Whenever they went out to fight, the Lord did them harm, just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. They suffered greatly.

‘Call judgment down on Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic messenger; ‘Be sure to call judgment down on those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’

The mountains trembled before the Lord, the God of Sinai; before the Lord God of Israel.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord turned them over to Midian for seven years.

The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!”

They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtars.

The Lord raised up leaders who delivered them from these robbers.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.

Hear the sound of those who divide the sheep among the watering places; there they tell of the Lord’s victorious deeds, the victorious deeds of his warriors in Israel. Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger.

“When the leaders took the lead in Israel, When the people answered the call to war – Praise the Lord!

My heart went out to Israel’s leaders, to the people who answered the call to war. Praise the Lord!

When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

When Gideon realized that it was the Lord’s messenger, he said, “Oh no! Master, Lord! I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face!”

The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.”

Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of one hundred ten.

The Israelites did evil before the Lord by worshiping the Baals.