midianites. Note Gen 16:17

12 And the Messenger of Je-hovah appeared to him, and saidto him, Jehovah is with you, mightyman of resources!

13 And Gideon said to him,Oh my lord, if Jehovah is with us,then why has all this come upon us,and where are all his wonders whichour fathers tallied up to us, saying,Did not Jehovah bring us up fromEgypt? And now Jehovah hasthrust us off, and given us into thepalms of the Midianites.

7 6:7 turnings, owdowth, meaning theturnings of the events the Midianites caused.

The oppression by the Midianites; a prophet speaks; The Messenger of Jehovah to Gideon

425

JUDGES 614 And Jehovah1 4 turned him-

self to him, and said, Walk in thisyour power, and you shall save Is-rael from the palm of the Midianites;have I not sent you?

15 And he said to him, Oh mylord, how shall I save Israel? Be-hold, my family is dangling in needin Manasseh, and I am the least inmy father’s house.

16 And Jehovah said to him,Because I am with you, and youshall strike the Midianites as oneman.

17 And he said to him, If nowthere is grace toward me in youreyes, then make me a sign that youare speaking with me.

18 Please do not withdrawfrom this place, I pray you, until Icome to you, and bring forth myfood offering, and deposit it beforeyour face. And he said, I will re-main until you return.

19 And Gideon went in, andmade ready a young she goat, andunleavened cakes of an ephah offlour; he put the flesh in a basket,and he put the broth in a pot, andbrought it out to him under the oak,and brought it near;

20 And the Messenger ofGod said to him, Take the flesh, andthe unleavened cakes, and depositthem upon this lofty rock, and pourout the broth, and he did so.

21 And the Messenger of Je-hovah put forth the end of the staffthat was in his hand, and touchedthe flesh and the unleavened cakes,and there rose up fire out of the

strong rock, and ate the flesh andthe unleavened cakes. And theMessenger of Jehovah walkedfrom before his eyes.

22 And Gideon saw that hewas the Messenger of Jehovah, andGideon said, Alas, Oh Lord Jeho-vah! Because right here I have seenthe Messenger of Jehovah face toface.

23 And Jehovah said to him,Peace to you; do not fear; you shallnot die.

24 And Gideon built an altarthere to Jehovah, and called it Je-hovah Shalom; it is still in Ophrahof the Abi Ezrites to this day.

25 And it was the same night,that Jehovah said to him, Take ayoung bull of the bullock which isto your father, and the second bul-lock of seven years, and throwdown the altar of Baal which is toyour father, and cut down the poleimages, those by it;

26 And build an altar to Jeho-vah, your God, upon the head ofthis fortress in the right arrangement,and take the second bullock, andcause a burnt sacrifice to ascendwith the wood of the pole imageswhich you cut down.

27 And Gideon took ten menof his servants, and did what Jeho-vah had spoken to him; and it was,since he feared his father’s houseand the men of the city to do it byday that he did it by night.

28 And the men of the city roseearly in the dawn, and behold, thealtar of Baal was torn down, andthe pole images which were by itwere cut down, and the secondbullock was offered upon the altar

The Messenger of Jehovah calls Gideon; he tears down the altar of Baal

14 6:14 Note that the one who is called theMessenger of Jehovah in 6:11-12 is simplycalled Jehovah in 6:14,16. See Note on Gen16:17.

426

JUDGES 7that was built.

29 And they said each man tohis neighbor, Who has done thisword? And they treaded seeking,and searched out, and said,Gideon, the son of Joash, has donethis word.

30 And the men of the city saidto Joash, Bring out your son, thathe may die, because he has torndown the altar of Baal, and becausehe has cut down the pole imagesthat were by it.

31 And Joash said to all whostood against him, You, will youcontend3 1 for Baal? Or you, willyou save him? Whoever contendsfor him, will be put to death at dawn.If he is god, let him plead for him-self, since one has torn down hisaltar.

32 And he was calledJerubaal3 2 on that day, saying, LetBaal contend against him since onehas torn down his altar.

33 And all the Midianites, andthe Amalekites, and the children ofthe east were gathered together,and crossed over, and pitched inthe valley of Jezreel.

34 And the Spirit of Jehovahclothed Gideon, and he blew atrumpet, and Abi Ezer was calledtogether after him.

35 And he sent messengers toall Manasseh, and also it was calledtogether after him; and he sent mes-

sengers to Asher, and to Zebulun,and to Naphtali, and they came upto meet them.

36 And Gideon said to God,If you are going to save Israel bymy hand, what you have spoken,

37 Behold, I am placing afleece of wool in the threshingfloor,and if the dew is on the fleece only,and on all the ground dryness, thenI shall know by seeing, because youwill save Israel by my hand, whatyou have spoken.

38 And it was so, and he roseearly on the next day, and pressedthe fleece together, and wrung thedew out of the fleece, a bowl full ofwater.

39 And Gideon said to God,Let not your nostrils burn againstme, and I will speak only thisstroke; let me prove, please, onlythis stroke with the fleece. Please,let dryness be upon the fleece only,and on all the ground let there bedew.

40 And God did so on thatnight; and dryness was on the fleeceonly, and there was dew on all theground.

CHAPTER 71 And Jerubaal rose early -

he is Gideon - and all the peoplewho were with him, and pitched bythe Fountain of Harod;1 and thearmy of Midian was on the northof him by Mount Moreh in the val-ley.

2 And Jehovah said toGideon, There are too manypeople, those who are with you, for

1 7:1 Fountain of Harod means Fountainof Trembling.

31 6:31 contend, riyb, means to contendin a legal case, to sue to obtain what oneneeds. Joash is asking them if they are goingto act as attorneys for Baal. His sarcasm tothem is, Why would a god need man to act ashis attorney.

32 6:32 Jerubaal, means Baal will plead orcontend (fight his own case in the court oflife).

The Midianites, Amalekites, et al gather against Israel; God gives the sign of the fleece

427

JUDGES 7me to give Midian into their handlest Israel boast themselves againstme, saying, My hand has saved me.

3 And now, please, call outin the ears of the people, saying,Whoever is fearful and afraid, lethim turn back, and return fromMount Gilead. And twenty-twothousand of the people turnedback, and there remained ten thou-sand.

4 And Jehovah said toGideon, Still there are many people;bring them down to the water, andI will refine them for you there; andit shall be, whom I say to you, Thisone shall walk with you, he shallwalk with you; and all of whom Isay to you, This one shall not walkwith you, he shall not walk.

5 And he brought the peopledown to the water, and Jehovahsaid to Gideon, Everyone who lapsof the water with his tongue as adog laps, you shall set him sepa-rate, and everyone who bendsdown on his knees to drink.

6 And the number of themwho lapped, their hand to theirmouth, were three hundred men,and all who were left of the peoplebent down on their knees to drinkwater.

7 And Jehovah said toGideon, I will save you by the threehundred men who lapped, and giveMidian into your hand; and all thepeople shall walk every man to hisplace.

8 And the people took foodin their hand, and their trumpets, andhe sent every man of Israel awayto his tent, and he kept hold on thethree hundred men; and the army

of Midian was beneath him in thevalley.

9 And it was on that night,that Jehovah said to him, Rise up,go down into the army, because Ihave given it into your hand.

10 And if you are afraid to godown, you and Phurah, your ser-vant, go down to the army;

11 And you shall attentivelyhear what they say, and afterwardyour hand shall seize strength, andyou shall go down to the army. Andhe and Phurah, his servant, wentdown to the edge of the armed menwho were in the army.

12 And Midian, and Amalek,and all the children of the east layin the valley like locusts for abun-dance; and their camels were with-out number, as the sand by the lipof the sea for abundance.

13 And Gideon came, andbehold, a man was tallying up tohis friend a dream; and he said,Behold, I have dreamed a dream,and behold, a cake of barley breadwas tumbling into the army ofMidian, and came to a tent, andstruck it, and it fell, and turned itupside down, and the tent felldown.

14 And his friend answeredand said, This is nothing other thanthe sword of Gideon, the son ofJoash, a man of Israel; God hasgiven Midian and all the army intohis hand.

15 And it was, when Gideonattentively heard the recounting ofthe dream, and its breaking apart,that he prostrated himself, andturned back to the army of Israel,and said, Rise up, because Jeho-

God reduces the number with Gideon to 300; Gideon overhears a man’s dream

428

JUDGES 8vah has given into your hand thearmy of Midian.

16 And he divided the threehundred men into three heads, andhe gave a trumpet in every man’shand, with empty pitchers and flam-ing torches within the pitchers.

17 And he said to them, Lookat me, and do likewise, and behold,I am coming to the edge of thecamp; it shall be, as I do, so youshall do.

18 And I will blow with atrumpet, I and all who are with me,and you shall blow with the trum-pets, even you around all the camp,and you shall say, For Jehovah andfor Gideon.

19 And Gideon came and thehundred men who were with himto the edge of the camp at the headof the middle watch - they had justraised the hedge1 9 - and they blewwith the trumpets, and broke thepitchers which were in their hand.

20 And the three heads blewthe trumpets, and shattered thepitchers, and held in their left handsthe flaming torches, and in their righthands the trumpets to blow; andthey called out, The sword of Je-hovah and of Gideon.

21 And every man stood in hisplace all around the army, and allthe army ran, and shouted, and fled.

22 And the three hundredblew the trumpets, and Jehovah putevery man’s sword against hisneighbor even in all the army, andthe army fled as far as Beth Shittah

toward Zererath, and to the lip ofAbel Meholah by Tabbath.

23 And the men of Israel werecalled together out of Naphtali, andout of Asher, and out of allManasseh, and ran after Midian.

24 And Gideon sent messen-gers throughout all the hills ofEphraim, saying, Come down tomeet Midian, and capture the wa-ters as far as Beth-barah and Jor-dan before them. And all the menof Ephraim were called together,and captured the waters to Beth-barah and Jordan.

25 And they captured the tworulers of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb,and they struck fatally Oreb at thestrong rock Oreb, and Zeeb theystruck fatally at the wine vat ofZeeb, and pursued Midian, andbrought the heads of Oreb andZeeb to Gideon across Jordan.

CHAPTER 81 And the men of Ephraim

said to him, Why have you donethis word to us? You failed to callus when you walked to devourMidian. And they contended withhim exceedingly.

2 And he said to them, Whathave I done now in comparison toyou? Is not the gleaning of Ephraimbetter than the vintage of Abi Ezer?

3 God has given into yourhands the rulers of Midian, Oreband Zeeb, and what was I able todo in comparison to you? Thentheir breathing slackened towardhim when he had spoken that.

19 7:19 raised the hedge, quwm shamar.They had just raised the hedge, meaning thatthey had just set new guards for the middlewatch of the night.

Gideon’s 300 attack at night breaking thier pitchers and blowing trumpets

429

JUDGES 84 And Gideon came to Jor-

dan, crossing over, he and the threehundred men who were with him,faint, yet pursuing them.

5 And he said to the men ofSuccoth, Give, please, loaves ofbread to the people at my feet, be-cause they are faint, and I am pur-suing after Zebah and Zalmunna,kings of Midian.

6 And the rulers of Succothsaid, Are the palms of Zebah andZalmunna now in your hand that weshould give food to your host?

7 And Gideon said, There-fore when Jehovah has given Zebahand Zalmunna into my hand, I willthresh your flesh with the thorns ofthe desert and with briers.

8 And he went up from thereto Penuel and spoke to them this;and the men of Penuel answeredhim as the men of Succoth had an-swered.

9 And he spoke also to themen of Penuel, saying, When I re-turn in peace I will tear down thistower.

10 And Zebah and Zalmunnawere in Karkor, and their armieswith them, about fifteen thousandmen, all who were left of all thearmies of the children of the east,and those who fell were a hundredand twenty thousand men drawingsword.

11 And Gideon went up theway of those dwelling in tents onthe east of Nobah and Jogbehah,and struck the army, for the armywas secure.

12 And when Zebah andZalmunna fled, he pursued afterthem, and captured the two kings

of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna,and caused all the army to tremble.

13 And Gideon the son ofJoash returned from battle at therising of the heat,

14 And captured a young manof the men of Succoth, and inquiredof him, and he wrote for him therulers of Succoth and its elders,seventy-seven men.

15 And he came in to the menof Succoth, and said, Behold,Zebah and Zalmunna, with whomyou reproached me, saying, Is thepalm of Zebah and Zalmunna nowin your hand that we should givefood to your weary men?

16 And he took the elders ofthe city, and thorns and briers ofthe desert, and caused them, themen of Succoth, to know by see-ing.

17 And he tore down thetower of Penuel, and fatally struckthe men of the city.

18 And he said to Zebah andZalmunna, What manner of menwere they whom you struck fatallyat Tabor? And they answered, Asyou, so they; each one in the formof the children of a king.

19 And he said, They weremy brothers, sons of my mother;as Jehovah lives, if only you hadsaved them alive I would not fa-tally strike you.

20 And he said to Jether hisfirstborn, Rise up and strike themfatally. And the youth did not drawhis sword because he feared, be-cause he was yet a youth.

21 And Zebah and Zalmunnasaid, You rise up and impinge uponus, because as the man, so his might.

Ephraim helps; Gideon’s 300 pursue the Midianites and fatally strike others

430

JUDGES 9And Gideon rose up, and struckZebah and Zalmunna fatally, andtook the ornaments that were ontheir camels’ necks.

22 And the men of Israel saidto Gideon, You rule over us, bothyou, and your son, and your son’sson, because you have saved us outof the hand of Midian.

23 And Gideon said to them,I will not rule over you, neither shallmy son rule over you; Jehovah shallrule over you.

24 And Gideon said to them,Let me request a petition of you,that every man give me a nose ringout of his spoil, because there wereto them gold nose rings, becausethey were Ishmaelites.

25 And they said, Giving, wewill give. And they spread out agarment, and every man threw inthere the nose rings of his spoil.

26 And the weight of the goldnose rings which he requested wasa thousand, seven hundred shek-els of gold, separate from the neckpendants, and ear pendants, andpurple garments that were on thekings of Midian, and separate fromthe necklaces which were on thenecks of their camels.

27 And Gideon made anephod of it, and put it in his city,Ophrah; and all Israel whored af-ter it there, and it became a nooseto Gideon and to his house.

28 And Midian bent the kneebefore the face of the children ofIsrael, and they did not any morelift up their heads. And the landrested forty years in the days ofGideon.

29 And Jerubaal, the son ofJoash, walked, and dwelt in his ownhouse.

30 And to Gideon were sev-enty children coming out of his loins,because to him were many wives.

31 And his concubine whowas in Shechem, also bore to hima son, and he put his nameAbimelech.

32 And Gideon, the son ofJoash, died in a good old age, andwas buried in the sepulcher ofJoash, his father, in Ophrah of theAbi Ezrites.

33 And it was, that Gideondied, and the children of Israelturned back, and whored afterBaals, and put Baal Covenant astheir god.

34 And the children of Israeldid not remember Jehovah theirGod who had snatched them outof the hands of all those who hatedthem all around;

35 And they did not do mercywith the house of Jerubaal - Gideon- according to all the goodnesswhich he had done with Israel.

CHAPTER 91 And Abimelech, the son of

Jerubaal, walked to Shechem to hismother’s brothers, and spoke withthem, and with all the family of thehouse of his mother’s father, say-ing,

2 Speak, please, in the earsof all the lords of Shechem, Whatis good for you, ruling over youseventy men, all the sons ofJerubaal, or that one man rule overyou? And remember that I am yourbone, and your flesh.

Gideon executes two kings of the Midianites and takes their spoil; Gideon dies

431

JUDGES 93 And his mother’s brothers

spoke of him in the ears of all thelords of Shechem all these words,and their heart stretched out afterAbimelech, because they said, Heis our brother.

4 And they gave him seventyof silver out of the house of BaalCovenant, and Abimelech hiredvain and malicious men, whowalked after him.

5 And he went to his father’shouse at Ophrah, and fatally struckhis brothers, the sons of Jerubaal,seventy men on one stone; andJotham, the youngest son ofJerubaal, was left because he washidden.

6 And all the lords ofShechem gathered together, and allthe house of Millo, and walked, andcaused Abimelech to reign as kingat the oak of the station which wasin Shechem.

7 And they caused it to standout boldly to Jotham, and he walkedand stood on the head of MountGerizim, and lifted his voice, andcalled out, and said to them, Hearme attentively, you lords ofShechem, and God shall attentivelyhear you.

8 The trees walking, walkedto anoint a king over them, and theysaid to the olive, Reign over us.

9 And the olive said to them,Should I cease from my fatness,which by me they attribute heavyhonor to God and man, and walkto wag back and forth over thetrees?

10 And the trees said to thefig tree, You walk and reign overus.

11 And the fig tree said tothem, Should I cease from mysweetness, namely my good fruit,and walk to wag back and forthover the trees?

12 And the trees said to thevine, You walk to reign over us.

13 And the vine said to them,Should I cease from my fresh grapejuice, which rejoices God and men,and walk to wag back and forthover the trees?

14 Then all the trees said tothe thorn tree, You walk, reign overus.

15 And the thorn tree said tothe trees, If in truth you anoint meking over you, walk, flee for refugein my shadow, and if not, let firecome out of the thorn tree, anddevour the cedars of Lebanon.

16 Now, if in truth, and integ-rity you have done, when you madeAbimelech king, and if you havedone good with Jerubaal, and hishouse, and if according to the deedsof his hands you have done to him-

17 Because my father de-voured for you, and threw his soulin your place, and snatched you outof the hand of Midian -

18 And you are risen againstthe house of my father today, andhave fatally struck his sons, seventymen on one stone, and have madeAbimelech, the son of his maidser-vant, king over the lords ofShechem because he is yourbrother;

19 And if you have done truthand integrity with Jerubaal and withhis house this day, you rejoice inAbimelech, and let him also rejoice

Abimelech kills his brothers; Jotham’s fable of the trees

432

JUDGES 9in you;

20 And if not, let fire come outfrom Abimelech, and devour thelords of Shechem and the house ofMillo; and let fire come out fromthe lords of Shechem and from thehouse of Millo, and devourAbimelech.

21 And Jotham ran away, andfled, and walked to Beer, and dweltthere, because of the face ofAbimelech, his brother.

22 And Abimelech reignedover Israel three years,

23 And God sent an evil spiritbetween Abimelech and the lordsof Shechem, and the lords ofShechem acted deceitfully withAbimelech,

24 That the violence done tothe seventy sons of Jerubaal mightcome, and their blood be put uponAbimelech, their brother, whostruck them fatally, and upon thelords of Shechem, who strength-ened his hands to fatally strike hisbrothers.

25 And the lords of Shechemput an ambush for him in the headof the mountains, and they pluckedoff from all that crossed over bythem on the way; and it was madeto stand out boldly to Abimelech.

26 And Gaal, the son of Ebed,came, and his brothers, and crossedover to Shechem; and the lords ofShechem trusted him.

27 And they went out into thefields, and gathered their vineyards,and trod out, and made harvestcelebration, and went into thehouse of their god, and ate, anddrank, and made light ofAbimelech.

28 And Gaal, the son of Ebed,said, Who is Abimelech,2 8 and whois Shechem, that we should servehim? Is he not the son of Jerubaal,and Zebul, his officer? Serve themen of Hamor, the father ofShechem, for why should we servehim?

29 And who will give thispeople into my hand? Then I wouldcause Abimelech to depart. And hesaid to Abimelech, Increase yourhost, and come out.2 9

30 And Zebul, the head of thecity, attentively heard the words ofGaal, the son of Ebed, and his nos-trils burned.

31 And he sent messengers toAbimelech deceitfully, saying, Be-hold, Gaal, the son of Ebed, andhis brothers have come toShechem; and behold, they arepressing on the city against you.

28 9:28 Here follows an explanation to helpyou understand this verse. Gaal, the son ofEbed, is a Shechemite, that is, a Caananite,over which Abimelech reigns. He asked thequestion rhetorically, Who is Abimelech, andwho is Shechem? Abimelech and Shechem arethe same person, because Abimelech becameruler over the Shechemites by claiming to bea Shechemite since his mother was aShechemite. See 8:31 and 9:1. But Gaal ispointing out that Abimelech is really an Isra-elite, the son of Jerubaal [Gideon], and there-fore not a true Shechemite. Although Zebul,his officer is a Shechemite, he simply rulesfor Abimelech, who is not a true Shechemite.Since the Shechemites previously served themen or house of Hamor, a true Shechemite,they should return rule to the house of Hamor,the true founder of Shechem. By receivingGaal as their ruler, and throwing off the yokeof Abimelech they would restore their gov-ernment to the rightful house in Shechem.This is to fulfill the words of Jotham, the sonof Jerubaal [Gideon] for killing all his broth-ers, 9:7-20.

29 9:29 Gaal made the offer to theShechemites to become their ruler. They ap-parently accepted his offer immediately, al-though the text does not inform us about this.The next sentence is Gaal’s challenge toAbimelech.

Gaal conspires against Abimelech

433

JUDGES 932 And now rise by night, you

and the people who are with you,and lay an ambush in the field;

33 And it shall be, that in thedawn, at the rising of the sun, youshall load up and spread out againstthe city; and behold, he and thepeople who are with him are com-ing out against you, then you shalldo to them as comes forth to yourhand.

34 And Abimelech arose, andall the people who were with him,by night, and they set an ambush offour heads against Shechem.

35 And Gaal, the son of Ebed,went out, and stood in the entranceof the gate of the city; andAbimelech rose, and the peoplewho were with him, out of theirambush.

36 And Gaal saw the people,and said to Zebul, Behold, peopleare descending from the head of themountains. And Zebul said to him,You are seeing the shadow of themountains as men.

37 And Gaal again still morespoke, and said, Behold, peopleare descending by the summit of theland, and another head are comingthe way of the Oak of the Sorcer-ers.

38 And Zebul said to him,Now where is your mouth, withwhich you said, Who is Abimelechthat we should serve him? Is notthis the people whom you de-spised? Go out, please, and devourthem.

39 And Gaal went out beforethe face of the lords of Shechem,and devoured against Abimelech.

40 And Abimelech ran afterhim, and he fled before his face, andmany fell polluted, as far as the en-trance of the gate.

41 And Abimelech dwelt atArumah, and Zebul drove out Gaaland his brothers from dwelling inShechem.

42 And it was on the next daythat the people went out into thefield, and they caused it to standout boldly to Abimelech.

43 And he took the people,and divided them into three heads,and laid an ambush in the field, andlooked, and behold, the peoplecame forth out of the city; and hearose against them, and struckthem.

44 And Abimelech and thehead that was with him spread out,and stood in the entrance of the gateof the city, and the two other headsspread out against all who were inthe fields, and struck them.

45 And Abimelech devouredthe city all that day, and he cap-tured the city, and fatally struck thepeople who were there, and toredown the city, and sowed it withsalt.

46 And all the lords of theTower of Shechem attentivelyheard, and entered into the citadelof the house of the god Berith.4 6

46 9:46 the god Berith, the same as BaalBerith, or Baal Covenant in 9:4. In verse 4 itis Baal Berith. Here it is El Berith. Baal meanslord, and el means god. Berith means cov-enant. El is used of Jehovah God, and pagangods just like our English word, god. We capi-talize God to show we are speaking of the trueGod. There is not that distinction in Hebrew.In Hebrew you know whether it is God or godby the context.

Abimelech sets an ambush against Gaal and the lords of Shechem

434

JUDGES 1047 And it was made to stand

out boldly to Abimelech that all thelords of the Tower of Shechemwere assembled.

48 And Abimelech ascendedto Mount Zalmon, he and all thepeople who were with him, andAbimelech took the axes in hishand, and cut down a bough fromthe trees, and lifted it, and put it onhis shoulder, and said to the peoplewho were with him, What you haveseen me do, flow like liquid and doas I.

49 And all the people likewisecut down every man his bough, andwalked after Abimelech, and putthem against the citadel, and set thecitadel on fire with them; and all themen of the tower of Shechem diedalso, about a thousand men andwomen.

50 And Abimelech walked toThebez, and pitched againstThebez, and captured it.

51 And a strong tower was inthe midst of the city, and all the menand women fled there, and all thelords of the city, and shut them-selves in, and ascended to the topof the tower.

52 And Abimelech came to thetower, and devoured it, and camenear to the door of the tower toburn it with fire.

53 And one woman threwdown a piece of an upper millstoneon the head of Abimelech, andcrushed his skull to pieces.

54 And he called out hurriedlyto the young man bearing his weap-ons, and said to him, Draw yoursword, and kill me, lest they say ofme, A woman struck him fatally.

And his young man thrust himthrough, and he died.

55 And when the men of Is-rael saw that Abimelech was dead,every man walked to his place.

56 And God turned back theevil on Abimelech, which he did tohis father, by fatally striking his sev-enty brothers;

57 And God turned back allthe evil of the men of Shechem upontheir heads, and the curse ofJotham, the son of Jerubaal, cameon them.

CHAPTER 101 And Tola, the son of Puah,

arose after Abimelech to save Is-rael, the son of Dodo, a man ofIssachar, and he dwelt in Shamir inMount Ephraim.

2 And he judged Israeltwenty-three years, and died, andwas buried in Shamir.

3 And after him arose Jair, aGileadite, and judged Israel twenty-two years.

4 And to him were thirty sonswho rode on thirty donkey colts,and to them were thirty cities; theyare called the Towns of Jair to thisday, which are in the land of Gilead.

5 And Jair died, and wasburied in Camon.

6 And again the children ofIsrael did evil in the eyes of Jeho-vah, and served Baals andAshtaroths, the same gods of Syria,the same gods of Zidon, the samegods of Moab, the same gods ofthe children of Ammon, the samegods of the Palestinians, and leftJehovah, and did not serve him.

Abimelech is killed by a woman throwing a millstone from the wall

435

JUDGES 117 And the nostrils of Jeho-

vah burned against Israel, and hesold them into the hands of the Pal-estinians and into the hands of thechildren of Ammon,

8 And shattered and crushedthe children of Israel to pieces thatyear- and for eighteen years - allthe children of Israel who were inthe region across Jordan in the landof the Amorites which is in Gilead.

9 And the children ofAmmon crossed over Jordan alsoto devour Judah, and Benjamin,and the house of Ephraim, and Is-rael was exceedingly distressed.

10 And the children of Israelcried to Jehovah, saying, We havesinned against you, because wehave even left our God, and alsoserved the Baals.

11 And Jehovah said to thechildren of Israel, Did I not saveyou from the Egyptians, and fromthe Amorites, from the children ofAmmon, and from the Palestinians?

12 And the Sidonians, andAmalek, and Maon have op-pressed you, and you cried to me,and I saved you out of their hand.

13 And you, you have for-saken me, and served other gods;therefore I did not save you anymore.

14 Walk, and cry to the godsthere where you have chosen; letthem save you in your time of dis-tress.

15 And the children of Israelsaid to Jehovah, We have sinned;you do to us all that is good in youreyes; only snatch us out this day,please.

16 And they turned away fromthe strange gods among them, andserved Jehovah, and his soul wascut off by the wearisome toil of Is-rael.

17 And the children ofAmmon were called together, andpitched in Gilead. And the childrenof Israel assembled themselves to-gether and pitched in Mizpeh.

18 And the people - the headsof Gilead - said each man to hisneighbor, What man is he who willbegin to devour the children ofAmmon? He shall be head over allthe inhabitants of Gilead.

CHAPTER 111 And Jephthah, the

Gileadite, was a mighty man of re-sources, and he was the son of awoman, a harlot, and Gilead begotJephthah.

2 And Gilead’s wife borehim sons; and the sons of the wifebecame large, and drove Jephthahout, and said to him, You shall notinherit in the house of our father,because you are the son of anotherwoman.

3 And Jephthah fled from theface of his brothers, and dwelt inthe land of Tob; and vain men werepicked up by Jephthah, and theywent out with him.

4 And there was a day thatthe children of Ammon devouredIsrael.

5 And it was, that the chil-dren of Ammon devoured Israel,and the elders of Gilead walked totake Jephthah out of the land ofTob;

Israel sins, is conquered by the Palestinians and Ammonites; Isreal cries to God; Jephthah

436

JUDGES 116 And they said to Jephthah,

Walk, and you shall be to us for acommander, that we may devourthe children of Ammon.

7 And Jephthah said to theelders of Gilead, Did you not hateme? Yes, you drove me out of thehouse of my father. Why have youcome to me now when you areoppressed?

8 And the elders of Gileadsaid to Jephthah, So we turn backto you now, that you may walk withus, and devour the children ofAmmon, and be our head over allthe inhabitants of Gilead.

9 And Jephthah said to theelders of Gilead, If you turn meback to devour the children ofAmmon, and Jehovah gives thembefore my face, shall I be yourhead?

10 And the elders of Gileadsaid to Jephthah, Jehovah is the onewho hears between us, if we do notso according to your words.

11 And Jephthah walked withthe elders of Gilead, and the peopleput him head and commander overthem; and Jephthah spoke all hiswords before the face of Jehovahin Mizpeh.

12 And Jephthah sent mes-sengers to the king of the childrenof Ammon, saying, What is it tome and to you that you have cometo me to devour in my land?

13 And the king of the childrenof Ammon said to the messengersof Jephthah, Because Israel tookmy land when they came up out ofEgypt, from Arnon even to Jabbokand to Jordan; and now turn backthe same in peace.

14 And yet again Jephthahsent messengers to the king of thechildren of Ammon,

15 And said to him, Thus saysJephthah, Israel did not take theland of Moab and the land of thechildren of Ammon,

16 Because when they cameup out of Egypt, Israel walkedthrough the desert as far as the RedSea, and came to Kadesh;

17 And Israel sent messengersto the king of Edom, saying, Letme cross over, please, through yourland, but the king of Edom wouldnot hear attentively. And also Is-rael sent to the king of Moab, andhe would not breathe in agreementwith him, and Israel dwelt inKadesh.

18 And he walked through thedesert, and circled around the landof Edom, and the land of Moab,and came by the sunrise side of theland of Moab, and pitched on theregion across Arnon, and did notcome within the border of Moab,because Arnon was the border ofMoab.

19 And Israel sent messengersto Sihon, king of the Amorites, theking of Heshbon, and Israel said tohim, Let us cross over, please,through your land into my place.

20 And Sihon did not trust Is-rael to cross over through his bor-der, and Sihon gathered all hispeople together, and pitched inJahaz, and devoured Israel.

21 And Jehovah God of Israelgave Sihon and all his people intothe hand of Israel, and they struckthem, and Israel possessed all theland of the Amorites, the inhabit-

Jephthah deals with the Ammonites and rehearses Israel’s journeys

437

JUDGES 11ants of that land.

22 And they possessed all theborders of the Amorites fromArnon even to Jabbok, and fromthe desert even to the Jordan.

23 And now Jehovah God ofIsrael has possessed the Amoritesfrom before the face of his peopleIsrael, and should you possess it?

24 What Chemosh, your god,causes you to possess, do you notpossess? And everywhere Jehovahour God drives out from before ourface, the same we possess.

25 And now are you at all bet-ter than Balak, the son of Zippor,king of Moab? Contending, did hecontend against Israel, or devour-ing, did he devour them,

26 While Israel dwelt inHeshbon and her daughters, and inAroer and her daughters, and in allthe cities that are close at hand toArnon three hundred years, whydid you not snatch them away withinthat time?

27 And I, I have not sinnedagainst you, but you do me wrongto devour against me; Jehovah, theone who judges, judge this daybetween the children of Israel andbetween the children of Ammon.

28 And the king of the childrenof Ammon did not hear attentivelythe words of Jephthah which hesent him.

29 And the Spirit of Jehovahwas on Jephthah, and he crossedover Gilead and Manasseh, andcrossed over Mizpeh of Gilead,and from Mizpeh of Gilead hecrossed over to the children ofAmmon.

30 And Jephthah vowed avow to Jehovah, and said, If giv-ing, you give the children of Ammoninto my hands,

31 Then it shall be, that what-ever comes out of the doors of myhouse to meet me, when I return inpeace from the children of Ammon,shall be Jehovah’s, and I will causeit to ascend for a burnt offering.

32 And Jephthah crossedover to the children of Ammon todevour them, and Jehovah gavethem into his hands.

33 And he struck them fromAroer, even until you come toMinnith, twenty cities, and to themeadow of the vineyards, a verygreat blow. And the children ofAmmon bent the knee before theface of the children of Israel.

34 And Jephthah came toMizpeh to his house, and behold,his daughter came out to meet himwith tambourines and with dances- and she only, she alone was his;there was no other son or daugh-ter.

35 And it was when he sawher, that he tore his clothes, andsaid, Alas, my daughter! Bendingdown my knees, you have causedme to bend down my knees, andyou are the one troubling the wa-ter, because I have opened mymouth to Jehovah, and I cannot turnback.

36 And she said to him, Myfather, you have opened your mouthto Jehovah; do to me whatever hasgone out of your mouth, since Je-hovah has done vengeance for youon those who hate you, on the chil-dren of Ammon.

Jephthah vows to sacrifice whatever meets him on returning from devouring the Ammonites

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JUDGES 1237 And she said to her father,

Let be done for me this word: slackoff from me two new moons, that Imay walk up and down upon themountains, and weep over my vir-ginity, I and my female companions.

38 And he said, Walk. And hesent her away for two new moons,and she walked with her femalecompanions, and wept over her vir-ginity upon the mountains.

39 And it was at the end oftwo new moons that she returnedto her father, who did to her his vowwhich he had vowed, and she hadknown no man. And it was an en-actment in Israel:

40 From days to days thedaughters of Israel walked to honorthe daughter of Jephthah, theGileadite, four days in a year.

CHAPTER 121 And the men of Ephraim

were called together, and crossedover northward, and said toJephthah, Why did you cross overto devour the children of Ammon,and did not call us to walk withyou? We will burn your house uponyou with fire.

2 And Jephthah said to them,I and my people were at great con-troversy with the children ofAmmon, and when I called you,you did not save me out of theirhands.

3 And when I saw that youdid not save me, I put my soul inmy hand, and crossed over to thechildren of Ammon, and Jehovahgave them into my palm; and whyhave you come up to me this dayto devour me?

4 And Jephthah called to-gether all the men of Gilead, anddevoured against Ephraim; and themen of Gilead struck Ephraim, be-cause they said, You are fugitivesof Ephraim, Oh Gilead, in the midstof Ephraim, and in the midst ofManassah.

5 And Gilead captured thefords of the Jordan before Ephraim;and it was that the fugitives ofEphraim said, Let me cross over,and the men of Gilead said to them,You are an Ephraimite! And he said,No.

6 And they said to him,Please say, Shibboleth; and he saidSibboleth, and was not able to setup his lips to say it. And they seizedhim, and slaughtered him at thefords of Jordan; and there fell ofEphraim forty-two thousand at thattime.

7 And Jephthah judged Is-rael six years. And Jephthah, theGileadite, died, and was buried inthe cities of Gilead.

8 And after him Ibzan ofBethlehem judged Israel.

9 And there were to himthirty sons; and he sent thirtydaughters abroad, and thirty daugh-ters came in from abroad for hissons. And he judged Israel sevenyears.

10 And Ibzan died, and wasburied at Bethlehem.

11 And after him Elon, aZebulonite, judged Israel, and hejudged Israel ten years.

12 And Elon, the Zebulonite,died, and was buried in Aijalon inthe land of Zebulun.

Jephthah sacrifices his daughter; Jephthah fights against Ephraim; shibboleth

439

JUDGES 1313 And after him Abdon, the

son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judgedIsrael.

14 And to him were fortysons, and thirty sons of sons, whorode on seventy donkey colts, andhe judged Israel eight years.

15 And Abdon, the son ofHillel, the Pirathonite, died, and wasburied in Pirathon in the land ofEphraim in the mount of theAmalekites.

CHAPTER 131 And again the children of

Israel did evil in the eyes of Jeho-vah, and Jehovah gave them intothe hand of the Palestinians fortyyears.

2 And there was one man ofZorah, of the family of the Danites,and his name was Manoah, and hiswife was barren, and had not borne.

3 And the Messenger of Je-hovah appeared to the woman, andsaid to her, Behold now, you arebarren, and have not borne; andyou shall conceive, and bear a son.

4 And now hedge yourselfabout, please, and do not drinkwine nor hard liquor, and do noteat anything unclean,

5 Because, lo, you have con-ceived, and are bearing a son; anda razor shall not ascend upon hishead, because the child shall be aNazirite5 to God from the womb,and he shall begin to save Israel outof the hand of the Palestinians.

6 And the woman came andsaid to her husband, saying, A manof God came to me, and his ap-pearance was like the appearance

of the Messenger of God, exceed-ingly awesome; and I did not askhim from where he was, and he didnot cause his name to stand outboldly to me;

7 And he said to me, Behold,you have conceived, and are bear-ing a son; and now do not drinkwine or hard liquor, and do not eatanything unclean, because the childshall be a Nazirite to God from thewomb until the day of his death.

8 And Manoah ignited aprayer as incense to Jehovah, andsaid, Oh my Lord, the man of Godwhom you sent, let him come,please, again to us, and make flowto us what we shall do to the childbeing born.

9 And God heard attentivelythe voice of Manoah, and the Mes-senger of God came again to thewoman as she sat in the field, andManoah, her husband, was not withher.

10 And the woman flowed likeliquid, and ran, and caused to standout boldly to her husband, and saidto him, Behold, the man has ap-peared to me who came the otherday to me.

11 And Manoah rose, andwalked after his wife, and came tothe man, and said to him, Are youthe man who spoke to the woman?And he said, I am.

12 And Manoah said, Now letyour words come. What shall bethe judged decree for the child andour action?

13 And the Messenger of Je-hovah said to Manoah, let thewoman hedge about all that I saidto her.

Judges Elon, Abdon; The Messenger of Jehovah instructs Manoah and his wife

513:5 Nazirite, nazyr, separate, consecrated.

440

JUDGES 1314 She shall not eat all that

comes from the wine vine, and sheshall not drink wine or hard liquor;and she shall not eat any uncleanthing; let her hedge about all that Icommanded her.

15 And Manoah said to theMessenger of Jehovah, please, letus detain you, and do a young shegoat before your face.

16 And the Messenger of Je-hovah said to Manoah, If you de-tain me, I will not eat of your food,and if you do a burnt offering toJehovah, you shall offer it; becauseManoah knew not by seeing thathe was the Messenger of Jeho-vah.1 6

17 And Manoah said to theMessenger of Jehovah, What isyour name? Because when yourwords come, then we shall attributeheavy honor to you?

18 And the Messenger of Je-hovah said to him, Why this, youask about my name? It is Wonder-ful? Isaiah 9:6 a form of the word, miracle

19 And Manoah took a youngshe goat and the food offering, andoffered it on a strong rock to Jeho-vah; and he was doing wonderfully,and Manoah and his wife seeing.

20 And it was, as the flamewas ascending from on the altar tothe heavens, that the Messenger ofJehovah ascended in the flame ofthe altar. And Manoah and his wifesaw, and fell on their faces to theearth.

21 And the Messenger of Je-hovah no more appeared toManoah and to his wife. ThenManoah knew by seeing that hewas the Messenger of Jehovah.

22 And Manoah said to hiswife, Dying, we shall die, becausewe have seen God.

23 And his wife said to him, IfJehovah were pleased to put us todeath, he would not have receivedfrom our hands a burnt offering anda food offering, and would not havecaused us to see all these, and

16 13:16 Verse 16 is the only part of thisstory that raises the question of whether ornot the person appearing to Manoah and hiswife is God or a messenger of God. All of therest of the verses in this story lead us to be-lieve that the Messenger of Jehovah is God,the same as in His appearance in Judges 2:1,6:12 and the other places in the Bible. Inverse 16 the Messenger appears to insist thatthe sacrifice cannot be offered to him, but toJehovah. But if you read the verse correctly,understanding the context of Manoah’s andhis wife’s attitude you quickly see why theMessenger of Jehovah said what He said. Thewife’s attitude was that he was a man of Godwho appeared to her, see 13:6,10. Manoah’sattitude was that this messenger was a prophet,see 13:8,11. Manoah was willing to offer asacrifice to a prophet or a human being.Manoah needed instruction that he was notspeaking with a human prophet, but with GodHimself, and that he must not offer sacrificeto man, but to God alone. The Jamieson,Fausset, and Brown Commentary on this pas-sage says: “The stranger declined the intendedhospitality; and intimated that if the meatwere to be an offering, it must be presented tothe Lord. Manoah needed this instruction,for the purpose was to offer the preparedviands to Him, not as the Lord, but as what heimagined Him to be, not even an angel (v.16),but a prophet or merely a human messenger.It was on this account, and not as rejectingdivine honours, that he spoke in this mannerto Manoah. The angel’s language was exactlysimilar to that of our Lord, Matt. xix,17.”The reason for God’s instruction to Manoahis found in the words, “because Manoah knew

not by seeing that he was the Messenger ofJehovah.” Manoah did not previously knowthat he was speaking to God. The Messengerof Jehovah instructed Manoah that for Himto receive the offering, Manoah must presentthe offering to Him as Jehovah. In 13:20-23Manoah and his wife received revelationknowledge that they had seen God. So youcan see that this is an appearance of THEMessenger of Jehovah to Manoah and his wifeas was His appearance to Hagar and all therest. See Gen 16:7.

Manoah and his wife sacrifice to The Messenger of Jehovah who is God

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JUDGES 14would not now have caused us toattentively hear these.

24 And the woman bore a son,and called his name Samson; andthe child became large, and Jeho-vah blessed him.

25 And the Spirit of Jehovahbegan to strike2 5 him in the campof Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

CHAPTER 141 And Samson went down to

Timnath, and saw a woman inTimnath of the daughters of thePalestinians.

2 And he came up, andcaused it to stand out boldly to hisfather and his mother, and said, Ihave seen a woman in Timnath ofthe daughters of the Palestinians,and now take her to me for a wife.

3 And his father and hismother said to him, Is there not awoman among the daughters ofyour brothers, and among all mypeople, a woman so that you arewalking to take of the uncircum-cised Palestinians? And Samsonsaid to his father, Take her for mebecause she is right to my eyes.

4 And his father and hismother did not know by seeing thatit was from Jehovah, because hewas searching out an opportunityagainst the Palestinians, for at thattime the Palestinians ruled over Is-rael.

5 And Samson went down,and his father and his mother, toTimnath, and they came to the vine-yards of Timnath; and behold, ayoung lion of the lions roared en-countering him.

6 And the Spirit of Jehovahprospered upon him, and he torehim as he would have torn a younggoat; and he did not have a speckof anything in his hand, and he didnot cause what he had done tostand out boldly to his father or hismother.

25 13:25 And the Spirit of Jehovah be-gan to strike him. The word strike is pa’ammeaning to tap, to beat regularly, to strike, asstriking an anvil - anvil is a form of this word,as striking a bell - bell is a form of this word,and to tread with the foot or feet as the feetstrike the ground in walking. Pa’am is usedbecause the Holy Spirit struck Samson withgreat thrusts of spiritual and physical powerto destroy the enemies of Israel. Let us notewhat the Bible has said of the Holy Spiritfrom the beginning to this time:

(1) In creation the Spirit brooded with ashaking or a push-pull movement to bringeverything into its proper form and place,Gen 1:2; Dt 32:11; Jer 23:9. (2) It is in theSpirit that God walks the earth looking forus, Gen 3:8. (3) The Spirit regulates andrestrains man’s tendency to sin, rebellion,and violence, Gen 6:3. (4) Because of man’ssin the Spirit tares open the forces of na-ture, and then moderates and subsidesthem, Gen 7:11; 8:1. (5) The Spirit is inbelievers to give wisdom for all of life, Gen41:38. (6) The Spirit out of God’s nostrilsdestroys those who hate Him and Hispeople, and delivers His own, Ex 15:8,10. (7)What God requires of us by His Word, HisSpirit supplies to us, Ex 28:3; 31:3; 35:31.(8) The Holy Spirit is the righteous Spiritof jealousy, just as an evil spirit of falseaccusation is the evil spirit of jealousy, Num5:14,30. (9) The Spirit is upon God’s servantsto qualify and enable them to fulfill God’scall upon their lives, Num 11:17,25-26,31, aswell as in them, Num 27:18. (10) God’s Spiritgathers food for His children, Num 11:31.(11) God’s Spirit is WITH them who are af-ter God to the full, Num 14:24. (12) TheSpirit is sometimes upon those who are amixture of the true religion and the pagan,Num 24:2; Jdgs 11:29. (13) The Spirit willfill you with wisdom through the laying onof hands by the man of God, Dt 34:9. (14)The Spirit clothes us in Himself when westep out in faith for Him and His people, Jdgs3:10; 6:34.

The Spirit began to strike Samson,13:25. The Spirit at times pushed upon him,and pushed him forward, and prosperedhim 14:6,19; 15:14. You see how rich is thework of the Holy Spirit in our lives, even inthe first seven books of the Bible.

Samson is born; Samson wants to marry a Palestinians; kills a lion

442

JUDGES 147 And he went down, and

spoke with the woman, and shewas right in the eyes of Samson.

8 And he returned after daysto take her, and turned aside to seethe ruin of the lion, and behold, therewas an assembly of bees in thebody of the lion and honey.

9 And he crumbled it off inhis palms, and walked eating, andwalked to his father and mother,and he gave to them and they ate,and he did not cause to stand outboldly to them that he had brokenoff the honey out of the body of thelion.

10 And his father went downto the woman, and Samson madethere a feast, because so the youngmen did.

11 And it was, when they sawhim that they took thirty compan-ions, and they were with him.

12 And Samson said to them,Please let me tie a knot to you, ariddle; if causing it to stand outboldly, you can cause it to standout boldly to me during the sevendays of the feast, and cause it tocome forth, then I will give you thirtyshirts and thirty changes of cloth-ing;

13 And if you are not able tocause it to stand out boldly to me,then you shall give me thirty shirtsand thirty changes of clothing. Andthey said to him, Tie the knot ofyour riddle, and we shall attentivelyhear it.

14 And he said to them, Outof the eater came forth food, andout of the forceful came forthsweetness. And for three days theywere not able to cause the riddle

to stand out boldly.15 And it was on the seventh

day, that they said to the wife ofSamson, Open up your husbandthat he may cause to stand outboldly to us the riddle, lest we burnyou and your father’s house withfire; have you called us to causeSamson to possess us, no?

16 And Samson’s wife weptupon him, and said, You only hateme, and do not love me; you havetied the knot of your riddle to thechildren of my people, and have notcaused it to stand out boldly to me.And he said to her, Behold, I havenot caused it to stand out boldly tomy father and my mother, and shallI cause it to stand out boldly to you?

17 And she wept on him theseven days, which were for themthe feast, and it was on the seventhday that he caused it to stand outboldly to her, because she pressedon him; and she caused the riddleto stand out boldly to the childrenof her people.

18 And the men of the city saidto him on the seventh day beforethe heat went, What is sweeter thanhoney? And what is more forcefulthan a lion? And he said to them, Ifyou had not plowed with my heifer,you had not caused my riddle tocome forth.

19 And the Spirit of Jehovahprospered upon him, and he wentdown to Ashkelon, and struckthirty men of them, and took theirspoil, and gave changes to themwho caused the riddle to stand outboldly. And his nostrils burned, andhe went up to his father’s house.

Samson’s marriage feast and his riddle about the honey and the lion

443

JUDGES 1520 And Samson’s wife be-

came his friend’s wife, whom heshepherded as close.

CHAPTER 151 And it was after some days

during the days of wheat harvest,and Samson visited his wife with ayoung she goat, and he said, I willgo into my wife’s apartment; andher father would not give in for himto go in.

2 And her father said, Indeedsaying, I said that hating, you hatedher, and I gave her to your friend;is not her younger sister better thanshe? Please let her be instead ofher.

3 And Samson said to them,I shall be more clean at this strokethan the Palestinians, though I amdoing with them evil.

4 And Samson walked, andcaptured three hundred jackals,and took flaming torches, andturned tail to tail, and put one flam-ing torch between two tails in themiddle;

5 And kindled fire on theflaming torches, and sent them outinto the stalks of grain of the Pales-tinians, and burnt from the stacksof sheaves to the stalks of grain,with the vineyards and olives.

6 And the Palestinians said,Who has done this? And they said,Samson, the son in law of theTimnite, because he took his wife,and gave her to his friend. And thePalestinians came up, and burnt herand her father with fire.

7 And Samson said to them,Though you have done this, yet Iwill be avenged on you, and after-

ward I will cease.8 And he struck them hip on

thigh a great blow, and he wentdown, and dwelt in the fissure ofthe lofty rock, Etam.

9 And the Palestinians wentup, and pitched in Judah, and thrustout in Lehi.

10 And the men of Judah said,Why are you come up against us?And they said, We have come upto bind Samson, to do to him whathe has done to us.

11 And three thousand men ofJudah went down to the fissure ofthe lofty rock, Etam, and said toSamson, Do you not know by see-ing that the Palestinians are rulingover us? What is this you have doneto us? And he said to them, Whatthey did to me, so I have done tothem.

12 And they said to him, Wehave come down to bind you, togive you into the hands of the Pal-estinians. And Samson said tothem, Swear to me that you will notimpinge upon me yourselves.

13 And they said to him, say-ing, No, but binding we will bindyou, and give you into their hand,but killing, we will not kill you. Andthey bound him with two newropes, and brought him up out ofthe lofty rock.

14 And he came as far as Lehi,and the Palestinians shouted en-countering him; and the Spirit ofJehovah prospered upon him, andthe ropes that were on his armsbecame as flax which was burntwith fire, and his bonds melted fromoff his hands.

Samson sends 300 jackals with fire through the grain of the Palestinians

444

JUDGES 1615 And he found a fresh jaw-

bone of a male donkey, and sentout his hand and took it, and strucka thousand men with it

16 And Samson said, With thejawbone of a donkey, heaps uponheaps, with the jawbone of a don-key, I have struck a thousand men.

17 And it was, he endedspeaking, and he threw away thejawbone out of his hand, and calledthat place the Height of a Jaw-bone.1 7

18 And he was exceedinglythirsty, and called to Jehovah, andsaid, You have given this great de-liverance by the hand of your ser-vant, and now shall I die of thirst,and fall into the hand of the uncir-cumcised?

19 And God broke open thehollow place that was in the jaw-bone, and water came out of it, andhe drank; his spirit returned, andhe revived, upon which he calledits name, Fountain of One Calling,which is in Lehi to this day.

20 And he judged Israel in thedays of the Palestinians twentyyears.

CHAPTER 161 And Samson walked to

Gaza, and saw there a woman, aharlot, and went in to her.

2 The Gazites were saying,Samson has come here. And theysurrounded him, and weaved a plotfor him all night in the gate of thecity, and devised all night, saying,Until the light of the dawn, then weshall kill him.

3 And Samson lay down untilthe middle of the night, and he roseat the middle of the night, and seizedthe doors of the gate of the city,and the two posts, and pulled themup, with the bar, and put it on hisshoulders, and ascended to thehead of the mountain that is abovethe face of Hebron.

4 And it was afterward, thathe loved a woman by the stream ofSorek, and her name was Delilah.

5 And the leaders of the Pal-estinians came up to her, and saidto her, Make him open and seewhere is his great power, and howwe can prevail over him that wemay bind him to look down uponhim with harshness, and we will giveto you, each man, a thousand andone hundred of silver.

6 And Delilah said toSamson, Please cause to stand outboldly to me where is your greatpower, and how you can be boundfor us to look down upon you withharshness.

7 And Samson said to her, Ifthey bind me with seven fresh leftover pieces which were neverdried, then I shall be worn weak,and be as one man.

8 And the leaders of the Pal-estinians brought up to her sevenfresh left over pieces which had notbeen dried, and she bound him withthem.

9 And the ambush was sit-ting for her in the apartment. Andshe said to him, The Palestinians areupon you, Samson! And he tore offthe left over pieces like a thread of

17 15:17 Ramath-Lehi

Samson kills 1,000 Palestinians with the jawbone of a donkey; meets Delilah

445

JUDGES 16tow is torn in its smelling fire. Andhis power was not known by see-ing.

10 And Delilah said toSamson, Behold, you have de-ceived me, and spoken lies to me;this time cause to stand out boldlyto me, please, how you can bebound.

11 And he said to her, If bind-ing, they bind me with new thickropes that have not done work,then I shall be worn weak, and beas one man.

12 And Delilah took new thickropes, and bound him with them,and said to him, The Palestiniansare upon you, Samson! And theambush was sitting in the apartment.And he tore them off from his armslike a thread.

13 And Delilah said toSamson, Until now you have de-ceived me, and spoken to me lies;cause to stand out boldly to me howyou may be bound. And he said toher, If you weave the seven braidsof my head with a web.

14 And she fastened it with thepin, and said to him, The Palestin-ians are upon you, Samson! Andhe awoke out of his sleep, andpulled up the pin, the loom, and theweb.

15 And she said to him, Howcan you say, I love you, when yourheart is not with me? You have de-ceived me these three strokes, andhave not caused to stand out boldlyto me where is your great power.

16 And it was, because shepressed him all the days with herwords, and pressed upon him, and

his soul was cut off to die;17 And he caused to stand out

boldly to her all his heart, and saidto her, A razor has not ascendedupon my head, because I am aNazirite to God from the womb ofmy mother; if I were shaved, mypower would turn off from me, andI would be worn weak, and be likeall men. Num 6:1-21

18 And Delilah saw that hehad caused to stand out boldly toher all his heart, and she sent andcalled for the leaders of the Pales-tinians, saying, Come up this stroke,because he has caused to stand outboldly to me all his heart. And theleaders of the Palestinians as-cended to her, and they ascendedwith silver in their hand.

19 And she made him sleepupon her knees, and she called fora man, and she caused him to shaveoff the seven braids from his head;and she began to look down uponhim with harshness, and his powerwas turned off from him.

20 And she said, The Pales-tinians are upon you, Samson! Andhe awoke out of his sleep, and said,I will go out as stroke by stroke,2 0

and shake myself. And he did notknow by seeing that Jehovah hadturned off from him.

21 And the Palestinians seizedhim, and bored out his eyes, andbrought him down to Gaza, andbound him with fetters of bronze,and he was grinding in the house ofthose bound.

20 16:20 as stroke by stroke, pa’ampa’am, meaning, as I did at the other strokes,or times. shake myself, as a horse or otheranimals when they first awake to loosen theirmuscles.

Delilah pleads with Samson to tell her the secret of his strength; Samson captured

446

JUDGES 1722 And the hair of his head

began to grow since he had beenshaved.

23 And the leaders of the Pal-estinians gathered together to sac-rifice a great sacrifice to Dagon,their god, and to rejoice; and theysaid, Our god has given Samson,the one hating us, into our hand.

24 And the people saw him,and boasted in their god, becausethey said, Our god has given himwho hated us into our hands, andthe destroyer of our land who pol-luted many of us.

25 And it was, that their heartsfelt good, and they said, CallSamson, that he may cause us tolaugh. And they called Samson outof the house of those bound, andhe made them laugh; and they stoodhim between the columns.

26 And Samson said to theyoung man who held him by thehand, Place me, and I will touchthe columns on which the house isset up, and I will support myself bythem.

27 And the house was full ofmen and women, and all the lead-ers of the Palestinians were there;and upon the roof there were aboutthree thousand men and women,who saw while Samson made themlaugh.

28 And Samson called to Je-hovah, and said, Oh Lord Jehovah,remember me, please, andstrengthen me, please, only thisstroke. Oh God, let me be avengedone vengeance for my two eyesupon the Palestinians.

29 And Samson bent himselfto the two columns of the middleupon which the house was erected,and on which it was held, one withhis right hand, and one with his left.

30 And Samson said, Let mysoul die with the Palestinians. Andhe stretched out with his power,and the house fell on the leaders,and on all the people who were init. And the dead whom he causedto die at his death were more thanthem whom he caused to die in hislife.

31 And his brothers and all thehouse of his father came down, andlifted him up, and brought him up,and buried him between Zorah andEshtaol in the sepulcher ofManoah, his father. And he judgedIsrael twenty years.

CHAPTER 171 And there was a man of

Mount Ephraim, and his name wasMicah.

2 And he said to his mother,The thousand and one hundred ofsilver that were taken from you,and you cursed and spoke even inmy ears; behold, the silver is withme; I took it. And his mother said,You are blessed by Jehovah, myson.

3 And he turned back the onethousand and one hundred of sil-ver to his mother, and his mothersaid, Sanctifying, I had sanctifiedthe silver to Jehovah from my handfor my son to make a graven imageand a molten image, and now I willturn it back to you.

Samson demolishes the temple of Dagon and slays more in his death than in his life

447

JUDGES 184 And he turned back the sil-

ver to his mother, and his mothertook two hundred of silver, andgave them to the founder, whomade of it a graven image and amolten image, and they were in thehouse of Micah.

5 And the man Micah had ahouse of God, and made an ephodand family healing images, and filledthe hand of one of his sons whobecame his priest. Gen 31:19

6 And in those days therewas no king in Israel; each man didright in his eyes.

7 And there was a young manout of Bethlehem Judah of the fam-ily of Judah; he was a Levite, andhe lodged there.

8 And the man walked outof the city from Bethlehem Judahto turn aside wherever he couldfind, and he came to MountEphraim to the house of Micah tomake his way.

9 And Micah said to him,From where do you come? Andhe said to him, I am a Levite ofBethlehem Judah, and I walk tolodge wherever I may find.

10 And Micah said to him,Dwell with me, and be to me a fa-ther and a priest, and I will give youten of silver for the days, and awardrobe of clothing, and your sus-tenance for life. And the Levitewalked in.

11 And the Levite yielded todwell with the man, and the youngman was to him as one of his sons.

12 And Micah filled the handof the Levite, and the young manwas his priest, and was in the houseof Micah.

13 And Micah said, Now Iknow by seeing that Jehovah willbe good to me, because there is tome the Levite for a priest.

CHAPTER 181 In those days there was no

king in Israel, and in those days thetribe of the Danites was searchingfor themselves an inheritance todwell in, because to that day theirinheritance had not fallen to themin the midst of the tribes of Israel.

2 And the children of Dansent of their family five men fromtheir borders, men, sons of re-sources, from Zorah and fromEshtaol, to walk in spying out theland, and to search it; and they saidto them, Walk, search the land; andthey came to Mount Ephraim, tothe house of Micah, and lodgedthere.

3 They were near the houseof Micah, and they recognized thevoice of the young man, the Levite,and they turned in there, and saidto him, Who caused you to comehere, and what do you do in thisplace, and what is to you here?

4 And he said to them, Thisand that Micah does with me, andhas hired me, and I am his priest.

5 And they said to him, Askcounsel, please, of God, that wemay know by seeing if our waywhich we walk shall prosper.

6 And the priest said to them,Walk in peace; your way where youwalk is in front of Jehovah.

7 And the five men walked,and came to Laish, and saw thepeople who were in the midst,dwelling, trusting, judged by the

An Ephraimite, Micah, makes images and obtains a Levite; the Danites expand

448

JUDGES 18Zidonians, at rest and trusting; andthere was none to reproach them aword in occupying them with re-straint; and they were far awayfrom the Zidonians, and a word wasnot to them with any man.

8 And they came to theirbrothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, andtheir brothers said to them, Whatare you doing?

9 And they said, Rise up, andwe will ascend up against them,because we have seen the land, andbehold, it is very good; and will youkeep silence? Do not be slothful towalk to go in to possess the land.

10 Going, you shall go to atrusting people, and to a land broadon both hands, because God hasgiven it into your hands, a placewhere there is no want of any wordthat is in the earth.

11 And some of the family ofthe Danites pulled up from there outof Zorah and out of Eshtaol, sixhundred men girded with imple-ments of war.

12 And they went up, andpitched in Kirjath Je’arim, in Judah;justly so they called that placeCamp of Dan to this day; behold,it is behind Kirjath-Je’arim.

13 And they crossed overthere to Mount Ephraim, and cameto the house of Micah.

14 And the five men an-swered, those who walked to spyout the land of Laish, and said totheir brothers, Did you know byseeing that there is in these housesan ephod, and family healing im-ages, and a graven image, and amolten image? And now you know

by seeing what you have to do.15 And they turned in there,

and came to the house of the youngman, the Levite, the house ofMicah, and inquired of him ofpeace.

16 And the six hundred mengirded with their implements of war,were stationed by the entrance ofthe gate, who were of the childrenof Dan.

17 And the five men went up,those who walked to spy out theland, they came in there, and tookthe graven image, and the ephod,and the family healing images, andthe molten image; and the priestwas stationed at the entrance of thegate, and the six hundred men whowere girded with implements ofwar.

18 And these came into thehouse of Micah, and took thegraven image, the ephod, and thefamily healing images, and the mol-ten image. And the priest said tothem, What are you doing?

19 And they said to him, Besilent; put your hand over yourmouth, and walk with us, and be tous a father and a priest; is it betterfor you to be a priest for the houseof one man, or for you to be a priestfor a tribe and a family in Israel?

20 And it was good to theheart of the priest, and he took theephod, and the family healing im-ages, and the graven image, andwent into the midst of the people.

21 And they faced about, andwalked, and put the little ones, andthe livestock, and the weighty valu-ables before their face.

The Danites take the images and the Levite from Micah

449

JUDGES 1922 They had widened the dis-

tance from the house of Micah, andthe men who were in the houseswhich were near to the house ofMicah had been called together,and overtook the children of Dan.

23 And they called to the chil-dren of Dan. And they turned abouttheir faces, and said to Micah,What is it to you that you have beencalled together?

24 And he said, You havetaken my gods which I made, andthe priest, and you have walked;and what is left to me! What is thisyou say to me, What is it to you?

25 And the children of Dansaid to him, Do not let your voicebe heard among us, lest we, menbitter of soul, impinge upon you,and you remove your soul with thesouls of your house.

26 And the children of Danwalked their way, and Micah sawthat they were stronger than he, andhe faced about, and turned backto his house.

27 And they took what Micahhad made, and the priest who wasto him, and came against Laish,against a people at rest, and trust-ing, and they struck them with themouth of the sword, and burnt thecity with fire.

28 And there was no one tosnatch them out, because it was farfrom Zidon, and there was no wordto them with any other humans; andit was in the valley that is by BethRechob. And they built a city, anddwelt in it,

29 And called the name of thecity Dan, after the name of Dan,their father, who was born to Is-

rael; however the name of the citywas Laish first.

30 And the children of Danraised up for themselves the gravenimage, and Jonathan, the son ofGershom, the son of Moses, he andhis sons were priests for the tribeof Dan until the day of the naked-ness of the land.

31 And they put for them-selves the graven image of Micah,which he had made, all the days thatthe house of God was in Shiloh.

CHAPTER 191 And it was in those days,

when there was no king in Israel,that there was a man, a Levite,lodging on the backside of MountEphraim, and he took to himself awife, a concubine, out of BethlehemJudah.

2 And his concubine com-mitted adultery against him, andwalked from him to the house ofher father to Bethlehem Judah, andwas there four new moons of days.

3 And her husband rose up,and walked after her, to speak toher heart, and to turn her back, hisservant with him and a pair of don-keys; and she brought him into thehouse of her father; and the fatherof the young woman saw him, andhe was glad to meet him.

4 And his father in law, thefather of the young woman, de-tained him, and he dwelt with himthree days; and they ate, and drank,and lodged there.

5 And it was on the fourthday, that they started early in thedawn, and he rose up to walk; and

The Danites take the images and the Levite from Micah; the story of a Levite

450

JUDGES 19the father of the young woman saidto his son in law, Refresh your heartwith a morsel of food, and after-ward walk on.

6 And they sat and ate, thetwo of them together, and drank,because the father of the youngwoman had said to the man, Yieldassent, please, and stay the night,and let your heart be well.

7 And the man rose up towalk, and his father in law urgedhim; and he turned back, and lodgedthere.

8 And he rose early in thedawn on the fifth day to walk on,and the father of the young womansaid, Refresh your heart, please.And they tarried until the day wasstretching away, and they ate, thetwo of them.

9 And the man rose up towalk on, he, and his concubine, andhis servant, and his father in law,the father of the young woman, saidto him, Behold, please, the day hasslackened toward dusk; please,stay the night; behold, the day isdeclining, stay the night here, andmake your heart well; and rise earlytomorrow for your way, and walkon to your tent.

10 And the man would notbreathe in agreement with him tostay the night, and he rose up andwalked on, and came as far as infront of Jebus, that is Jerusalem, anda team of donkeys bound with him,and his concubine with him.

11 And they were by Jebus,and the day was very treaded out;and the servant said to his master,Walk, please, and let us turn in into

this city of the Jebusites, and lodgein it.

12 And his master said to him,We will not turn aside here into thecity of a stranger that is not of thechildren of Israel; we will cross overas far as Gibeah.

13 And he said to his servant,Walk, and let us draw near to oneof these places to lodge in Gibeahor in Ramah.

14 And they crossed over andwalked, and the sun went downupon them by Gibeah, which is toBenjamin.

15 And they turned aside thereto go in to lodge in Gibeah, andwhen he went in, he sat down in awide avenue of the city; yet therewas no man who received them intohis house to lodge.

16 And behold, there came anold man from his work out of thefield at dusk, and the man was ofMount Ephraim, and he lodged inGibeah, but the men of the placewere Benjamites.

17 And he lifted up his eyes,and saw a traveling man in the wideavenue of the city, and the old mansaid, To where are you walking, andfrom where do you come?

18 And he said to him, We arecrossing over from Bethlehem Judahto the backside of Mount Ephraim;I am from there; and I am walkingto Bethlehem Judah, and I am nowwalking to the house of Jehovah,and no man receives me into thehouse.

19 And there is both strawand fodder for our donkeys; andthere is bread and wine also for me,and for your maidservant, and for

The story of a Levite and his concubine spending the night in Gibeah of Benjamin

451

JUDGES 20the young man who is with yourservants; there is no lack of anyword.

20 And the old man said,Peace to you; merely let all yourwants be upon me; only do notlodge in the wide avenue.

21 And he brought him into hishouse, and mixed feed to the don-keys; and they washed their feet,and ate, and drank.

22 They were making theirhearts well, and behold, the men ofthe city, men of sons of worthless-ness, surrounded the house, andpressed severely on the door, andsaid to the old man, the master ofthe house, saying, Bring out the manwho came into your house, that wemay know him.

23 And the man, the master ofthe house, went out to them, andsaid to them, No, my brothers,please, do not do evil, after that thisman has come into my house; donot do this foolishness.

24 Behold, please let me bringout my daughter, a virgin, and hisconcubine, and you look downupon them with harshness, and doto them what is good in your eyes,but do not this morally wicked wordto this man.

25 And the men would notbreathe in agreement with him tohear him attentively, and the manseized his concubine, and broughther out to them; and they knew her,and abused her all the night until thedawn; and in the ascending of thedawn they sent her away.

26 And the woman came atthe facing of the dawn, and fell atthe door of the house of the man,

there where her master was, untilthe light.

27 And her master rose in thedawn, and opened the doors of thehouse, and went out to walk on hisway; and behold, the woman, hisconcubine, had fallen at the doorof the house, and her hands on thethreshold.

28 And he said to her, Rise,and we walk, and none answered.And he took her on the donkey,and the man rose up, and walkedto his place.

29 And he came into hishouse, and took a knife, and seizedhis concubine, and dismemberedher with her bones, into twelve frag-ments, and sent her into all the bor-ders of Israel.

30 And it was so, all who sawit said, There was not, and therewas not seen like this from the daythe children of Israel came up outof the land of Egypt until this day;put yourselves on it; consult, andspeak.

CHAPTER 201 And all the children of Is-

rael went out, and the congrega-tion was gathered together as oneman from Dan even to Beer Shebaand the land of Gilead to Jehovahin Mizpeh.

2 And the chieftains of all thepeople, of all the tribes of Israel,stationed themselves in the assem-bly of the people of God, four hun-dred thousand footmen drawingsword.

3 And the children of Ben-jamin heard attentively that the chil-dren of Israel ascended to Mizpeh.

The men of Gibeah abuse the concubine to death; the Levite sends her body parts to all

452

JUDGES 20And the children of Israel said,Speak! How did this evil come tobe?

4 And the man answered, theLevite, the husband of the womanwho was brutally murdered, andsaid, I came into Gibeah that is toBenjamin, I and my concubine, tolodge.

5 And the lords of Gibeahrose against me, and surroundedthe house against me by night, andlikened to strike me fatally; and theylooked down upon my concubinewith harshness, and she is dead.

6 And I seized my concu-bine, and dismembered her, andsent her throughout all the field ofthe inheritance of Israel, becausethey have done an evil scheme andfoolishness in Israel.

7 Behold, you are all childrenof Israel; give here your word andcounsel.

8 And all the people rose asone man, saying, Not a man of usshall walk to his tent, and not a manof us will turn aside to his house.

9 And now this is the wordwhich we will do against Gibeah bylot;

10 And we shall take ten menof a hundred throughout all thetribes of Israel, and a hundred outof a thousand, and a thousand outof ten thousand, to take food forthe people, that they may do whenthey come to Gibeah of Benjamin,according to all the foolishness thatthey have done in Israel.

11 And all the men of Israelwere gathered to the city, associ-ated as one man.

12 And the tribes of Israel sentmen to all the tribe of Benjamin,saying, What evil is this which hascome to be among you?

13 And now give us the men,the children of worthlessness, whichare in Gibeah, and we will put themto death, and burn out evil from Is-rael. And the children of Benjaminwould not breathe in agreementwith them to attentively hear thevoice of their brothers, the childrenof Israel;

14 And the children of Ben-jamin gathered themselves togetherout of the cities to Gibeah, to goout to battle with the children ofIsrael.

15 And the children of Ben-jamin were visited at that timetwenty-six thousand men out of thecities who drew sword, separatefrom seven hundred chosen men ofthe inhabitants of Gibeah who werevisited.

16 Among all this people therewere seven hundred chosen menimpeded in the right hand; all ofthese could sling stones at a hair,and not miss.

17 And the men of Israel,separate from Benjamin, were vis-ited four hundred thousand menwho drew sword; each of these wasa man of war.

18 And the children of Israelrose, and went up to the house ofGod, and asked counsel of God,and said, Which of us shall go upat the opening of the battle againstthe children of Benjamin? And Je-hovah said, Judah at the opening.

All Israel attack Benjamin over the murder of the Levite’s wife

453

JUDGES 2019 And the children of Israel

rose in the dawn, and pitchedagainst Gibeah.

20 And the men of Israel wentout to battle against Benjamin, andthe men of Israel arranged them-selves to fight against them atGibeah.

21 And the children of Ben-jamin came out of Gibeah, and de-stroyed of Israel to the ground thatday twenty-two thousand men.

22 And the people, the menof Israel, seized strength, and ar-ranged their battle again in the placethere where they arranged them-selves the first day.

23 And the children of Israelwent up and wept before the faceof Jehovah until dusk, and askedcounsel of Jehovah, saying, Shall Icome near again to battle with thechildren of Benjamin my brother?And Jehovah said, Go up againsthim.

24 And the children of Israeldrew near to the children of Ben-jamin the second day.

25 And Benjamin went outencountering them out of Gibeahthe second day, and destroyed tothe ground of the children of Israelagain eighteen thousand men; allthese drew the sword.

26 And all the children of Is-rael, even all the people, went up,and came to the house of God, andwept, and sat there before the faceof Jehovah, and fasted that dayuntil the dusk, and caused to as-cend burnt offerings and peace of-ferings before the face of Jehovah.

27 And the children of Israelasked of Jehovah, and the ark ofthe covenant of God was there inthose days,

28 And Phinehas, the son ofEleazar, the son of Aaron, stoodbefore its face in those days- say-ing, Shall I yet again go out to battlewith the children of Benjamin, mybrother, or shall I cease? And Je-hovah said, Go up, because tomor-row I will give them into your hand.

29 And Israel put those lyingin ambush against Gibeah allaround.

30 And the children of Israelwent up to the children of Benjaminon the third day, and arrangedthemselves near Gibeah as strokeby stroke.

31 And the children of Ben-jamin went out encountering thepeople, and were drawn awayfrom the city; and they began tostrike the people, and pollute them,stroke by stroke, in the highways,of which one goes up to the houseof God and one to Gibeah in thefield, about thirty men of Israel.

32 And the children of Ben-jamin said, They are struck beforeour face as at first. And the chil-dren of Israel said, Let us flee, anddraw them from the city to the high-ways.

33 And all the men of Israelrose up out of their place, and ar-ranged themselves at Baal-Tamar;and the ambush of Israel gushedforth out of their places, out of thenaked plains of Gibeah.

All Israel attack Benjamin over the murder of the Levite’s wife

454

JUDGES 2034 And ten thousand chosen

men came opposite Gibeah out ofall Israel, and the battle was heavy,and they did not know by seeingthat evil was touching them.

35 And Jehovah struck Ben-jamin before the face of Israel, andthe children of Israel destroyed ofthe Benjamites that day twenty-fivethousand, one hundred men; allthese drew the sword.

36 And the children of Ben-jamin saw that they were struck,and the men of Israel gave place tothe Benjamites, because theytrusted in the ambush which theyhad put near Gibeah.

37 And the ambush hurried,and spread out toward Gibeah; andthe ambush drew out, and struckall the city with the mouth of thesword.

38 And there was an ap-pointed meeting to the men of Is-rael with the ambush, to make agreat going up of rising smoke outof the city.

39 And the men of Israelturned about in the battle, and Ben-jamin began to strike, polluting themen of Israel, about thirty men,because they said, Being struck,they are struck before our face asin the first battle.

40 And the rising column ofsmoke began to go up out of thecity, and the Benjamites faced aboutto the rear, and behold, the wholecity ascended up to the heavens.

41 And the men of Israelturned about, and the men of Ben-jamin trembled, because they sawthat evil had touched upon them.

42 And they faced about be-fore the face of the men of Israeltoward the way of the desert, andthe battle overtook them; and thosewho were from the cities were de-stroying them in their midst.

43 They enclosed theBenjamites, and ran after them, andtrod them down with ease as far asin front of Gibeah at the rising ofthe sun.

44 And eighteen thousandmen of Benjamin fell; all these weremen of resources.

45 And they faced about andfled to the desert to the lofty rockof Rimmon, and they gleaned ofthem in the highways five thousandmen; and reached after them as faras Gidom, and struck fatally twothousand men of them.

46 And all who fell that day ofBenjamin were twenty-five thou-sand men who drew the sword; allthese men of resources.

47 And six hundred men facedabout, and fled to the desert to thelofty rock, Rimmon, and sat downin the lofty rock, Rimmon, fourmonths.

48 And the men of Israelturned back again upon the childrenof Benjamin, and smote them withthe mouth of the sword, as well asthe whole of every city, as well asthe animals, and all that existed; alsoall the cities that were found theysent up by fire.

All Israel finally slaughter all of Benjamin except 600 men

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JUDGES 21CHAPTER 21

1 And the men of Israel hadsworn in Mizpeh, saying, Not a manof us shall give his daughter to Ben-jamin for a wife.

2 And the people came tothe house of God, and sat there untildusk before the face of God, andlifted up their voices, and wept agreat weeping;

3 And said, Oh Jehovah Godof Israel, why is this come to be inIsrael, to visit today from Israel onetribe?

4 And it was on the next day,that the people loaded up early, andbuilt there an altar, and caused burntofferings and peace offerings toascend.

5 And the children of Israelsaid, Who among all the tribes ofIsrael did not come up with thecongregation to Jehovah? Becausethere was a great oath concerninghim who did not come up to Jeho-vah to Mizpeh, saying, Dying, heshall die.

6 And the children of Israelcomforted themselves for Ben-jamin, their brother, and said, Thereis one branch cut down from Israelthis day.

7 What shall we do for wivesfor them who remain? And we havesworn by Jehovah that we will notgive them of our daughters forwives?

8 And they said, What oneof the tribes of Israel who did notcome up to Mizpeh to Jehovah?And behold, not a man came to thecamp from Jabesh Gilead to theassembly.

9 And the people were vis-ited, and behold, not a man wasthere of the inhabitants of JabeshGilead.

10 And the congregation sentthere twelve thousand men, sons ofresources, and commanded them,saying, Walk and strike the inhab-itants of Jabesh Gilead with themouth of the sword, with thewomen and the children.

11 And this is the word whichyou shall do; you shall devote todestruction every male, and everywoman who has known a man bybeing in bed with a male.

12 And there was among theinhabitants of Jabesh Gilead fourhundred young women, virgins,who had not known a man by be-ing in bed with a male; and theybrought them to the camp at Shiloh,which is in the land of Canaan.

13 And the whole congrega-tion sent and spoke to the childrenof Benjamin who were in the loftyrock, Rimmon, and to call outpeace to them.

14 And Benjamin turned backat that time, and they gave themwives which they had saved aliveof the women of Jabesh Gilead;and yet so they were not enoughfor them.

15 And the people comfortedthemselves for Benjamin, becauseJehovah had made a break in thetribes of Israel.

16 And the elders of the as-sembly said, What shall we do forwives for them who remain, be-cause the women are desolated outof Benjamin?

How the 600 men left of Benjamin obtained wives and preserved the tribe

456

JUDGES 2117 And they said, There must

be a possession for the survivorsof Benjamin, so that a tribe is notrubbed out of Israel.

18 And we are not able to givethem wives of our daughters, be-cause the children of Israel havesworn, saying, Cursed is he whogives a wife to Benjamin.

19 And they said, Behold,there is a festival to Jehovah fromdays to days in Shiloh which is onthe north side of Bethel, toward therising of the sun by the highwaywhich goes up from Bethel toShechem, and on the south ofLebonah.

20 And they commanded thechildren of Benjamin, saying, Walkand lie in wait in the vineyards;

21 And see, and behold, whenthe daughters of Shiloh come outto twist around in dances, then youcome out of the vineyards, and ev-ery man catch his wife of the daugh-ters of Shiloh, and walk to the landof Benjamin.

22 And it shall be, when theirfathers, or their brothers come tous to contend, that we will say tothem, Stoop down in grace to them,because we did not take for eachman his wife in war; because if youdid not give to them at this time youwould be guilty.

23 And the children of Ben-jamin did so, and lifted wives, ac-cording to their number, of themwho twisted around, whom theyplucked off, and they walked, andreturned to their inheritance, andbuilt the cities, and dwelt in them.

24 And the children of Israelwalked from there at that time, ev-ery man to his tribe, and to his fam-ily, and every man went out fromthere to his inheritance.

25 In those days there was noking in Israel; every man did rightin his eyes.

How the 600 men left of Benjamin obtained wives and preserved the tribe