This is why the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; he did not hand them over to Joshua.

Now Ehud had escaped while they were delaying. When he passed the carved images, he escaped to Seirah.

Warriors were scarce, they were scarce in Israel, until you arose, Deborah, until you arose as a motherly protector in Israel.

He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for a king, she served him curds.

The Lord’s spirit took control of Gideon. He blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.

That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up! Attack the camp, for I am handing it over to you.

He seized the leaders of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them.

“The trees were determined to go out and choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’

So Abimelech and all his men came up at night and set an ambush outside Shechem – they divided into four units.

Jephthah approached the Ammonites to fight with them, and the Lord handed them over to him.

Manoah’s wife gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew and the Lord empowered him.

The Lord’s spirit began to control him in Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

The men hiding in ambush made a mad dash to Gibeah. They attacked and put the sword to the entire city.

That day twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors.

Six hundred survivors turned and ran away to the wilderness, to the cliff of Rimmon. They stayed there four months.

Again they wept loudly. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung tightly to her.

So she gathered grain in the field until evening. When she threshed what she had gathered, it came to about thirty pounds of barley!

Now Boaz, with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative. Look, tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor.

In the middle of the night he was startled and turned over. Now he saw a woman lying beside him!

This man Elkanah went up with all his family to make the yearly sacrifice to the Lord and to keep his vow,