The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who tormented and oppressed them.

“In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the roads were deserted, And travelers went by roundabout ways.

Forty Years of Peace

So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon.

that the daughters of Israel went annually to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days in the year.

Samson’s Riddle

Then Samson said to them, “Let me now propose a riddle for you; if you actually tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty outfits of clothes.

So he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.” But they could not tell the answer to the riddle in three days.

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.

So he judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

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

Danites Seek Territory

In those days there was no king of Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day an inheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel.

A Levite’s Concubine Raped and Killed

Now it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah.

His father-in-law, the girl’s father, prevailed upon him, and he remained with him for three days. So they ate and drank and stayed there.

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

and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, Aaron’s son, stood before it to minister in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I stop?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”

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