When Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory, intending to take possession of the land.

When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home.

They turned and went on their way, but they walked behind the children, the cattle, and their possessions.

So they traveled on, and the sun went down when they were near Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin.

They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous men as his followers.

All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem.

When the Ammonites attacked, the leaders of Gilead asked Jephthah to come back from the land of Tob.

The Danites went on their way; when Micah realized they were too strong to resist, he turned around and went home.

They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped them and made the Lord angry.

So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches against the stronghold and set fire to it. All the people of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

So the five men journeyed on and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there were living securely, like the Sidonians do, undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.

The Benjaminites did as instructed. They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. They went home to their own territory, rebuilt their cities, and settled down.