So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) But he tore the ropes from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

The Lord was furious with Israel and turned them over to the Philistines and Ammonites.

So six hundred Danites, fully armed, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol.

Meanwhile the six hundred Danites, fully armed, stood at the entrance to the gate.

There was a man named Micah from the Ephraimite hill country.

He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest!

The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day.

There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless.

The horses’ hooves pounded the ground; the stallions galloped madly.

Jephthah sent messengers back to the Ammonite king

So the Israelites marched toward the Benjaminites the next day.

The Lord’s spirit empowered Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites.

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

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

All you Israelites, make a decision here!”

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

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father.

But the Ammonite king disregarded the message sent by Jephthah.

From there they traveled through the Ephraimite hill country and arrived at Micah’s house.

When the Israelites turned around, the Benjaminites panicked because they could see that disaster was on their doorstep.