7K-Judges

Judges Chapter 1

Judges 1:1 (NIV)

¹ After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”

Judges 1:2 (NIV)

² The LORD answered, “Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands.”

Judges 1:3 (NIV)

³ Then the men of Judah said to the Simeonites their brothers, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them.

Judges 1:4 (NIV)

⁴ When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.

Judges 1:5 (NIV)

⁵ It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites.

Judges 1:6 (NIV)

⁶ Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

Judges 1:7 (NIV)

⁷ Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Judges 1:8 (NIV)

⁸ The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

Judges 1:9 (NIV)

⁹ After that, the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills.

Judges 1:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.

Judges 1:11 (AMP)

¹¹ From there [Judah] went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir before was Kiriath-sepher [city of books and scribes].

Judges 1:12 (NIV)

¹² And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”

Judges 1:13 (NIV)

¹³ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

Judges 1:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

Judges 1:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” Then Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

Judges 1:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.

Judges 1:17 (AMP)

¹⁷ And [the tribe of] Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and utterly destroyed it. So the city was called Hormah [destruction].

Judges 1:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ The men of Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron–each city with its territory.

Judges 1:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.

Judges 1:20 (NKJV)

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

Judges 1:21 (NIV)

²¹ The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

Judges 1:22 (NIV)

²² Now the house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them.

Judges 1:23 (NKJV)

²³ So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city was formerly Luz.)

Judges 1:24 (NIV)

²⁴ the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.”

Judges 1:25 (NIV)

²⁵ So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.

Judges 1:26 (NLT2)

²⁶ Later the man moved to the land of the Hittites, where he built a town. He named it Luz, which is its name to this day.

Judges 1:27 (NIV)

²⁷ But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.

Judges 1:28 (NIV)

²⁸ When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.

Judges 1:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.

Judges 1:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor.

Judges 1:31 (NIV)

³¹ Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob,

Judges 1:32 (HCSB)

³² The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, because they failed to drive them out.

Judges 1:33 (HCSB)

³³ Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath. They lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, but the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served as their forced labor.

Judges 1:34 (NIV)

³⁴ The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.

Judges 1:35 (NIV)

³⁵ And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the house of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

Judges 1:36 (NIV)

³⁶ The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.

Judges Chapter 2

Judges 2:1 (NIV)

¹ The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,

Judges 2:2 (NKJV)

² And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?

Judges 2:3 (NIV)

³ Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be [thorns] in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.”

Judges 2:4 (NIV)

⁴ When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,

Judges 2:5 (CJB)-M

⁵ So they called the name of that place Bokhim [crying] and sacrificed there to the Lord.

Judges 2:6 (CJB)-M

⁶ When Joshua had sent the people away, the people of Israel had gone each one to his assigned property in order to take possession of the land.

Judges 2:7 (NIV)

⁷ The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.

Judges 2:8 (NIV)

⁸ Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.

Judges 2:9 (NIV)

⁹ And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

Judges 2:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.

Judges 2:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.

Judges 2:12 (NIV)

¹² They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger

Judges 2:13 (NKJV)

¹³ They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

Judges 2:14 (CJB)-M

¹⁴ The anger of the Lord blazed against Israel; and he handed them over to pillagers, who plundered them, and to their enemies around them; so that they could no longer resist their enemies.

Judges 2:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

Judges 2:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.

Judges 2:17 (NASB)

¹⁷ Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do as their fathers.

Judges 2:18 (AMP)

¹⁸ When the Lord raised them up judges, then He was with the judge and delivered them out of the hands of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to relent because of their groanings by reason of those who oppressed and vexed them.

Judges 2:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

Judges 2:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me,

Judges 2:21 (NIV)

²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

Judges 2:22 (NIV)

²² I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers did.”

Judges 2:23 (NIV)

²³ The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

Judges Chapter 3

Judges 3:1 (NLT2)

¹ These are the nations that the LORD left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan.

Judges 3:2 (NIV)

² (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):

Judges 3:3 (NIV)

³ the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

Judges 3:4 (NIV)

⁴ They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.

Judges 3:5 (NIV)

⁵ The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

Judges 3:6 (NIV)

⁶ They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Judges 3:7 (NIV)

⁷ The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

Judges 3:8 (NIV)

⁸ The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.

Judges 3:9 (NIV)

⁹ But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.

Judges 3:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.

Judges 3:11 (NIV)

¹¹ So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Judges 3:12 (NIV)

¹² Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.

Judges 3:13 (NIV)

¹³ Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.

Judges 3:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

Judges 3:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer–Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

Judges 3:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.

Judges 3:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man.

Judges 3:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it.

Judges 3:19 (CJB)

¹⁹ But he himself, after reaching the quarries at Gilgal, went back and said, “King, I have a secret message for you.” The king commanded silence, and all his attendants withdrew.

Judges 3:20 (CJB)

²⁰ Ehud came to him; he was sitting alone by himself in his upstairs room, where it was cool. Ehud said: “I have a message from God for you.” As the king arose from his seat,

Judges 3:21 (CJB)

²¹ Ehud reached out with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into the king’s belly.

Judges 3:22 (NIV)

²² Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.

Judges 3:23 (NIV)

²³ Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

Judges 3:24 (NIV)

²⁴ After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the house.”

Judges 3:25 (AMP)

²⁵ They waited a long time until they became embarrassed and uneasy, but when he still did not open the doors of the upper room, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their master fallen to the floor, dead!

Judges 3:26 (CJB)

²⁶ But while they were delaying, Ehud escaped— he passed beyond the quarries and arrived safely in Se‘irah.

Judges 3:27 (NKJV)

²⁷ And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them.

Judges 3:28 (NIV)

²⁸ “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and, taking possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, they allowed no one to cross over.

Judges 3:29 (NIV)

²⁹ At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped.

Judges 3:30 (NIV)

³⁰ That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Judges 3:31 (NIV)

³¹ After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.

Judges Chapter 4

Judges 4:1 (NIV)

¹ After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Judges 4:2 (NIV)

² So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim.

Judges 4:3 (AMP)

³ Then the Israelites cried to the Lord, for [Jabin] had 900 chariots of iron and had severely oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

Judges 4:4 (NASB)

⁴ Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

Judges 4:5 (NKJV)

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

Judges 4:6 (CJB)-M

⁶ She sent for Barak the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him: “The Lord has given you this order: ‘Go, march to Mount Tabor, and take with you 10,000 men from the people of Naphtali and Zebulun.

Judges 4:7 (CJB)-M

⁷ I will cause Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to encounter you at the Kishon River with his chariots and troops; and I will hand him over to you.’”

Judges 4:8 (CJB)

⁸ Barak answered her: “If you go with me, I’ll go; but if you won’t go with me, I won’t go.”

Judges 4:9 (NIV)

⁹ “Very well,” Deborah said, “I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh,

Judges 4:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

Judges 4:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

Judges 4:12 (CJB)-M

¹² Sisera was informed that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.

Judges 4:13 (CJB)-M

¹³ So Sisera rallied his chariots, all 900 iron chariots, and all the troops he had with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.

Judges 4:14 (NASB)

¹⁴ Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hands; behold, the LORD has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

Judges 4:15 (CJB)

¹⁵ and the Lord threw Sisera, all his chariots and his entire army into a panic before Barak’s sword; so that Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

Judges 4:16 (CJB)

¹⁶ But Barak pursued the chariots and the army all the way to Harosheth Haggoyim. Sisera’s entire army was put to the sword; not one man was left.

Judges 4:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.

Judges 4:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him.

Judges 4:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

Judges 4:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say ‘No.'”

Judges 4:21 (NIV)

²¹ But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

Judges 4:22 (NIV)

²² Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple–dead.

Judges 4:23 (NIV)

²³ On that day God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the Israelites.

Judges 4:24 (NIV)

²⁴ And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, the Canaanite king, until they destroyed him.

Judges Chapter 5

Judges 5:1 (NIV)

¹ On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

Judges 5:2 (NIV)

² “When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves– praise the LORD!

Judges 5:3 (NIV)

³ “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the LORD, I will sing; I will make music to the LORD, the God of Israel.

Judges 5:4 (NIV)

⁴ “O LORD, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook, the heavens poured, the clouds poured down water.

Judges 5:5 (CJB)-M

⁵ The mountains melted at the presence of the Lord, at Sinai, before the Lord the God of Israel.

Judges 5:6 (NIV)

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths.

Judges 5:7 (AMP)

⁷ The villages were unoccupied and rulers ceased in Israel until you arose—you, Deborah, arose—a mother in Israel.

Judges 5:8 (NKJV)

⁸ They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.

Judges 5:9 (CJB)-M

⁹ My heart goes out to Israel’s leaders and to those among the people who volunteer. All of you, bless the Lord.

Judges 5:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, consider

Judges 5:11 (NIV)

¹¹ the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel. “Then the people of the LORD went down to the city gates.

Judges 5:12 (NASB)

¹² “Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam.

Judges 5:13 (CJB)-M

¹³ “Then a remnant of the nobles marched down; the people of the Lord marched down to me like warriors.

Judges 5:14 (NASB)

¹⁴ “From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down, Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples; From Machir commanders came down, And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of office.

Judges 5:15 (CJB)

¹⁵ The princes of Issachar were with Deborah, Issachar, along with Barak; into the valley they rushed forth behind him. Among the divisions of Reuben they made great resolutions in their hearts.

Judges 5:16 (AMP)

¹⁶ Why [Reuben] did you linger among the sheepfolds listening to the piping for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

Judges 5:17 (AMP)

¹⁷ Gilead remained beyond the Jordan, and why did Dan stay with the ships? Asher sat still on the seacoast and remained by his creeks. [These came not forth to battle for God’s people.]

Judges 5:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the heights of the field.

Judges 5:19 (CJB)-M

¹⁹ “Kings came; they fought. Yes, the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; but they took no spoil of silver.

Judges 5:20 (NIV)

²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.

Judges 5:21 (NKJV)

²¹ The torrent of Kishon swept them away, That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength!

Judges 5:22 (CJB)

²² Then the horses’ hoofs pounded the ground, their mighty steeds galloping at full speed.

Judges 5:23 (CJB)-M

²³ “‘Curse Meroz!’ said the angel of the Lord, ‘Curse the people living there with a bitter punishment for not coming to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty warriors.’

Judges 5:24 (NKJV)

²⁴ “Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents.

Judges 5:25 (CJB)

²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk; In an elegant bowl she brought him curds.

Judges 5:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple.

Judges 5:27 (AMP)

²⁷ He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet. At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead!

Judges 5:28 (NIV)

²⁸ “Through the window peered Sisera’s mother; behind the lattice she cried out, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’

Judges 5:29 (NIV)

²⁹ The wisest of her ladies answer her; indeed, she keeps saying to herself,

Judges 5:30 (NIV)

³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils: a girl or two for each man, colorful garments as plunder for Sisera, colorful garments embroidered, highly embroidered garments for my neck– all this as plunder?’

Judges 5:31 (NIV)

³¹ “So may all your enemies perish, O LORD! But may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years.

Judges Chapter 6

Judges 6:1 (NIV)

¹ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

Judges 6:2 (CJB)

² Midian exercised its power harshly against Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel hid themselves in mountains, in caves and in other safe places.

Judges 6:3 (NIV)

³ Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.

Judges 6:4 (NASB)

⁴ So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey.

Judges 6:5 (NASB)

⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it.

Judges 6:6 (NLT2)

⁶ So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help.

Judges 6:7 (NASB)

⁷ Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD on account of Midian,

Judges 6:8 (NASB)

⁸ that the LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery.

Judges 6:9 (NASB)

⁹ ‘I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land,

Judges 6:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

Judges 6:11 (NIV)-M

¹¹ The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the landmark-tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.

Judges 6:12 (NIV)

¹² When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

Judges 6:13 (NASB)

¹³ Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Judges 6:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

Judges 6:15 (AMP)

¹⁵ Gideon said to Him, Oh Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Behold, my clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

Judges 6:16 (CJB)

¹⁶ The Lord said to him, “Because I will be with you, you will strike down Midian as easily as if they were just one man.”

Judges 6:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.

Judges 6:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the LORD said, “I will wait until you return.”

Judges 6:19 (NKJV)-M

¹⁹ So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the landmark-tree and presented them.

Judges 6:20 (NIV)

²⁰ The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so.

Judges 6:21 (AMP)

²¹ Then the Angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes, and there flared up fire from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. Then the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.

Judges 6:22 (NKJV)

²² Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face.”

Judges 6:23 (AMP)

²³ The Lord said to him, Peace be to you, do not fear; you shall not die.

Judges 6:24 (NASB)

²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 6:25 (NKJV)

²⁵ Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it;

Judges 6:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”

Judges 6:27 (NIV)

²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

Judges 6:28 (NIV)

²⁸ In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

Judges 6:29 (CJB)-M

²⁹ They asked each other, “Who could have done this?” But after investigating, they concluded that Gideon the son of Joash had done it.

Judges 6:30 (NIV)

³⁰ The men of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

Judges 6:31 (NIV)

³¹ But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.”

Judges 6:32 (NIV)

³² So that day they called Gideon “Jerub-Baal,” saying, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he broke down Baal’s altar.

Judges 6:33 (NIV)

³³ Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

Judges 6:34 (NIV)

³⁴ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.

Judges 6:35 (CJB)-M

³⁵ He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too rallied behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali; and they came up to join them.

Judges 6:36 (NASB)

³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken,

Judges 6:37 (CJB)

³⁷ then, here: I will lay a wool fleece on the threshing-floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, while all the ground stays dry, I will be convinced that you will save Israel through me, as you said you would.”

Judges 6:38 (NIV)

³⁸ And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew–a bowlful of water.

Judges 6:39 (CJB)

³⁹ But Gideon said to God, “Don’t be angry with me because I am asking one more thing, let me make one more test, please: this time let it be dry only on the fleece, with dew all over the ground.”

Judges 6:40 (CJB)

⁴⁰ And that is what God did that night— it was dry only on the fleece, even though there was dew all over the ground.

Judges Chapter 7

Judges 7:1 (HCSB)

¹ Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and everyone who was with him, got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

Judges 7:2 (AMP)

² The Lord said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel boast about themselves against Me, saying, My own hand has delivered me.

Judges 7:3 (NIV)

³ announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

Judges 7:4 (NIV)

⁴ But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

Judges 7:5 (NIV)

⁵ So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.”

Judges 7:6 (NIV)

⁶ Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

Judges 7:7 (CJB)

⁷ Adonai said to Gideon, “I will use the three hundred men who lapped the water to save you; I will hand Midian over to you. Let all these others go back home.”

Judges 7:8 (NIV)

⁸ So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

Judges 7:9 (NIV)-M

⁹ During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down to the outposts of the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.

Judges 7:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ “But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp,

Judges 7:11 (CJB)

¹¹ and after you hear what they are saying, you will have the courage to attack the camp.” So with his servant Purah he went down to the outposts of the camp.

Judges 7:12 (NIV)

¹² The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

Judges 7:13 (NIV)

¹³ Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

Judges 7:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”

Judges 7:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”

Judges 7:16 (NASB)

¹⁶ He divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers.

Judges 7:17 (CJB)

¹⁷ Then he said to them, “Watch me, and do what I do. When I get to the edge of the camp, whatever I do, you do the same.

Judges 7:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸ When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!’ “

Judges 7:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.

Judges 7:20 (NASB)

²⁰ When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

Judges 7:21 (AMP)

²¹ They stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the [Midianite] army ran—they cried out and fled.

Judges 7:22 (NIV)

²² When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.

Judges 7:23 (NASB)

²³ The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

Judges 7:24 (NASB)

²⁴ Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.

Judges 7:25 (AMP)

²⁵ And [the men of Ephraim] took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Judges Chapter 8

Judges 8:1 (CJB)-M

¹ But the men of Ephraim complained to Gideon, “Why didn’t you call on us when you went to fight Midian? Why did you treat us this way?” They were sharp in their criticism.

Judges 8:2 (NLT2)

² But Gideon replied, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t even the leftover grapes of Ephraim’s harvest better than the entire crop of my little clan of Abiezer?

Judges 8:3 (AMP)

³ God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger toward him was abated when he had said that.

Judges 8:4 (NIV)

⁴ Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it.

Judges 8:5 (NIV)

⁵ He said to the men of Succoth, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

Judges 8:6 (HCSB)

⁶ But the princes of Succoth asked, “Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands that we should give bread to your army?”

Judges 8:7 (CJB)

⁷ Gideon said: “If that’s your answer, then after the Lord has put Zebah and Zalmunna in my hands, I will tear your flesh apart with desert thorns and thistles!”

Judges 8:8 (NIV)

⁸ From there he went up to Peniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Succoth had.

Judges 8:9 (NIV)

⁹ So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”

Judges 8:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.

Judges 8:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and fell upon the unsuspecting army.

Judges 8:12 (NIV)

¹² Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.

Judges 8:13 (NIV)

¹³ Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres.

Judges 8:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ He caught a young man of Succoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Succoth, the elders of the town.

Judges 8:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Then Gideon came and said to the men of Succoth, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, ‘Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?'”

Judges 8:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Succoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers.

Judges 8:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.

Judges 8:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” “Men like you,” they answered, “each one with the bearing of a prince.”

Judges 8:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Gideon replied, “Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the LORD lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.”

Judges 8:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.

Judges 8:21 (NIV)

²¹ Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Come, do it yourself. ‘As is the man, so is his strength.'” So Gideon stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels’ necks.

Judges 8:22 (NIV)

²² The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us–you, your son and your grandson–because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.”

Judges 8:23 (NIV)

²³ But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”

Judges 8:24 (AMP)

²⁴ And Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you—every man of you give me the earrings of his spoil. For [the Midianites] had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites [general term for all descendants of Keturah].

Judges 8:25 (AMP)

²⁵ And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and every man cast on it the earrings of his spoil.

Judges 8:26 (NLT2)

²⁶ The weight of the gold earrings was forty-three pounds, not including the royal ornaments and pendants, the purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains around the necks of their camels.

Judges 8:27 (CJB)

²⁷ Out of these things Gideon made a ritual vest, which he located in his city, Ophrah. But all Israel turned it into an idol there, and it thus became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Judges 8:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years.

Judges 8:29 (7KB)

²⁹ Jerubbaal ⌊(that is, Gideon)⌋ son of Joash went back home to live.

Judges 8:30 (CJB)-M

³⁰ Gideon became the father of seventy sons, because he had many wives.

Judges 8:31 (AMP)

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

Judges 8:32 (HCSB)

³² Then Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 8:33 (NLT2)

³³ As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-berith their god.

Judges 8:34 (HCSB)

³⁴ The Israelites did not remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the power of the enemies around them.

Judges 8:35 (NLT2)

³⁵ Nor did they show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon), despite all the good he had done for Israel.

Judges Chapter 9

Judges 9:1 (NLT2)

¹ One day Gideon’s son Abimelech went to Shechem to visit his uncles—his mother’s brothers. He said to them and to the rest of his mother’s family,

Judges 9:2 (NLT2)

² “Ask the leading citizens of Shechem whether they want to be ruled by all seventy of Gideon’s sons or by one man. And remember that I am your own flesh and blood!”

Judges 9:3 (NIV)

³ When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”

Judges 9:4 (CJB)

⁴ They also gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith; and he used these to pay good-for-nothing thugs to follow him.

Judges 9:5 (NIV)

⁵ He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding.

Judges 9:6 (NIV)

⁶ Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelech king.

Judges 9:7 (NLT2)

⁷ When Jotham heard about this, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem! Listen to me if you want God to listen to you!

Judges 9:8 (NIV)

⁸ One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’

Judges 9:9 (NIV)

⁹ “But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and men are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’

Judges 9:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “Next, the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.’

Judges 9:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’

Judges 9:12 (NIV)

¹² “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.’

Judges 9:13 (NIV)

¹³ “But the vine answered, ‘Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and men, to hold sway over the trees?’

Judges 9:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.’

Judges 9:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ “The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

Judges 9:16 (HCSB)

¹⁶ “Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have rewarded him appropriately for what he did—

Judges 9:17 (HCSB)

¹⁷ for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you from the hand of Midian,

Judges 9:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ (but today you have revolted against my father’s family, murdered his seventy sons on a single stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his slave girl, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is your brother)–

Judges 9:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ if then you have acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today, may Abimelech be your joy, and may you be his, too!

Judges 9:20 (NIV)

²⁰ But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelech!”

Judges 9:21 (NKJV)

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

Judges 9:22 (AMP)

²² Abimelech reigned three years over Israel.

Judges 9:23 (AMP)

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

Judges 9:24 (NIV)

²⁴ God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.

Judges 9:25 (NIV)

²⁵ In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelech.

Judges 9:26 (AMP)

²⁶ And Gaal son of Ebed came with his kinsmen and moved into Shechem, and the men of Shechem put confidence in him.

Judges 9:27 (CJB)-M

²⁷ They went out into the field, gathered their grapes and pressed the juice out of them. Then they held a feast and went into the house of their god to eat and drink, and there they insulted Abimelech.

Judges 9:28 (NLT2)

²⁸ “Who is Abimelech?” Gaal shouted. “He’s not a true son of Shechem, so why should we be his servants? He’s merely the son of Gideon, and this Zebul is merely his deputy. Serve the true sons of Hamor, the founder of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?

Judges 9:29 (NLT2)

²⁹ If I were in charge here, I would get rid of Abimelech. I would say to him, ‘Get some soldiers, and come out and fight!’”

Judges 9:30 (NIV)

³⁰ When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry.

Judges 9:31 (CJB)

³¹ He sent messengers to Abimelech in Tormah with this message: “Gaal the son of a slave and his brothers have come to Shechem, and they’re inciting the city against you.

Judges 9:32 (CJB)

³² You and the men with you should come up now at night and lie in wait in the field.

Judges 9:33 (CJB)-M

³³ In the morning, get up early, as soon as the sun rises; and attack the city. Then, when Gaal and the men with him come out to fight you, do whatever you can to them.”

Judges 9:34 (NIV)

³⁴ So Abimelech and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies.

Judges 9:35 (NLT2)

³⁵ Gaal was standing at the city gates when Abimelech and his army came out of hiding.

Judges 9:36 (NLT2)

³⁶ When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look, there are people coming down from the hilltops!” Zebul replied, “It’s just the shadows on the hills that look like men.”

Judges 9:37 (NASB)

³⁷ Gaal spoke again and said, “Behold, people are coming down from the highest part of the land, and one company comes by the way of the diviners’ oak.”

Judges 9:38 (NIV)

³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your big talk now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should be subject to him?’ Aren’t these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!”

Judges 9:39 (NKJV)

³⁹ So Gaal went out, leading the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

Judges 9:40 (AMP)

⁴⁰ And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him; and many fell wounded—even to the entrance of the gate.

Judges 9:41 (CJB)-M

⁴¹ Then Abimelech took up residence in Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, so that they could not live in Shechem.

Judges 9:42 (NIV)

⁴² The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelech.

Judges 9:43 (CJB)

⁴³ He took his men, divided them into three groups, and lay in wait in the field. When he saw the people going out of the city, he came out of hiding and slaughtered them.

Judges 9:44 (CJB)

⁴⁴ Abimelech and his group rushed forward and occupied the entrance to the city gate, while the other two groups attacked all those in the field and killed them.

Judges 9:45 (CJB)

⁴⁵ Abimelech fought against the city all that day; captured it, killed its people, destroyed its buildings and sowed its land with salt.

Judges 9:46 (AMP)

⁴⁶ And when all the men of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the house of El-berith [the god of Berith].

Judges 9:47 (NKJV)-M

⁴⁷ And it was told Abimelech that all the men were gathered together in the tower of Shechem.

Judges 9:48 (NLT2)

⁴⁸ so he led his forces to Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and chopped some branches from a tree, then put them on his shoulder. “Quick, do as I have done!” he told his men.

Judges 9:49 (NKJV)-M

⁴⁹ So each of the people likewise cut down his own bough and followed Abimelech, put them against the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire above them, so that all the people within the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.

Judges 9:50 (NIV)

⁵⁰ Next Abimelech went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it.

Judges 9:51 (NKJV)

⁵¹ But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and women–all the people of the city–fled there and shut themselves in; then they went up to the top of the tower.

Judges 9:52 (NIV)

⁵² Abimelech went to the tower and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire,

Judges 9:53 (NKJV)

⁵³ But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.

Judges 9:54 (NIV)

⁵⁴ Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.'” So his servant ran him through, and he died.

Judges 9:55 (AMP)

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

Judges 9:56 (NIV)

⁵⁶ Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.

Judges 9:57 (NIV)

⁵⁷ God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.

Judges Chapter 10

Judges 10:1 (NIV)

¹ After the time of Abimelech a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.

Judges 10:2 (NIV)

² He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.

Judges 10:3 (NIV)

³ He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years.

Judges 10:4 (AMP)

⁴ And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty towns called Havvoth-jair [towns of Jair] which to this day are in the land of Gilead.

Judges 10:5 (NIV)

⁵ When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

Judges 10:6 (NASB)

⁶ Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.

Judges 10:7 (NASB)

⁷ The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon.

Judges 10:8 (NKJV)

⁸ From that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years–all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead.

Judges 10:9 (NKJV)

⁹ Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

Judges 10:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ Then the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.”

Judges 10:11 (NLT2)

¹¹ The LORD replied, “Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,

Judges 10:12 (NKJV)

¹² Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand.

Judges 10:13 (NKJV)

¹³ Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more.

Judges 10:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.”

Judges 10:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ And the children of Israel said to the LORD, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.”

Judges 10:16 (NASB)

¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer.

Judges 10:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah.

Judges 10:18 (NLT2)

¹⁸ The leaders of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever attacks the Ammonites first will become ruler over all the people of Gilead.”

Judges Chapter 11

Judges 11:1 (NIV)

¹ Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute.

Judges 11:2 (NIV)

² Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.”

Judges 11:3 (NKJV)

³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

Judges 11:4 (NLT2)

⁴ At about this time, the Ammonites began their war against Israel.

Judges 11:5 (HCSB)

⁵ When the Ammonites made war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

Judges 11:6 (NLT2)

⁶ “Come and be our commander! Help us fight the Ammonites!”

Judges 11:7 (NKJV)

⁷ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”

Judges 11:8 (NIV)

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead.”

Judges 11:9 (NKJV)

⁹ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”

Judges 11:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead replied, “The LORD is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.”

Judges 11:11 (CJB)-M

¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah repeated all these conditions at Mizpah in the presence of the Lord.

Judges 11:12 (NIV)

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against us that you have attacked our country?”

Judges 11:13 (NKJV)

¹³ And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”

Judges 11:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king,

Judges 11:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon;

Judges 11:16 (NKJV)

¹⁶ for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

Judges 11:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

Judges 11:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ “Next they traveled through the desert, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.

Judges 11:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your country to our own place.’

Judges 11:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Sihon, however, did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his men and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.

Judges 11:21 (NKJV)

²¹ And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.

Judges 11:22 (NKJV)

²² They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

Judges 11:23 (NKJV)

²³ And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it?

Judges 11:24 (CJB)-M

²⁴ You should just keep the territory your god Chemosh has given you; while we, for our part, will hold onto whatever the Lord our God has given us of the lands that belonged to others before us.

Judges 11:25 (CJB)-M

²⁵ Really, are you better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever pick a quarrel with Israel or fight with us?

Judges 11:26 (NIV)

²⁶ For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time?

Judges 11:27 (NIV)

²⁷ I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

Judges 11:28 (NIV)

²⁸ The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.

Judges 11:29 (NKJV)

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.

Judges 11:30 (NIV)

³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands,

Judges 11:31 (NIV)

³¹ whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

Judges 11:32 (NIV)

³² Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands.

Judges 11:33 (NASB)

³³ He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

Judges 11:34 (NASB)

³⁴ When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter.

Judges 11:35 (CJB)-M

³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, no, my daughter! You’re breaking my heart! Why must you be the cause of such pain to me? I made a vow to the Lord, and I can’t go back on my word.”

Judges 11:36 (CJB)-M

³⁶ She said to him, “Father, you made a vow to the Lord; so do whatever you said you would do to me; because the Lord did take vengeance on your enemies the people of ‘Ammon.”

Judges 11:37 (CJB)

³⁷ Then she said to her father, “Just do this one thing for me — let me be alone for two months. I’ll go away into the mountains with my friends and mourn, because I will die without getting married.”

Judges 11:38 (NIV)

³⁸ “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry.

Judges 11:39 (NIV)

³⁹ After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom

Judges 11:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Judges Chapter 12

Judges 12:1 (NIV)

¹ The men of Ephraim called out their forces, crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”

Judges 12:2 (NIV)

² Jephthah answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands.

Judges 12:3 (NASB)

³ “When I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?”

Judges 12:4 (NIV)

⁴ Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.”

Judges 12:5 (NIV)

⁵ The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,”

Judges 12:6 (NIV)

⁶ they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.'” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.

Judges 12:7 (NIV)

⁷ Jephthah led Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in a town in Gilead.

Judges 12:8 (NIV)

⁸ After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel.

Judges 12:9 (NIV)

⁹ He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years.

Judges 12:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Then Ibzan died, and was buried in Bethlehem.

Judges 12:11 (NIV)

¹¹ After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years.

Judges 12:12 (NIV)

¹² Then Elon died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Judges 12:13 (NIV)

¹³ After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel.

Judges 12:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years.

Judges 12:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Then Abdon son of Hillel died, and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Judges Chapter 13

Judges 13:1 (NIV)

¹ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

Judges 13:2 (AMP)

² And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children.

Judges 13:3 (CJB)-M

³ The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Listen! You are barren, you haven’t had a child, but you will conceive and bear a son.

Judges 13:4 (NIV)

⁴ Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean,

Judges 13:5 (NIV)

⁵ because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

Judges 13:6 (NIV)

⁶ Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name.

Judges 13:7 (NIV)

⁷ But he said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'”

Judges 13:8 (NIV)

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: “O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”

Judges 13:9 (NIV)

⁹ God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.

Judges 13:10 (AMP)

¹⁰ And the woman ran in haste and told her husband and said to him, Behold, the Man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.

Judges 13:11 (AMP)

¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the Man and said to him, Are you the Man who spoke to this woman? And he said, I am.

Judges 13:12 (CJB)

¹² Manoach asked, “Now, when what you said comes true, what are the guidelines for raising the child? What should be done for him?”

Judges 13:13 (NASB)

¹³ So the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Let the woman pay attention to all that I said.

Judges 13:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

Judges 13:15 (NASB)

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.”

Judges 13:16 (AMP)

¹⁶ And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of your food, but if you make ready a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord. For Manoah did not know that he was the Angel of the Lord.

Judges 13:17 (NASB)

¹⁷ Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?”

Judges 13:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.”

Judges 13:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched:

Judges 13:20 (NASB)

²⁰ For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

Judges 13:21 (NIV)

²¹ When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.

Judges 13:22 (CJB)-M

²² Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, because we have seen God!”

Judges 13:23 (CJB)-M

²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had wanted to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us, and he wouldn’t have shown us all this or told us such things at this time.”

Judges 13:24 (NIV)

²⁴ The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him,

Judges 13:25 (NKJV)

²⁵ And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges Chapter 14

Judges 14:1 (CJB)-M

¹ Samson went down to Timnah, and in Timnah he saw a woman who was one of the Philistines.

Judges 14:2 (NIV)

² When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

Judges 14:3 (CJB)-M

³ His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there any woman from the daughters of your kinsmen or among all my people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to find a wife?” Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. I like her.”

Judges 14:4 (NIV)

⁴ (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

Judges 14:5 (NIV)

⁵ Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.

Judges 14:6 (NIV)

⁶ The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.

Judges 14:7 (AMP)

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

Judges 14:8 (CJB)

⁸ Awhile later, as he was returning to claim his bride, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion and saw that there was now a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.

Judges 14:9 (NIV)

⁹ which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

Judges 14:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Now his father went down to see the woman. And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms.

Judges 14:11 (CJB)-M

¹¹ When the Philistines saw him, they provided thirty companions to be with him.

Judges 14:12 (NIV)

¹² “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.

Judges 14:13 (NIV)

¹³ If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” “Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

Judges 14:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ He replied, “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.” For three days they could not give the answer.

Judges 14:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

Judges 14:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.” “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?”

Judges 14:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

Judges 14:18 (CJB)-M

¹⁸ Then, before sundown on the seventh day, the men of the city said to him, “What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?” Samson answered, “If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle now.”

Judges 14:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he went up to his father’s house.

Judges 14:20 (HCSB)

²⁰ and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

Judges Chapter 15

Judges 15:1 (HCSB)

¹ Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson ⌊took⌋ a young goat ⌊as a gift⌋ and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

Judges 15:2 (HCSB)

² “I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”

Judges 15:3 (NASB)

³ Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.”

Judges 15:4 (CJB)-M

⁴ So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes. Then he took torches, tied pairs of foxes to each other by their tails, and put a torch in the knot of every pair of tails.

Judges 15:5 (CJB)-M

⁵ Then he set the torches on fire and let the foxes loose in wheat fields of the Philistines. In this way he burned up the harvested wheat along with the grain waiting to be harvested, and the olive orchards as well.

Judges 15:6 (NIV)

⁶ When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.

Judges 15:7 (HCSB)

⁷ Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.”

Judges 15:8 (NASB)

⁸ He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

Judges 15:9 (NIV)

⁹ The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.

Judges 15:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us.”

Judges 15:11 (NASB)

¹¹ Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”

Judges 15:12 (NIV)

¹² They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”

Judges 15:13 (CJB)

¹³ They said to him, “No, but we will tie you up and hand you over to them. However, we promise not to kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

Judges 15:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands.

Judges 15:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

Judges 15:16 (CJB)-M

¹⁶ Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey I left heaps piled on heaps! With the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand men!”

Judges 15:17 (NASB)

¹⁷ When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.

Judges 15:18 (NASB)

¹⁸ Then he became very thirsty, and he called to the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

Judges 15:19 (HCSB)

¹⁹ So God split a hollow place ⌊in the ground⌋ at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.

Judges 15:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Judges Chapter 16

Judges 16:1 (CJB)-M

¹ Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her.

Judges 16:2 (NIV)

² The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”

Judges 16:3 (NIV)

³ But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

Judges 16:4 (NIV)

⁴ Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.

Judges 16:5 (HCSB)

⁵ The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

Judges 16:6 (NIV)

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

Judges 16:7 (HCSB)

⁷ Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Judges 16:8 (HCSB)

⁸ The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.

Judges 16:9 (NLT2)

⁹ She had hidden some men in one of the inner rooms of her house, and she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But Samson snapped the bowstrings as a piece of string snaps when it is burned by a fire. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

Judges 16:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me how you may be bound.”

Judges 16:11 (NIV)

¹¹ He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

Judges 16:12 (NIV)

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

Judges 16:13 (NASB)

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me how you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my hair with the web [and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Judges 16:14 (NASB)

¹⁴ So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.

Judges 16:15 (NASB)

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

Judges 16:16 (NASB)

¹⁶ It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death.

Judges 16:17 (NASB)

¹⁷ So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Judges 16:18 (NASB)

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.

Judges 16:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Judges 16:20 (NASB)

²⁰ She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

Judges 16:21 (CJB)-M

²¹ So the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. There they bound him with two bronze chains and put him to work grinding grain at the mill in the prison.

Judges 16:22 (NIV)

²² But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Judges 16:23 (NASB)

²³ Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”

Judges 16:24 (CJB)

²⁴ Upon seeing him, the people praised their god: “Our god has handed over to us our enemy, who destroyed our land and killed so many of us.”

Judges 16:25 (HCSB)

²⁵ When they were drunk, they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.

Judges 16:26 (HCSB)

²⁶ Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”

Judges 16:27 (HCSB)

²⁷ The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain ⌊them⌋.

Judges 16:28 (HCSB)

²⁸ He called out to the LORD: “Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Judges 16:29 (NKJV)

²⁹ And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.

Judges 16:30 (AMP)

³⁰ And Samson cried, Let me die with the Philistines! And he bowed himself mightily, and the house fell upon the princes and upon all the people that were in it. So the dead whom he slew at his death were more than they whom he slew in his life.

Judges 16:31 (NIV)

³¹ Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years.

Judges Chapter 17

Judges 17:1 (HCSB)

¹ There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.

Judges 17:2 (NASB)

² He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD.”

Judges 17:3 (NIV)

³ When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the LORD for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you.”

Judges 17:4 (NKJV)

⁴ Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.

Judges 17:5 (NASB)

⁵ And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest.

Judges 17:6 (NASB)

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

Judges 17:7 (NIV)-M

⁷ A young Levite [Jonathan son of Gershom – the grandson of Moses] from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah,

Judges 17:8 (HCSB)-M

⁸ The man [Jonathan] left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim.

Judges 17:9 (NIV)

⁹ Micah asked him, “Where are you from?” “I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he said, “and I’m looking for a place to stay.”

Judges 17:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Then Micah said to him, “Live with me and be my father and priest, and I’ll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food.”

Judges 17:11 (NASB)

¹¹ The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons.

Judges 17:12 (NIV)

¹² Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.

Judges 17:13 (NASB)

¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest.”

Judges Chapter 18

Judges 18:1 (HCSB)

¹ In those days, there was no king in Israel, and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy. Up to that time no territory had been captured ⌊by them⌋ among the tribes of Israel.

Judges 18:2 (CJB)-M

² The people of Dan sent five leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol, representing their whole tribe, to spy out and explore the land. They instructed them, “Go, and explore the land.” They came to the hills of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and stayed there.

Judges 18:3 (CJB)-M

³ While they were at Micah’s house, they recognized the accent of the young man, the Levite, so they approached him and said, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is there for you here?”

Judges 18:4 (NIV)

⁴ He told them what Micah had done for him, and said, “He has hired me and I am his priest.”

Judges 18:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.”

Judges 18:6 (NASB)

⁶ The priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going has the LORD’S approval.”

Judges 18:7 (NIV)

⁷ So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, unsuspecting and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.

Judges 18:8 (CJB)-M

⁸ When they returned to their kinsmen in Zorah and Eshtaol, they asked them what they had to report.

Judges 18:9 (NIV)

⁹ They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen that the land is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over.

Judges 18:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”

Judges 18:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Then six hundred men from the clan of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges 18:12 (HCSB)

¹² They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. This is why the place is called the Camp of Dan to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim.

Judges 18:13 (NIV)

¹³ From there they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

Judges 18:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, other household gods, a carved image and a cast idol? Now you know what to do.”

Judges 18:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s place and greeted him.

Judges 18:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance to the gate.

Judges 18:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance to the gate.

Judges 18:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ When these men went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

Judges 18:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ They answered him, “Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?”

Judges 18:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Then the priest was glad. He took the ephod, the other household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.

Judges 18:21 (CJB)

²¹ So they turned and left, with their children, cattle and belongings going ahead of them.

Judges 18:22 (CJB)-M

²² When they were a good distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived in the houses near his got together [with him], overtook the people from Dan

Judges 18:23 (NIV)

²³ As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”

Judges 18:24 (NIV)

²⁴ He replied, “You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, ‘What’s the matter with you?'”

Judges 18:25 (CJB)

²⁵ The men from Dan replied, “You had best say no more to us, because some of us might get angry and attack you. You could lose your life, and so might the others in your household.”

Judges 18:26 (CJB)

²⁶ Then the people from Dan went their way; and when Mikhah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

Judges 18:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.

Judges 18:28 (NIV)

²⁸ There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there.

Judges 18:29 (NIV)

²⁹ They named it Dan after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel–though the city used to be called Laish.

Judges 18:30 (NIV)

³⁰ There the Danites set up for themselves the idols, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land.

Judges 18:31 (NLT)

³¹ So Micah’s carved image was worshiped by the tribe of Dan as long as the Tabernacle of God remained at Shiloh.

Judges Chapter 19

Judges 19:1 (NIV)

¹ In those days Israel had no king. Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

Judges 19:2 (NASB)

² But his concubine played the harlot against him, and she went away from him to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for a period of four months.

Judges 19:3 (NASB)

³ Then her husband arose and went after her to speak tenderly to her in order to bring her back, taking with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him into her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he was glad to meet him.

Judges 19:4 (AMP)

⁴ And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, [insistently] detained him, and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank, and he lodged there.

Judges 19:5 (NIV)

⁵ On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go.”

Judges 19:6 (NIV)

⁶ So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the girl’s father said, “Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.”

Judges 19:7 (CJB)

⁷ The man rose to leave, but his father-in-law pressed him, so he stayed there again.

Judges 19:8 (NIV)

⁸ On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the girl’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!” So the two of them ate together.

Judges 19:9 (CJB)

⁹ When the man got up to leave with his concubine and servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, it’s almost evening. Please stay the night — you see that it’s getting late. Stay on, enjoy yourself, and tomorrow get going early on your way home.”

Judges 19:10 (AMP)

¹⁰ But the man would not stay that night; so he rose up and departed and came opposite to Jebus, which is Jerusalem. With him were two saddled donkeys [and his servant] and his concubine.

Judges 19:11 (NIV)

¹¹ When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night.”

Judges 19:12 (NIV)

¹² His master replied, “No. We won’t go into an alien city, whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.”

Judges 19:13 (NIV)

¹³ He added, “Come, let’s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.”

Judges 19:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.

Judges 19:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them into his home for the night.

Judges 19:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the men of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields.

Judges 19:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”

Judges 19:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the LORD. No one has taken me into his house.

Judges 19:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants–me, your maidservant, and the young man with us. We don’t need anything.”

Judges 19:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.”

Judges 19:21 (NIV)

²¹ So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.

Judges 19:22 (NIV)

²² While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.”

Judges 19:23 (NIV)

²³ The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this disgraceful thing.

Judges 19:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.”

Judges 19:25 (NIV)

²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.

Judges 19:26 (NIV)

²⁶ At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

Judges 19:27 (NIV)

²⁷ When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

Judges 19:28 (NIV)

²⁸ He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

Judges 19:29 (NIV)

²⁹ When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel.

Judges 19:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!”

Judges Chapter 20

Judges 20:1 (NIV)

¹ Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out as one man and assembled before the LORD in Mizpah.

Judges 20:2 (NIV)

² The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords.

Judges 20:3 (AMP)

³ (Now the Benjamites [among whom the vile tragedy occurred] heard that the [other] Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) There the Israelites asked, How did this wickedness happen?

Judges 20:4 (NIV)

⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.

Judges 20:5 (NIV)

⁵ During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died.

Judges 20:6 (NIV)

⁶ I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel’s inheritance, because they committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.

Judges 20:7 (NIV)

⁷ Now, all you Israelites, speak up and give your verdict.”

Judges 20:8 (NIV)

⁸ All the people rose as one man, saying, “None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house.

Judges 20:9 (NIV)

⁹ But now this is what we’ll do to Gibeah: We’ll go up against it as the lot directs.

Judges 20:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ We’ll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for all this vileness done in Israel.”

Judges 20:11 (NIV)

¹¹ So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city.

Judges 20:12 (NIV)

¹² The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you?

Judges 20:13 (NIV)

¹³ Now surrender those wicked men of Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.” But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.

Judges 20:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites.

Judges 20:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah.

Judges 20:16 (NKJV)

¹⁶ Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss.

Judges 20:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fighting men.

Judges 20:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, “Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?” The LORD replied, “Judah shall go first.”

Judges 20:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah.

Judges 20:20 (NIV)

²⁰ The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah.

Judges 20:21 (NIV)

²¹ The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day.

Judges 20:22 (NIV)

²² But the men of Israel encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day.

Judges 20:23 (NIV)

²³ The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and they inquired of the LORD. They said, “Shall we go up again to battle against the Benjamites, our brothers?” The LORD answered, “Go up against them.”

Judges 20:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day.

Judges 20:25 (NIV)

²⁵ This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.

Judges 20:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the LORD. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the LORD.

Judges 20:27 (NIV)

²⁷ And the Israelites inquired of the LORD. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there,

Judges 20:28 (NIV)

²⁸ with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering before it.) They asked, “Shall we go up again to battle with Benjamin our brother, or not?” The LORD responded, “Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.”

Judges 20:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah.

Judges 20:30 (NIV)

³⁰ They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before.

Judges 20:31 (NIV)

³¹ The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads–the one leading to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.

Judges 20:32 (NIV)

³² While the Benjamites were saying, “We are defeating them as before,” the Israelites were saying, “Let’s retreat and draw them away from the city to the roads.”

Judges 20:33 (NIV)

³³ All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of its place on the west of Gibeah.

Judges 20:34 (NIV)

³⁴ Then ten thousand of Israel’s finest men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was.

Judges 20:35 (NIV)

³⁵ The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.

Judges 20:36 (NIV)

³⁶ Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten. Now the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush they had set near Gibeah.

Judges 20:37 (NIV)

³⁷ The men who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword.

Judges 20:38 (NIV)

³⁸ The men of Israel had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

Judges 20:39 (NIV)

³⁹ and then the men of Israel would turn in the battle. The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the men of Israel (about thirty), and they said, “We are defeating them as in the first battle.”

Judges 20:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the smoke of the whole city going up into the sky.

Judges 20:41 (NKJV)

⁴¹ And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them.

Judges 20:42 (AMP)

⁴² Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel and fled toward the wilderness, but the battle followed close behind and overtook them; and the inhabitants of the cities destroyed those [Benjamites] who came through them in their midst.

Judges 20:43 (NASB)

⁴³ They surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest and trod them down opposite Gibeah toward the east.

Judges 20:44 (NIV)

⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters.

Judges 20:45 (NIV)

⁴⁵ As they turned and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Benjamites as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

Judges 20:46 (NIV)

⁴⁶ On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters.

Judges 20:47 (NIV)

⁴⁷ But six hundred men turned and fled into the desert to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.

Judges 20:48 (NIV)

⁴⁸ The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.

Judges Chapter 21

Judges 21:1 (NIV)

¹ The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”

Judges 21:2 (NIV)

² The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly.

Judges 21:3 (NIV)

³ “O LORD, the God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”

Judges 21:4 (AMP)

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

Judges 21:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah should certainly be put to death.

Judges 21:6 (NKJV)

⁶ And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today.

Judges 21:7 (NIV)

⁷ “How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”

Judges 21:8 (NIV)

⁸ Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.

Judges 21:9 (NIV)

⁹ For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.

Judges 21:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ And the congregation sent 12,000 of the valiant warriors there, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.

Judges 21:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.”

Judges 21:12 (NIV)

¹² They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.

Judges 21:13 (NKJV)

¹³ Then the whole congregation sent word to the children of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them.

Judges 21:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.

Judges 21:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel.

Judges 21:16 (AMP)

¹⁶ Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women of Benjamin are destroyed?

Judges 21:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.

Judges 21:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’

Judges 21:19 (NASB)

¹⁹ So they said, “Behold, there is a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south side of Lebonah.”

Judges 21:20 (NIV)

²⁰ So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards

Judges 21:21 (NIV)

²¹ and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin.

Judges 21:22 (NLT2)

²² And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’”

Judges 21:23 (NIV)

²³ So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.

Judges 21:24 (NASB)

²⁴ The sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one of them went out from there to his inheritance.

Judges 21:25 (NASB)

²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

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