Book of Jude

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2013, all rights reserved.

Here is the Book of Jude, brother of James, exhorting the believers in Jesus.  The Book of Jude is from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version, copyright 2011.

Notice especially, verse 20, where Jude says we Christians can "build up ourselves on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost."

And why would we need to strengthen our faith?  Because you get things from God by using your faith.

What did Jesus say to the woman who had had the continuous bleeding?  He said, "Your faith has healed you."  If you need anything from God, you ask and believe (Mark 11:24), and then you receive.  But if you don't believe, you don't receive.

If you personally are doing just fine, perhaps one of your family members needs something from God.

Of course, you can't pray in the Holy Ghost (in unknown tongues) until you've been baptized with the Holy Ghost, and it's Jesus who provides that.

So, as a Christian, ask Jesus to baptize you with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues (languages).  When you ask, believe that you receive (Mark 11:24).

How will you know that you've received the Baptism with the Holy Ghost?  You'll pray in a language you never learned (unknown tongues).  As you pray in the unknown tongue, you won’t know what you’re saying, but God understands all languages.

www.FredHoehnMinistries.com

___Jude

1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called,

2 Mercy to you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you about the common salvation, it was necessary for me to write to you, and exhort you to earnestly argue for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

4 For there are certain men crept in secretly, who of old were ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lust, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 I will therefore remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn't believe.

6 And the angels who didn't keep their first condition, but left their own dwelling place, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day.

7 Like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them similarly, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set out as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."

10 But these speak evil about the things that they don't know, but what they know naturally, as brute animals, in those things they corrupt themselves.

11 Woe to them!  For they've gone the way of Cain, and have run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

12 These are spots in your feasts of love, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, they are clouds without water, carried around by winds, trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up roots and all,

13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these, saying, "See, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints,

15 To execute judgment on all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds that they've committed while ignoring God, and of all their hard speeches that ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaks great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

17 But, beloved, remember the words that were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

18 How they told you there would be mockers in the last time, who'd walk after their own ungodly lusts.

19 These are those who separate themselves, sensual, not having the Spirit.

20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ until eternal life.

22 And on some have compassion, making a difference,

23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

24 Now to him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with great joy,

25 To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and always.  Amen.

___Judges chapter 1

1 Now after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked the Lord, "Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?"

2 And the Lord said, "Judah shall go up, see, I've delivered the land into his hand."

3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into my lot, so that we can fight against the Canaanites, and I will also go with you into your lot."  So Simeon went with him.

4 And Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they killed ten thousand men of them in Bezek.

5 And they found Adonibezek in Bezek, and they fought against him, and they killed the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

6 But Adonibezek fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

7 And Adonibezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their food under my table, God has repaid me like I have done."  And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that lived in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.

10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that lived in Hebron, (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba,) and they killed Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

11 And from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir, and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher,

12 And Caleb said, "He that smites Kirjathsepher and takes it, I will give Achsah my daughter to him to be his wife."

13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

14 And when she came to him, she moved him to ask from her father a field, and she dismounted from her animal, and Caleb said to her, "What do you want?"

15 And she said to him, "Give me a blessing, for you've given me a south land, give me also springs of water."  And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lowermost springs.

16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, that lies in the south of Arad, and they went and lived among the people.

17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they killed the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and completely destroyed it.  And the name of the city was called Hormah.

18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast of it, and Askelon with the coast of it, and Ekron with the coast of it.

19 And the Lord was with Judah, and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain, but couldn't drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, like Moses said, and he expelled from there the three sons of Anak.

21 And the children of Benjamin didn't drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites live with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this day.

22 And the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them.

23 And the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel.  (Now previously the name of the city had been Luz.)

24 And the spies saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, "Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you mercy."

25 And when he showed them the entrance into the city, they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.

26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name of it Luz, which is the name of it until this day.

27 Nor did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and its towns, nor Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, but the Canaanites would live in that land.

28 And when Israel was strong, they put the Canaanites to tribute, and didn't completely drive them out.

29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that lived in Gezer, but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

30 Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol, but the Canaanites lived among them, and became tributaries.

31 Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob,

32 But the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they didn't drive them out.

33 Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath, but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries to them.

34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain, for they wouldn't allow them to come down to the valley,

35 But the Amorites would live in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.

36 And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

___Judges chapter 2

1 And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, "I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land that I promised to your fathers, and I said, I'll never break my covenant with you.

2 And you shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land, you shall throw down their altars, but you haven't obeyed my voice, why have you done this?

3 So I also said, I won't drive them out from before you, but they'll be like thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."

4 And when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

5 And they called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to the Lord.

6 And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel all went to their inheritances to possess the land.

7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel.

8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred ten years old.

9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

10 And also all of that generation were gathered to their fathers, and another generation arose after them that didn't know the Lord, nor the works that he had done for Israel.

11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim,

12 And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the Lord to anger.

13 And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

14 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them, and they were greatly distressed.

16 But the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hand of those who spoiled them.

17 And yet they wouldn't listen to their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves to them, they turned quickly out of the way that their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord, but they didn't do it.

18 And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge, for the Lord had some regret because of their groanings because of those who oppressed them and vexed them.

19 And when the judge was dead, they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them, they didn't stop from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

20 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he said, "Because these people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers, and haven't listened to my voice,

21 I also, from now on, won't drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died,

22 So that through them I can test Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it, like their fathers kept it, or not.

23 Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily, nor did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

___Judges chapter 3

1 Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan,

2 Only so that the generations of the children of Israel would know, to teach them war, at the least those who previously knew nothing about it,

3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baalhermon to the entrance of Hamath.

4 And they were to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of the Lord, that he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

5 And the children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites,

6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.

9 And when the children of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

10 And the Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war, and the Lord delivered Chushanrishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.

11 And the land had rest forty years.  And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

12 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

13 And he gathered to himself the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and struck Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.

14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 But when the children of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a lefthanded man, and by him the children of Israel sent a present to Eglon the king of Moab.

16 But Ehud made himself a dagger that had two edges, eighteen inches long, and he positioned it under his clothes on his right thigh.

17 And he brought the present to Eglon king of Moab, and Eglon was a very fat man.

18 And when he had made an end of offering the present, he sent away the people that carried the present.

19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret errand to you, O king," who said, "Keep silence."  And all that stood by him went out from him.

20 And Ehud came to him, and he was sitting in a summer parlor that he had for himself alone.  And Ehud said, "I have a message from God to you."  And he got up out of his seat.

21 And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly,

22 And also the handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed on the blade, so that he couldn't pull the dagger out of his belly, and the dirt came out.

23 Then Ehud went out through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor on him, and locked them.

24 When he had gone out, his servants came, and when they saw that, see, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, "Surely he covers his feet in his summer room."

25 And they tarried until they were ashamed, and see, he didn't open the doors of the parlor, therefore they took a key, and opened them, and see, their lord had fallen down dead on the ground.

26 And Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirath.

27 And when he had come, he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountain, and he went before them.

28 And he said to them, "Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.  And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and wouldn't allow anyone to pass over.

29 And they killed of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valor, and not a man escaped.

30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel.  And the land had rest eighty years.

31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he also gave deliverance to Israel.

___Judges chapter 4

1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud was dead.

2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that ruled in Hazor, the captain of whose host was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

3 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.

4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at that time.

5 And she lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said to him, "Hasn't the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

7 And I will bring to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into your hand."

8 And Barak said to her, "If you'll go with me, then I'll go, but if you won't go with me, then I won't go."

9 And she said, "I will surely go with you, but the journey that you take won't be for your honor, for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman."  And Deborah got up, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet, and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab, the father in law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent at the plain of Zaanaim that is by Kedesh.

12 And they showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.

13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles to the river of Kishon.

14 And Deborah said to Barak, "Get up, for this is the day that the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand, hasn't the Lord gone out before you?"  So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

15 And the Lord struck Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak, so that Sisera got down off his chariot, and ran away on foot.

16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, to Harosheth of the Gentiles, and all the host of Sisera fell on the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left.

17 But Sisera ran away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn in, my lord, turn in to me, don't be afraid."  And when he had turned in to her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.

19 And he said to her, "Give me, please, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty."  And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

20 Again he said to her, "Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and asks you, "Is there any man here?"  That you shall say, "No."

21 Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary.  So he died.

22 And see, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man you're looking for."  And when he came into her tent, see, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

___Judges chapter 5

1 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

2 "Praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

3 Hear, O you kings, give ear, O you princes, I, even I, will sing to the Lord, I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

4 Lord, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

5 The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.

6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.

7 The inhabitants of the villages stopped, they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

8 They chose new gods, then there was war in the gates, was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

9 My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people.  Bless the Lord.

10 Speak, you that ride on white asses, you that sit in judgment, and walk on the road.

11 Those who are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, they shall tell the righteous acts of the Lord there, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel, then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates.

12 Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, sing a song, arise, Barak, and lead your captivity captive, you son of Abinoam.

13 Then he made him that remained have dominion over the nobles among the people, the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty.

14 Out of Ephraim, there was a root of them against Amalek, after you, Benjamin, among your people, out of Machir governors came down, and out of Zebulun those who handle the pen of the writer.

15 And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah, even Issachar, and also Barak, he was sent on foot into the valley.  For the divisions of Reuben, there were great thoughts of heart.

16 Why did you live among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks?  For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

17 Gilead lived beyond Jordan, and why did Dan remain in ships?  Asher continued on the sea shore, and lived in his holes.

18 Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that endangered their lives to the death in the high places of the field.

19 The kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, they took no gain of money.

20 They fought from heaven, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

21 The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon.  O my soul, you've trodden down strength.

22 Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones.

23 Curse Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse bitterly the inhabitants of it, because they didn't come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

24 Blessed above women shall be Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, she shall be blessed above women in the tent.

25 He asked water, and she gave him milk, she brought out butter in a lordly dish.

26 She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer, and she struck Sisera with the hammer, she struck off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

27 At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down, at her feet he bowed, he fell, where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

28 The mother of Sisera looked out of a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming?  Why are the wheels of his chariots taking so long?

29 Her wise ladies answered her, yes, she returned answer to herself,

30 Haven't they sped?  Haven't they divided the prey, to every man a damsel or two, to Sisera a prey of divers colors, a prey of divers colors of needlework, of divers colors of needlework on both sides, appropriate for the necks of those who take the spoil?

31 So let all your enemies perish, O Lord, but let those who love him be like the sun when it goes out in his might."  And the land had rest forty years.

___Judges chapter 6

1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made themselves the dens that are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.

3 And so it was, that when Israel had planted, the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, they came up against them,

4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, 'til you come to Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came like grasshoppers for multitude, for both they and their camels were without number, and they entered into the land to destroy it.

6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried to the Lord.

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

8 The Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage,

9 And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land,

10 And I said to you, I am the Lord your God, don't be afraid of the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live, but you haven't obeyed my voice."

11 And an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak that was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite, and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor."

13 And Gideon said to him, "Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us?  And where are all his miracles that our fathers told us about, saying, Didn't the Lord bring us up from Egypt?  But now the Lord has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."

14 And the Lord looked at him, and said, "Go in this your might, and you'll save Israel from the hand of the Midianites, haven't I sent you?"

15 And he said to him, "Oh my Lord, how shall I save Israel?  See, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

16 And the Lord said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as though they were one man."

17 And he said to him, "If now I have found grace in your sight, then show me a sign that you're talking with me.

18 Don't go from here, please, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you."  And he said, "I'll wait 'til you return."

19 And Gideon went in, and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour, he put the flesh in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

20 And the angel of God said to him, "Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth."  And he did so.

21 Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and fire rose up out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes.  Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord God!  Because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face."

23 And the Lord said to him, "Peace be to you, don't be afraid, you won't die."

24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it Jehovahshalom, to this day, it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 And the same night, the Lord said to him, "Take your father's young bullock, the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the grove that is by it,

26 And build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove that you'll cut down."

27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said to him, and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he couldn't do it during the day, so he did it at night.

28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, see, the altar of Baal had been thrown down, and the grove that was by it had been cut down, and the second bullock had been offered on the altar that had been built.

29 And they said to each other, "Who has done this?"  And when they inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this."

30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son to die, because he has thrown down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the grove that was by it."

31 And Joash said to all that stood against him, "Will you plead for Baal?  Will you save him?  He that will plead for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning, if he's a god, let him plead for himself, because someone has thrown down his altar."

32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal plead against him, because he has thrown down his altar."

33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

34 But the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and Abiezer was gathered after him.

35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also was gathered after him, and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

36 And Gideon said to God, "If you'll save Israel by my hand, like you've said,

37 See, I'll put a fleece of wool on the ground, and if the dew is on the fleece only, and it's dry on all the earth beside, then I'll know that you'll save Israel by my hand, as you've said."

38 And it was so, for he rose up early on the next day, and pushed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

39 And Gideon said to God, "Don't let your anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once, let me prove, please, just this once with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew."

40 And God did so that night, for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

___Judges chapter 7

1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod, so that the army of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

2 And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people that are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, so Israel doesn't vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me.

3 Now therefore go and proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead.  And twenty two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

4 And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people are still too many, bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and it shall be, that about whom I say to you, This one shall go with you, the same shall go with you, and about whomever I say to you, This one shall not go with you, the same shall not go."

5 So he brought down the people to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, "Everyone that laps from of the water with his tongue, like a dog laps, him shall you set by himself, also everyone that bows down on his knees to drink."

6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water.

7 And the Lord said to Gideon, "I'll save you by the three hundred men that lapped, and deliver the Midianites into your hand, and let all the other people go every man to his place."

8 So the people took food in their hand, and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, and kept those three hundred men, and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

9 And the same night, the Lord said to him, "Arise, get down to the host, for I've delivered it into your hand.

10 But if you're afraid to go down, go with Phurah your servant down to the host,

11 And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down to the host.  Then he went down with Phurah his servant to the outside of the armed men that were in the host.

12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude, and their camels were uncountable, like the sand by the sea side for multitude.

13 And when Gideon had come, see, there was a man that told a dream to his companion, and said, "See, I dreamed a dream, and see, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came to a tent, and struck it so that it fell, and overturned it, so that the tent lay along."

14 And his fellow answered and said, "This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel, for God has delivered Midian into his hand, and all the host."

15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation of it, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the Lord has delivered into your hand the host of Midian."

16 And he divided the three hundred men into three groups, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps inside the pitchers.

17 And he said to them, "Look at me, and do likewise, and see, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that you shall do like I do."

18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then you blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon."

19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, and they had just recently set the watch, and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.

20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with, and they shouted, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon."

21 And every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran, and shouted, and fled.

22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow soldier, throughout all the host, and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, to Tabbath.

23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.

24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all Mount Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters to Bethbarah and Jordan."  Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters to Bethbarah and Jordan.

25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb on the rock Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of Jordan.

___Judges chapter 8

1 And the men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you treated us this way, that you didn't call us, when you went to fight with the Midianites?"  And they chided with him sharply.

2 And he said to them, "What have I done now in comparison to you?  Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

3 God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and what was I able to do compared to you?"  Then their anger was abated toward him, after he said that.

4 And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.

5 And he said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people that follow me, for they're faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian."

6 And the princes of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, so that we should give bread to your army?"

7 And Gideon said, "Therefore when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.

8 And he went up from there to Penuel, and spoke to them likewise, and the men of Penuel answered him like the men of Succoth had answered him.

9 And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, "When I come back in peace, I will break down this tower."

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the armies of the children of the east, for one hundred twenty thousand men that drew sword fell.

11 And Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the army, for the army was secure.

12 And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and ruined all the army.

13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up,

14 And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him, and he described to him the princes of Succoth, and the elders of it, seventy seven men.

15 And he came to the men of Succoth, and said, "Look at Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom you scolded me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, so that we should give bread to your men that are weary?"

16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.

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

18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were those whom you killed at Tabor?"  And they answered, "Like you are, so were they, each one looked like the children of a king."

19 And he said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother, as the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I wouldn't kill you."

20 And he said to Jether his firstborn, "Get up, and kill them."  But the youth didn't draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.

21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "You rise, and fall on us, for as the man is, so is his strength."  And Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks.

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "You rule over us, both you, and your son, and your son's son also, for you've given us deliverance from the hand of Midian.

23 And Gideon said to them, "I won't rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you, the Lord shall rule over you."

24 And Gideon said to them, "I would desire a request of you, that you would each give me the earrings of his prey."  (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

25 And they answered, "We will willingly give them."  And they spread a garment, and every man threw in it the earrings of his prey.

26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, beside ornaments, and collars, and purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were around their camels' necks.

27 And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel went there a whoring after it, which thing became a trap to Gideon, and to his house.

28 Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more.  And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.

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

30 And Gideon had fathered seventy sons from his body, for he had many wives.

31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.

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

33 And as soon as Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.

34 And the children of Israel didn't remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side,

35 Nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness that he had shown to Israel.

___Judges chapter 9

1 And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, and talked with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

2 "Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Which is better for you, that all the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rules over you?  Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh."

3 And his mother's brothers spoke about him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, "He is our brother."

4 And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light persons, who followed him.

5 And he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone, but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself.

6 And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

7 And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and shouted, and said to them, "Listen to me, you men of Shechem, so that God will listen to you.

8 The trees went out one time to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, Rule over us.

9 But the olive tree said to them, Shall leave my fatness, with which they honor God and man by me, and go to be promoted over the trees?

10 And the trees said to the fig tree, Come and rule over us.

11 But the fig tree said to them, Shall I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?

12 Then the trees said to the vine, Come and rule over us.

13 And the vine said to them, Should I leave my wine, that cheers God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, Come and rule over us.

15 And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow, and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

16 Now therefore, if you've done truly and sincerely, by making Abimelech king, and if you've dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands,

17 (For my father fought for you, and ventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian,

18 And you've risen up against my father's house this day, and have killed his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother,)

19 If then you've dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you,

20 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo, and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech."

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

22 When Abimelech had ruled three years over Israel,

23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech,

24 So that the cruelty done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal would come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who aided him in the killing of his brothers.

25 And the men of Shechem set ambushers for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them, and it was told to Abimelech.

26 And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers, and went over to Shechem, and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him.

27 And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

28 And Gaal the son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him?  Isn't he the son of Jerubbaal?  And Zebul his officer?  Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, for why should we serve him?

29 And would to God this people were under my hand!  Then I would remove Abimelech."  And he said to Abimelech, "Increase your army, and come out."

30 And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.

31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech privately, saying, "See, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem, and see, they fortify the city against you.

32 Now therefore get up at night, you and the people that are with you, and lie in wait in the field,

33 And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early, and attack the city, and, see, when he and the people that are with him come out against you, then you can do to them as you shall find occasion."

34 And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, at night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies.

35 And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood at the entering of the gate of the city, and Abimelech rose up, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait.

36 And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, "See, people come down from the top of the mountains."  And Zebul said to him, "You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men."

37 And Gaal spoke again and said, "See people come down by the middle of the land, and another company comes along by the plain of Meonenim."

38 Then Zebul said to him, "Where now is your mouth, with which you said, "Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?  Isn't this the people that you've despised?"  Go out, please, and fight with them."

39 And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

40 And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, up to the entering of the gate.

41 And Abimelech lived at Arumah, and Zebul kicked out Gaal and his brothers, so that they couldn't live in Shechem.

42 And it occurred on the next day, that the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech.

43 And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field, and looked, and see, the people had come out of the city, and he rose up against them, and struck them.

44 And Abimelech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city, and the two other companies ran to the people that were in the fields, and killed them.

45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and he took the city, and killed the people that were in it, and beat down the city, and sprinkled it with salt.

46 And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into a section of the house of the god Berith.

47 And Abimelech was told, that all the men of the tower of Shechem had gathered together.

48 And Abimelech got himself up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him, and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said to the people that were with him, "What you've seen me do, make haste, and do as I've done."

49 And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and laid them at the fortress, and set it on fire on them, so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.

51 But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and women fled there, and all the citizens, and shut it on themselves, and got up to the top of the tower.

52 And Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and went hard to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

53 And a certain woman threw a piece of a millstone on Abimelech's head, and broke his skull.

54 Then he called hastily to the young man his armor carrier, and said to him, "Draw your sword, and kill me, so that men don't say about me, A woman killed him.  And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each man departed to his place.

56 Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, that he did to his father, in killing his seventy brothers,

57 And God rendered on their heads all the evil of the men of Shechem, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.

___Judges chapter 10

1 And after Abimelech, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar arose to defend Israel, and he lived in Shamir in Mount Ephraim.

2 And he judged Israel twenty three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.

3 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty two years.

4 And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities that are called Havothjair, until this day, that are in the land of Gilead.

5 And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

6 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and didn't serve him.

7 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.

8 And that year, they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel, eighteen years all the children of Israel that were on the other side of Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

9 Also the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was very distressed.

10 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord, saying, "We have sinned against you, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim."

11 And the Lord said to the children of Israel, "Didn't I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?

12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you, and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.

13 Yet you've forsaken me, and served other gods, so I will deliver you no more.

14 Go and cry to the gods that you've chosen, let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation."

15 And the children of Israel said to the Lord, "We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to you, deliver us only, please, this day."

16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord, and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

17 Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead.  And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped at Mizpeh.

18 And the people and princes of Gilead said to each other, "What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon?  He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

___Judges chapter 11

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead fathered Jephthah.

2 And Gilead's wife bore him sons, and his wife's sons grew up, and they threw out Jephthah, and said to him, "You shall not inherit in our father's house, for you are the son of a strange woman."

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

4 And in process of time, the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah out of the land of Tob,

6 And they said to Jephthah, "Come, and be our captain, so that we can fight with the children of Ammon."

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

8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Therefore we turn again to you now, so that you'll go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them before me, shall I be your head?"

10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The Lord be witness between us, if we don't so according to your words."

11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them, and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh.

12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, "What do you have to do with me, that you've come against me to fight in my land?"

13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon to Jabbok, and to Jordan, now therefore restore those lands again peaceably."

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

15 And said to him, "Thus says Jephthah, Israel didn't take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon,

16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness to the Red sea, and came to Kadesh,

17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Please let me pass through your land, but the king of Edom would not listen to it.  And similarly, they sent to the king of Moab, but he wouldn't give permission, and Israel lived in Kadesh.

18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and circled the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but didn't go inside the border of Moab, for Arnon was the border of Moab.

19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, Please let us pass through your land into my place.

20 But Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his coast, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

21 And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them, so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon to Jabbok, and from the wilderness to Jordan.

23 So now the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess it?

24 Won't you possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess?  So whomever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, that's what we'll possess.

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

26 While Israel lived in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years?  Why didn't you therefore recover them within that time?

27 So, I haven't sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me, the Lord the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon."

28 But  the king of the children of Ammon didn't listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent him.

29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.

30 And Jephthah vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, "If you shall without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands,

31 Then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

32 So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands.

33 And he struck them from Aroer, 'til you come to Minnith, twenty cities, and to the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter.  Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house, and see, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances, and she was his only child, beside her he had no other son or daughter.

35 And when he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter!  You've brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me, for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can't go back."

36 And she said to him, "My father, if you've opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what you've said, since the Lord has taken vengeance for you against your enemies, against the children of Ammon."

37 And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me, let me alone two months, so I can go up and down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my friends."

38 And he said, "Go."  And he sent her away for two months, and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had vowed, and she knew no man.  And it was a custom in Israel,

40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

___Judges chapter 12

1 And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said to Jephthah, "Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn't call us to go with you?  We will burn your house on top of you with fire."

2 And Jephthah said to them, "I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon, and when I called you, you didn't deliver me out of their hands.

3 And when I saw that you didn't deliver me , I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand, why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me?"

4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim, and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, "You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites."

5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites, and it was so, that when those Ephraimites who had escaped said, "Let me go over, that the men of Gilead said to him, Art you an Ephraimite?"  If he said, "No,"

6 Then said they to him, "Say now Shibboleth, and he said Sibboleth," for he couldn't frame to pronounce it right.  Then they took him, and killed him at the passages of Jordan, and forty two thousand of the Ephraimites fell at that time.

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

8 And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

9 And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he sent out, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons.  And he judged Israel seven years.

10 Then Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem.

11 And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years.

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

13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel.

14 And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on seventy ass colts, and he judged Israel eight years.

15 And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mountain of the Amalekites.

___Judges chapter 13

1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, and didn't bare any children.

3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, "See now, you're barren, and don't bear, but you'll conceive, and bear a son.

4 Now therefore beware, please, and don't drink wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing,

5 For see, you'll conceive, and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."

6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his facial expression was like the facial expression of an angel of God, very terrible, but I didn't ask him where he was from, nor did he tell me his name,

7 But he said to me, "See, you'll conceive, and bear a son, and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death."

8 Then Manoah intreated the Lord, and said, "O my Lord, let the man of God that you sent come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born."

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

10 And the woman hurried and ran, and showed her husband, and said to him, "See, the man has appeared to me, that came to me the other day."

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

12 And Manoah said, "Now let your words happen.  How shall we order the child, and how shall we do to him?"

13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her beware.

14 She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, nor let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing, all that I commanded her let her observe."

15 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Please let us detain you, until we prepare a kid for you."

16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I won't eat of your bread, and if you want to offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord."  For Manoah didn't know that he was an angel of the Lord.

17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "What is your name, so that when your sayings occur we can honor you?"

18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name, since it is secret?"

19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it on a rock to the Lord, and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife watched.

20 For when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.  And Manoah and his wife looked at it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

21 But the angel of the Lord didn't appear anymore to Manoah and to his wife.  Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God."

23 But his wife said to him, "If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a meat offering from our hands, nor would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

24 And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson, and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

___Judges chapter 14

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

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

3 Then his father and his mother said to him, "Isn't there a woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?"  And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well."

4 But his father and his mother didn't know that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

5 Then Samson went down to Timnath, and his father and his mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnath, and see, a young lion roared against him.

6 And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and he tore him like he would have torn a young goat, and he had nothing in his hand, but he didn't tell his father or his mother what he had done.

7 And he went down, and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.

8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion, and see, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.

9 And he took some of it in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they ate, but he didn't tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.

10 So his father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, since that's what the young men used to do.

11 And when they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

12 And Samson said to them, "I will now tell you a riddle, if you can tell me the right answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I'll give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments,

13 But if you can't explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments."  And they said to him, "Tell us your riddle, so we can hear it."

14 And he said to them, "Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came sweetness."  And they couldn't in three days expain the riddle.

15 And on the seventh day, they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband, so he will explain to us the riddle, so we don't burn you and your father's house with fire, have you called us to take what we have?  Is it not so?"

16 And Samson's wife cried before him, and said, "You hate me, and don't love me, you've told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven't told it to me."  And he said to her, "See, I haven't told it to my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it to you?"

17 And she cried before him the seven days, while their feast lasted, and on the seventh day, he told her, because she lay severly on him, and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey?  And what is stronger than a lion?"  And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have found out my riddle."

19 And the Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and killed thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments to those who explained the riddle.  And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.
20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion, who used to be his friend.

___Judges chapter 15

1 But a while afterward, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a kid, and he said, "I will go in to my wife into the bedroom."  But her father wouldn't allow him to go in.

2 And her father said, "I truly thought that you completely hated her, therefore I gave her to your companion, isn't her younger sister more attractive than her?  Please take her, instead of the other."

3 And Samson said concerning them, "Now I shall be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure."

4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the middle between two tails.

5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

6 Then the Philistines said, "Who did this?"  And they answered, "Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion."  And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

7 And Samson said to them, "Though you've done this, yet I will be avenged against you, and after that I will stop."

8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter, and he went down and lived on the top of the rock Etam.

9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

10 And the men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?"  And they answered, "We've come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us."

11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, "Don't you know that the Philistines are rulers over us?  What is this that you've done to us?"  And he said to them, "Like they did to me, so I've done to them."

12 And they said to him, "We've come down to bind you, so we can deliver you into the hand of the Philistines."  And Samson said to them, "Swear to me, that you won't fall on me yourselves."

13 And they said to him, saying, "No, but we will bind you tightly, and deliver you into their hand, but surely we won't kill you."  And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

14 And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and the cords that were on his arms became like flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.

15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put out his hand, and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.

16 And Samson said, "With the jawbone of an ass, heaps on heaps, with the jaw of an ass I've killed a thousand men."

17 And when he had stopped speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.

18 And he was very thirsty, and called on the Lord, and said, "You've given this great deliverance into the hand of your servant, and now shall I die from thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"

19 But God split a hollow place that was in the jaw, and water came water from there, and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived, so he called the name of it Enhakkore, which is in Lehi until this day.

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

___Judges chapter 16

1 Then Samson went to Gaza, and saw a prostitute there, and had sex with her.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, "Samson has come here."  And they surrounded him, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, "In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him."

3 And Samson lay 'til midnight, and got up at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.

4 And afterward, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, "Entice him, and find out the source of his great strength, and how we can prevail against him, so we can bind him to afflict him, and we will give you every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

6 And Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me, please, what the source of your great strength is, and how you can be bound to afflict you.

7 And Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then I'll be weak, and be like another man."

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs that had'n't been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now there were men lying in wait, staying with her in the room.  And she said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson."  And he broke the withs, like a thread of tow is broken when it touches the fire.  So his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said to Samson, "See, you have mocked me, and told me lies, now tell me, please, how you can be bound."

11 And he said to her, "If they bind me tightly with new ropes that never were occupied, then I'll be weak, and be like another man."

12 Therefore, Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson."  And there were liers in wait staying in the room.  And he broke them off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you've mocked me, and told me lies, tell me how you can be bound."  And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web."

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson."  And he awoke out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

15 And she said to him, "How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me?  You've mocked me these three times, and haven't told me the source of your great strength."

16 And when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed to death,

17 He told her all his heart, and said to her, "A razor hasn't come on my head, for I've been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb, if I'm shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I'll become weak, and be like any other man."

18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up this once, for he's shown me all his heart."  Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought money in their hand.

19 And she made him sleep on her knees, and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head, and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

20 And she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson."  And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, "I'll go out like at other times before, and shake myself."  And he didn't know that the Lord had departed from him.

21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with shackles of brass, and he ground in the prison house.

22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after he'd been shaved.

23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, "Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand."

24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who killed many of us."

25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, "Call for Samson, so he can make sport for us."  And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport, and they set him between the pillars.

26 And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, "Allow me to feel the pillars that support the house, so I can lean on them."

27 Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there, and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, that watched while Samson made sport.

28 And Samson called to the Lord, and said, "O Lord God, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, O God, so I can at once be avenged aginst the Philistines for my two eyes."

29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house stood, and on which it was supported, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

30 And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines."  And he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people that were in it.  So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those that he killed in his life.

31 Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying place of Manoah his father.  And he judged Israel twenty years.

___Judges chapter 17

1 And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

2 And he said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, about which you cursed, and spoke of also in my ears, see, the silver is with me, I took it."  And his mother said, "Blessed be you by the Lord, my son."

3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, "I had wholly dedicated the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image and an image cast in the foundry, now therefore I will restore it to you."

4 Yet he restored the money to his mother, and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the foundry man, who made from it an engraved image and a foundry cast image, and they were in the house of Micah.

5 And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did what was right in his own eyes.

7 And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he visited there.

8 And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehemjudah to stay where he could find a place, and he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.

9 And Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?"  And he said to him, "I'm a Levite of Bethlehemjudah, and I go to stay where I can find a place."

10 And Micah said to him, "Live with me, and be a father to me and a priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver yearly, and a suit of clothes, and your food."  So the Levite went in.

11 And the Levite was content to live with the man, and the young man was like one of his sons to him.

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

13 Then Micah said, "Now know I that the Lord will do me good, since I have a Levite as my priest."

___Judges chapter 18

1 In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to live in, for until that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.

2 And the children of Dan sent five men of their family from their coasts, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it, and they said to them, "Go, search the land, who when they came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, they lodged there."

3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite, and they turned in there, and said to him, "Who brought you here?  And what do you make in this place?  And what do you have here?"

4 And he said to them, "Micah deals thus and thus with me, and has hired me, and I'm his priest."

5 And they said to him, "Please ask counsel of God, so we'll know whether our way that we go shall be prosperous."

6 And the priest said to them, "Go in peace, before the Lord is your way in which you go."

7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were in it, how they lived carelessly, like the Zidonians, quiet and secure, and there was no magistrate in the land who could put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

8 And they came to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, "What do you say?"

9 And they said, "Get up, so we can go up against them, for we have seen the land, and see, it's very good, and are you still?  Don't be slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.

10 When you go, you'll come to a people secure, and to a large land, for God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no want of anything that's in the earth."

11 And six hundred men equipped with weapons of war went from there from the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol.

12 And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim in Judah, so they called that place Mahanehdan to this day, see, it's behind Kirjathjearim.

13 And they passed from there to Mount Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

14 Then the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish answered their brothers, "Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and an engraved image, and a foundry cast image?  Now therefore consider what you have to do."

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

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

17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the foundry cast image, and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were armed with weapons of war.

18 And they went into Micah's house, and brought out the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the foundry cast image.  Then the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

19 And they said to him, "Be quiet, lay your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be a father and a priest to us, is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?"

20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went among the people.

21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the baggage before them.

22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.

23 And they shouted to the children of Dan.  And they turned their faces, and said to Micah, "What's wrong with you, that you come with such a company?"

24 And he said, "You've taken away my gods that I made, and the priest, and you're gone away, and what do I have more?  And what is this that you say to me, "What's wrong with you?"

25 And the children of Dan said to him, "Don't let your voice be heard among us, so that angry fellows don't run at you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household."

26 And the children of Dan went their way, and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

27 And they took the things that Micah had made, and the priest that he had, and came to Laish, to a people that were quiet and secure, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.

28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man, and it was in the valley that lies by Bethrehob.  And they built a city, and lived in it.

29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel, but the name of the city was Laish at first.

30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image, and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

31 And they set up Micah's graven image that he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

___Judges chapter 19

1 And in those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite staying on the side of Mount Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah.

2 And his concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Bethlehemjudah, and was there four whole months.

3 And her husband got up, and went after her, to speak friendly to her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses, and she brought him into her father's house, and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

4 And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him, and he stayed with him three days, so they ate and drink, and lodged there.

5 And on the fourth day, when they got up early in the morning, he rose up to depart, and the damsel's father said to his son in law, "Comfort your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way."

6 And they sat down, and ate and drink both of them together, for the damsel's father had said to the man, "Be content, please, and wait all night, and let your heart be merry.

7 And when the man rose up to depart, his father in law urged him, therefore he lodged there again.

8 And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart, and the damsel's father said, "Comfort your heart, please."  And they stayed until afternoon, and both of them ate.

9 And when the man got up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel's father, said to him, "See, now the day draws toward evening, please stay the night, see, the day grows to an end, lodge here, so that your heart will be merry, and tomorrow be on your way early, so you can go home.

10 But the man would not stay that night, but he rose up and departed, and came opposite Jebus, which is Jerusalem, and two saddled asses were with him, also his concubine was with him.

11 And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said to his master, "Come, please, and let us turn in to this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it."

12 And his master said to him, "We won't turn aside here into the city of a stranger that is not of the children of Israel, we will pass over to Gibeah."

13 And he said to his servant, "Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah."

14 And they passed on and went their way, and the sun went down on them when they were by Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin.

15 And they turned aside there, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah, and when he went in, he sat down in a street of the city, for there was no man that took them into his house for lodging.

16 And see, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening, who was also of Mount Ephraim, and he was staying in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites.

17 And when he lifted up his eyes, he saw a traveling man in the street of the city, and the old man said, "Where are you going?  And where have you come from?"

18 And he said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of Mount Ephraim, that's where I'm from, and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I'm going now to the house of the Lord, and there is no man that has received me into his house.

19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses, and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your handmaid, and for the young man that is with your servants, there is lack of nothing."

20 And the old man said, "Peace be with you, however let all your needs rest on me, only don't lodge in the street."

21 So he brought him into his house, and gave provender to the asses, and they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, see, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, surrounded the house, and beat at the door, and spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man that came into your house, so we can know him."

23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, "No, my brothers, no, please, don't do so wickedly, since this man has come into my house, don't do this foolishness.

24 See, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine, I will bring them out now, and humble them, and do with them what seems good to you, but to this man don't do so filthy a thing."

25 But the men wouldn't listen to him, so the man took his concubine, and brought her out to them, and they knew her and abused her all night until the morning, and when it began to be daybreak, they let her go.

26 Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, 'til daylight.

27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way, and see, the woman his concubine had fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were on the threshold.

28 And he said to her, "Up, and let us be going."  But there was no answer.  Then the man took her up on an ass, and the man rose up, and went to his place.

29 And when he had come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.

30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, "There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day, consider it, take advice, and speak your minds."

___Judges chapter 20

1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation gathered together like one man, from Dan to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to the Lord in Mizpeh.

2 And the chief of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpeh.)  Then the children of Israel said, "Tell us how did this wickedness happen?"

4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was killed, answered, "I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.

5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house all around me at night, and thought to have killed me, and they've forced my concubine, so that she's dead.

6 And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel, for they've committed lewdness and foolishness in Israel.

7 See, you're all children of Israel, so give your advice and counsel."

8 And all the people arose like one man, saying, "None of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us turn into his house.

9 But now this shall be the thing that we will do to Gibeah, we will draw straws and go up against it,

10 And we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch food for the people, so they can do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the foolishness that they have done in Israel."

11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together unanimously.

12 And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What wickedness is this that has been done among you?

13 Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, who are in Gibeah, so that we can put them to death, and put away evil from Israel.  But the children of Benjamin wouldn't listen to the voice of their brothers the children of Israel,

14 But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

15 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

16 Among all these people there were seven hundred chosen men who were lefthanded, each of them could sling stones at a hair's width, and not miss.

17 And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword, all these were men of war.

18 And the children of Israel got up, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, "Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin?"  And the Lord said, "Judah shall go up first."

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

20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.

21 And the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty two thousand men.

22 And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.

23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?  And the Lord said, "Go up against him.")

24 And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

25 And Benjamin went out against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men, all these drew the sword.

26 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

27 And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I stop?"  And the Lord said, Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.

29 And Israel set liers in wait around Gibeah.

30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.

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

32 And the children of Benjamin said, "They're struck down before us, like at first."  But the children of Israel said, "Let us flee, and draw them from the city to the highways."

33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar, and the liers in wait of Israel came out of their places, out of the meadows of Gibeah.

34 And ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was severe, but they didn't know that evil was near them.

35 And the Lord struck Benjamin before Israel, and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty five thousand one hundred men, all these drew the sword.

36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck, for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted the liers in wait that they had set beside Gibeah.

37 And the liers in wait hurried, and rushed at Gibeah, and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and struck all of the city with the edge of the sword.

38 Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.

39 And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons, for they said, "Surely they're struck down before us, like in the first battle."

40 But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and see, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.

41 And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed, for they saw that evil had come on them.

42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities they destroyed among them.

43 Thus they surrounded the Benjamites, and chased them, and walked on them easily opposite Gibeah toward the sunrising.

44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all these were men of valor.

45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and pursued hard after them to Gidom, and killed two thousand men of them.

46 So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty five thousand men that drew the sword, all these were men of valor.

47 But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness to the rock Rimmon, and stayed in the rock Rimmon four months.

48 And the men of Israel turned again against the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the animals, and all that came to hand, also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

___Judges chapter 21

1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, "None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife."

2 And the people came to the house of God, and stayed there 'til evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and cried severly,

3 And said, "O Lord God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that one tribe should today be missing in Israel?"

4 And on the next day the people rose early, and built an altar  there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

5 And the children of Israel said, "Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that didn't come up with the congregation to the Lord?"  For they had made a great oath concerning him that didn't come up to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, "He shall surely be put to death."

6 And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, "There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

7 How shall we do for wives for them that remain, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters as wives?"

8 And they said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel that didn't come up to Mizpeh to the Lord?"  And see, no one came to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly.

9 For the people were numbered, and see, none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead were there.

10 And the congregation sent twelve thousand men of the most valiant there, and commanded them, "Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.

11 And this is the thing that you shall do, you shall completely destroy every male, and every woman that has lain with man."

12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that hadn't known any man by lying with any male, and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, that is in the land of Canaan.

13 And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably to them.

14 And Benjamin came again at that time, and they gave them wives that they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead, but they were not enough.

15 And the people repented for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a hole in the tribes of Israel.

16 Then the elders of the congregation said, "What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?"

17 And they said, "There must be an inheritance for those who've escaped of Benjamin, so that a tribe is not destroyed out of Israel.

18 But we can't give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that gives a wife to Benjamin."

19 Then they said, "See, there's a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly at a place that's on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,

21 And look, and see if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then you come out of the vineyards, and catch every man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we'll say to them, Be favorable to them for our sakes, because we didn't reserve to each man his wife in the war, for you didn't give to them at that time, so you wouldn't be guilty."

23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took themselves wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they caught, and they went and returned to their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and lived in them.

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

25 In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes.