This is why ¹  the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; ²  he did not hand them over to Joshua.

When the Lord’s messenger finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. ¹ 

The Lord’s angelic messenger ¹  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ²  was threshing ³  wheat in a winepress ⁴  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ⁵ 

Gideon went and prepared a young goat, ¹  along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food ²  to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.

His mother’s relatives ¹  spoke on his behalf to ²  all the leaders of Shechem and reported his proposal. ³  The leaders were drawn to Abimelech; ⁴  they said, “He is our close relative.” ⁵ 

The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish ¹  said to their kinsmen, ²  “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.”