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.

When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways.

They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.

When he reached Seirah, he blew a trumpet in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with Ehud in the lead.

After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath; he killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad and, like Ehud, delivered Israel.

He said to her, “Stand watch at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes along and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say ‘No.’”

The Lord did as he asked. When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl.

Three hundred men lapped; the rest of the men kneeled to drink water.

He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do!

Gideon went up the road of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army.

Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god.

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

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

The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will judge any grievance you have against us, if we do not do as you say.”

Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power.

He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel for eight years.

As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the Lord’s messenger went up in it while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown to the ground.

Her father said, “I really thought you absolutely despised her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!”

Samson said to her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man.”