<p class="bodytext">After Ehud brought the tribute payment, he dismissed the people who had carried it.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">When the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites&#8217; fighting spirit was broken.<n id="1" /> The land had rest for forty years during Gideon&#8217;s time.<n id="2" />

When he looked up and saw the traveler<n id="1" /> in the town square, the old man said, &#8220;Where are you heading? Where do you come from?&#8221;

So the people came to Bethel<n id="1" /> and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">When Jotham heard the news,<n id="1" /> he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!p>

He quickly called to the young man who carried his weapons,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Draw your sword and kill me, so they will not say,<n id="2" /> &#8216;A woman killed him.&#8217;&#8221; So the young man stabbed him and he died.

His brothers and all his family<n id="1" /> went down and brought him back.<n id="2" /> They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led<n id="3" /> Israel for twenty years.p>

<p class="bodytext">The Benjaminites did as instructed.<n id="1" /> They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives.<n id="2" /> They went home<n id="3" /> to their own territory,<n id="4" /> rebuilt their cities, and settled down.<n id="5" />

He and all his men<n id="1" /> went up on Mount Zalmon. He<n id="2" /> took an ax<n id="3" /> in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it<n id="4" /> on his shoulder and said to his men, &#8220;Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!&#8221;<n id="5" />