Deborah and Barak

4 Then ^(A)the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. ² So the Lord sold them into the hand of ^(B)Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in ^(C)Harosheth-hagoyim. ³ The sons of Israel cried out to the Lord; for he had nine hundred ^(D)iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴ Now Deborah, a ^[a]prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She used to ^[b]sit under the ^(E)palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment. ⁶ Now she sent word and summoned ^(F)Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “^[c]The Lord, the God of Israel, has indeed commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. ⁷ I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his ^[d]many troops to the river Kishon, and ^(G)I will hand him over to you.’” ⁸ Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹ She said, “I will certainly go with you; however, the fame shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, ^(H)for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak summoned ^(I)Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up ^[e](J)with him; Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber ^(K)the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the ^[f]father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the ^[g]oak in ^(L)Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹² Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³ Sisera summoned all his chariots, ^(M)nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from ^(N)Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day on which the Lord has handed Sisera over to you; ^[h]behold, ^(O)the Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ^15 (P)And the Lord ^[i]routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶ But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; ^(Q)not even one was left.

¹⁷ Now Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a ^[j]rug. ^19 (R)And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a leather bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. ²⁰ And he said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” ²¹ But Jael, Heber’s wife, ^(S)took a tent peg and ^[k]a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. ²² And behold, while Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he entered ^[l]with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³ So ^(T)God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan on that day before the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And the hand of the sons of Israel pressed harder and harder upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had eliminated Jabin the king of Canaan.

Gideon’s Three Hundred Chosen Men

7 Then ^(A)Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up early, and camped beside ^[a]the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of ^[b]them by the hill of ^(B)Moreh in the valley.

² And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them, ^(C)otherwise Israel would ^[c]become boastful, saying, ‘My own ^[d]power has saved me.’ ³ Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘^(D)Whoever is afraid and worried, is to return and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand from the people returned, but ten thousand remained.

^4 (E)Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. So it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall put everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps ^[e]in one group, and everyone who kneels down to drink in another.” ⁶ Now the number of those who lapped, ^[f]putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water. ⁷ And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you ^(F)with the three hundred men who lapped, and will hand the Midianites over to you; so have all the other people go, each man to his ^[g]home.” ⁸ So ^[h]the three hundred men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And ^[i]Gideon dismissed all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹ Now on the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, ^(G)for I have handed it over to you. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, ¹¹ so that you will hear what they say; and ^(H)afterward ^[j]you will have the courage to go down against the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the ^[k]outposts of the army that was in the camp. ¹² Now the Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the ^[l]people of the east were lying in the valley ^(I)as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, ^(J)as numerous as the sand on the seashore. ¹³ When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I ^[m]had a dream; ^[n]a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it ^[o]upside down so that the tent collapsed.” ¹⁴ And his friend replied, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has ^(K)handed over to him Midian and all the camp.”

¹⁵ When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has handed over to you the camp of Midian!” ¹⁶ And he divided the three hundred men into three ^[p]units, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ Then he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, ^[q]do as I do. ¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets around the entire camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

Confusion of the Enemy

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle night watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰ When the three ^[r]units 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 shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹ And each stood in his place around the camp; and ^(L)all the ^[s]army ran, crying out as they fled. ²² And when they blew the three hundred trumpets, the ^(M)Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the entire ^[t]army; and the ^[u]army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of ^(N)Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. ²³ And the men of Israel were summoned from ^(O)Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

²⁴ Then Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down ^[v]against Midian and ^(P)take control of the waters ahead of them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they took control of the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. ²⁵ And they captured the two leaders of Midian, ^(Q)Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon ^(R)from across the Jordan.

Jephthah, the Ninth Judge

11 Now ^(A)Jephthah the Gileadite was a ^[a]valiant warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. And Gilead had fathered Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(B)Tob; and worthless men gathered ^[b]around Jephthah, and they went ^[c]wherever he did.

⁴ Now it came about, after a while, that ^(C)the sons of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵ When the sons of Ammon fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob; ⁶ and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.” ⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “^(D)Did you not hate me and drive me from my father’s house? So why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?” ⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “For this reason we have now returned to you, that you may go with us and fight the sons of Ammon, and ^(E)become our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and the Lord gives them up ^[d]to me, will I become your head?” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “^(F)The Lord is ^[e]witness between us; be assured we will do ^[f]as you have said.” ¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at ^(G)Mizpah.

¹² So Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “What conflict do you and I have, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ And the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “It is because Israel ^(H)took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the ^(I)Jabbok and the Jordan; so return them peaceably now.” ¹⁴ But Jephthah sent messengers once again to the king of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁵ and they said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁶ For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel ^(J)went through the wilderness to the ^[g]Red Sea, and ^(K)came to Kadesh, ¹⁷ then Israel ^(L)sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land”; but the king of Edom would not listen. ^(M)And they also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they went through the wilderness and ^(N)around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they ^(O)did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ And Israel sent ^(P)messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our place.” ²⁰ But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. ²¹ And the Lord, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel, and they ^[h](Q)defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ^22 (R)So they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. ²³ And now the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from His people Israel; so should you possess it? ²⁴ Do you not possess what ^(S)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess it. ²⁵ Now then, are you any better than ^(T)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ^26 (U)While Israel was living in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? ²⁷ So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me. ^(V)May the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’” ²⁸ But the king of the sons of Ammon ^[i]disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

²⁹ Now ^(W)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over to me the sons of Ammon, ³¹ then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return ^[j]safely from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” ³² So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord handed them over to him. ³³ He ^[k]inflicted a very great defeat on them from Aroer ^[l]to the entrance of ^(X)Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

³⁴ But Jephthah came to his house at ^(Y)Mizpah, and behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him ^(Z)with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵ So when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, my daughter! You have brought me disaster, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have ^[m]given my word to the Lord, and ^(AA)I cannot take it back.” ³⁶ So she said to him, “My father, you have ^[n]given your word to the Lord; ^(AB)do to me just as ^[o]you have said, since the Lord has brought you vengeance on your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷ And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; allow me two months, so that I may ^[p]go to the mountains and weep because of ^(AC)my virginity, I and my friends.” ³⁸ Then he said, “Go.” So he let her go for two months; and she left with her friends, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. ³⁹ And at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her ^[q]what he had vowed; and she ^[r]had no relations with a man. And it became a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰ that the ^[s]daughters of Israel went annually to ^[t]commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days in the year.

Samson’s Marriage

14 Then Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. ² So he came ^[a]back and told his father and ^[b]mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, get her for me as a wife.” ³ But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your ^(A)relatives, or among all ^[c]our people, that you go to ^(B)take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” Yet Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she is right ^[d]for me.” ⁴ However, his father and mother did not know that ^(C)this was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. And at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

⁵ Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him. ⁶ And ^(D)the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, so that ^(E)he tore it apart as one tears apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ So he went down and talked to the woman; and she ^[e]looked pleasing to Samson. ⁸ When he returned later to take her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. ⁹ So he took out ^[f]the honey on his ^[g]hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had took the honey out of the body of the lion.

¹⁰ Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson held a feast there, for the young men customarily did this. ¹¹ When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Samson’s Riddle

¹² Then Samson said to them, “Let me now ^(F)propose a riddle for you; if you actually tell me ^[h]the answer within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty ^(G)outfits of clothes. ¹³ But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty outfits of clothes.” And they said to him, “Propose your riddle, so that we may hear it.” ¹⁴ So he said to them,

But they could not tell the answer to the riddle in three days.

¹⁵ Then it came about on the ^[i]fourth day that they said to Samson’s wife, “^(H)Entice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, ^(I)or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?” ¹⁶ So Samson’s wife wept in front of him and said, “^(J)You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have proposed a riddle to the sons of my people, and have not told it to me.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?” ¹⁷ However she wept before him for seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people. ¹⁸ So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

And he said to them,

¹⁹ Then ^(K)the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men of them and took what they were wearing and gave the outfits of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. ²⁰ But Samson’s wife was ^(L)given to his companion who had been his ^[j]friend.

War with the Philistines

¹⁷ Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, ^(A)all the Philistines went up to seek out David; and when David heard about it, he went down to the ^(B)stronghold. ¹⁸ Now the Philistines came and overran ^(C)the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹ So ^(D)David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You hand them over to me?” And ^(E)the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly hand the Philistines over to you.” ²⁰ Then David came to ^(F)Baal-perazim and ^[a]defeated them there; and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore he named that place ^[b]Baal-perazim.

David’s Triumphs

8 ^(A)Now it happened afterward that David ^[a]defeated the Philistines and subdued them; and David took ^[b]control of the chief city from the hand of the Philistines.

^2 (B)And He ^[c]defeated ^(C)Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and a full line to keep alive. And ^(D)the Moabites became servants to David, ^(E)bringing tribute.

³ Then David ^[d]defeated ^(F)Hadadezer, the son of Rehob king of Zobah, as ^(G)he went to restore his ^[e]power at the Euphrates River. ⁴ And David captured from him ^[f]1,700 horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers; and David ^(H)hamstrung almost all the chariot horses, but left enough of them for a hundred chariots. ⁵ When ^(I)the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David ^[g]killed twenty-two thousand men among the Arameans. ⁶ Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus, and ^(J)the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And ^(K)the Lord helped David wherever he went. ⁷ David took the shields of gold which were ^[h]carried by the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ And from ^[i]Betah and ^(L)Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a very large amount of bronze.

⁹ Now when Toi king of ^(M)Hamath heard that David had ^[j]defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ Toi sent his son ^[k]Joram to King David to ^[l]greet him and bless him, because he had fought Hadadezer and ^[m]defeated him; for Hadadezer ^[n]had been at war with Toi. And ^[o]Joram brought with him articles of silver, gold, and bronze. ¹¹ King David also ^(N)consecrated these gifts to the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had consecrated from all the nations which he had subdued: ¹² from ^[p]Aram, ^(O)Moab, ^(P)the sons of Ammon, ^(Q)the Philistines, ^(R)Amalek, and from the spoils of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

¹³ So ^(S)David made a name for himself when he returned from ^[q]killing eighteen thousand ^[r]Arameans in ^(T)the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ He also put garrisons in Edom. In all Edom he put garrisons, and ^(U)all the Edomites became servants to David. And ^(V)the Lord helped David wherever he went.

¹⁵ So David reigned over all Israel; and David ^[s]administered justice and righteousness for all his people. ^16 (W)Joab the son of Zeruiah was commander over the army, and ^(X)Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was ^(Y)secretary. ^17 (Z)Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were ^(AA)priests, and Seraiah was ^(AB)scribe. ^18 (AC)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada ^[t]was over the ^(AD)Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were ^[u](AE)chief ministers.

^12 (A)Be strong, and let’s show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and the cities of our God; and ^(B)may the Lord do what is good in His sight.”