He said to them, &#8220;Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely!<n id="1" /> I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do!

But since you abandoned me and worshiped<n id="1" /> other gods, I will not deliver you again.

<p class="bodytext">Then Samson&#8217;s father accompanied him to Timnah for the marriage.<n id="1" /> Samson hosted a party<n id="2" /> there, for this was customary for bridegrooms<n id="3" /> to do.

<p class="bodytext">After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.

<p class="poetry">Issachar&#8217;s leaders were with Deborah,p> <p class="poetry">the men of Issachar<n id="1" /> supported<n id="2" /> Barak;p> <p class="poetry">into the valley they were sent under Barak&#8217;s command.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Among the clans of Reuben there was intense<n id="4" /> heart searching.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">May all your enemies perish like this, O <sc>Lordsc>!p> <p class="poetry">But may those who love you shinep> <p class="poetry">like the rising sun at its brightest!&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">And the land had rest for forty years.p>

God&#8217;s messenger said to him, &#8220;Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock,<n id="1" /> and pour out the broth.&#8221; Gideon did as instructed.<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> did as he asked.<n id="1" /> When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl.<n id="2" />

That night God did as he asked.<n id="1" /> Only the fleece was dry and the ground around it was covered with dew.p>

Gideon said, &#8220;Since you will not help,<n id="1" /> after the <sc>Lordsc> hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh<n id="2" /> your skin<n id="3" /> with<n id="4" /> desert thorns and briers.&#8221;

The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> will judge any grievance you have against us,<n id="1" /> if we do not do as you say.&#8221;<n id="2" />

The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites<n id="1" /> gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around.<n id="2" />p>

Adoni-Bezek said, &#8220;Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up<n id="1" /> food scraps<n id="2" /> under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them.&#8221;<n id="3" /> They brought him to Jerusalem,<n id="4" /> where he died.

But they did not obey<n id="1" /> their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped<n id="2" /> them. They quickly turned aside from the path<n id="3" /> their ancestors<n id="4" /> had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s commands, but they did not.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">When Gideon realized<n id="1" /> that it was the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger, he<n id="2" /> said, &#8220;Oh no!<n id="3" /> Master, <sc>Lordsc>!<n id="4" /> I have seen the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger face to face!&#8221;

The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, &#8220;That may be true,<n id="1" /> but now we pledge to you our loyalty.<n id="2" /> Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader<n id="3" /> of all who live in Gilead.&#8221;<n id="4" />

then they said to him, &#8220;Say &#8216;Shibboleth!&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" /> If he said, &#8220;Sibboleth&#8221; (and could not pronounce the word<n id="2" /> correctly), they grabbed him and executed him right there at the fords of the Jordan. On that day forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell dead.

Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, &#8220;Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?&#8221; He said to them, &#8220;I have only done to them what they have done to me.&#8221;

So God split open the basin<n id="1" /> at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength<n id="2" /> was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring<n id="3" /> En Hakkore.<n id="4" /> It remains in Lehi to this very day.

They went up and camped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. (To this day that place is called Camp of Dan.<n id="1" /> It is west<n id="2" /> of Kiriath Jearim.)