So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he met the man, he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” He said, “Yes.”

When he looked up and saw the traveler in the town square, the old man said, “Where are you heading? Where do you come from?”

Now Gideon and his three hundred men had crossed over the Jordan River, and even though they were exhausted, they were still chasing the Midianites.

So the Levite agreed to stay with the man; the young man was like a son to Micah.

When the man got ready to leave, his father-in-law convinced him to stay another night.

The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!

He showed them a secret entrance into the city, and they put the city to the sword. But they let the man and his extended family leave safely.

He moved to Hittite country and built a city. He named it Luz, and it has kept that name to this very day.

He divided the three hundred men into three units. He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them.

The woman ran at once and told her husband, “Come quickly, the man who visited me the other day has appeared to me!”

This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to find another place to live. He came to the Ephraimite hill country and made his way to Micah’s house.

So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Why not stay another night and have a good time!”

But the man did not want to stay another night. He left and traveled as far as Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a pair of saddled donkeys and his concubine.

The old man said, “Everything is just fine! I will take care of all your needs. But don’t spend the night in the town square.”

The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master was staying until it became light.

He said to her, “Get up, let’s leave!” But there was no response. He put her on the donkey and went home.

The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, “I and my concubine stopped in Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin to spend the night.

They were having a good time, when suddenly some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, surrounded the house and kept beating on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.”

Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, “Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for.” He went with her into the tent, and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead with the tent peg in his temple.

The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army and I will hand Midian over to you. The rest of the men should go home.”