Samson said to them, “Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.”

However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.”

He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them.

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.

That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

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

The next morning the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered up burnt sacrifices and token of peace.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help because of Midian,

The next day the Shechemites came out to the field. When Abimelech heard about it,

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

The people regretted what had happened to Benjamin because the Lord had weakened the Israelite tribes.

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

When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in fire, and they melted away from his hands.

Gideon said, “Since you will not help, after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh your skin with desert thorns and briers.”

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

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.

The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities, the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path.

Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.”

The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi.

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