The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;The men of Judah should take the lead.<n id="1" /> Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.&#8221;<n id="2" />

All you Israelites,<n id="1" /> make a decision here!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

When the man got ready to leave<n id="1" /> with his concubine and his servant,<n id="2" /> his father-in-law, the girl&#8217;s father, said to him, &#8220;Look! The day is almost over!<n id="3" /> Stay another night! Since the day is over,<n id="4" /> stay another night here and have a good time. You can get up early tomorrow and start your trip home.&#8221;<n id="5" />

Gideon<n id="1" /> said to him, &#8220;But Lord,<n id="2" /> how<n id="3" /> can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.&#8221;<n id="4" />

He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah,<n id="1" /> reporting, &#8220;Beware!<n id="2" /> Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming<n id="3" /> to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you.<n id="4" />

Gaal again said, &#8220;Look, men are coming down from the very center<n id="1" /> of the land. A unit<n id="2" /> is coming by way of the Oak Tree of the Diviners.&#8221;<n id="3" />

The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s angelic<n id="1" /> messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, &#8220;You<n id="2" /> are infertile and childless,<n id="3" /> but you will conceive and have a son.

The woman ran at once and told her husband,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Come quickly,<n id="2" /> the man who visited<n id="3" /> me the other day has appeared to me!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Delilah said to Samson, &#8220;Look, you deceived<n id="1" /> me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.&#8221;

But his master said to him, &#8220;We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live.<n id="1" /> We will travel on to Gibeah.&#8221;

Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it<n id="1" /> is dry, then I will be sure<n id="2" /> that you will use me to deliver Israel,<n id="3" /> as you promised.&#8221;

When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had.<n id="1" /> The man<n id="2" /> said, &#8220;Look! I had a dream. I saw<n id="3" /> a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.&#8221;<n id="4" />

He approached the men of Succoth and said, &#8220;Look what I have!<n id="1" /> Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, &#8216;You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

Gaal saw the men<n id="1" /> and said to Zebul, &#8220;Look, men are coming down from the tops of the hills.&#8221; But Zebul said to him, &#8220;You are seeing the shadows on the hills &#8211; it just looks like men.&#8221;<n id="2" />

So Samson&#8217;s bride cried on his shoulder<n id="1" /> and said, &#8220;You must<n id="2" /> hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men<n id="3" /> a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.&#8221; He said to her, &#8220;Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?&#8221;<n id="4" />

The Gazites were told,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Samson has come here!&#8221; So they surrounded the town<n id="2" /> and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave.<n id="3" /> They relaxed<n id="4" /> all night, thinking,<n id="5" /> &#8220;He will not leave<n id="6" /> until morning comes;<n id="7" /> then we will kill him!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Delilah said to Samson, &#8220;Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.&#8221; He said to her, &#8220;If you weave the seven braids of my hair<n id="1" /> into the fabric on the loom<n id="2" /> and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.&#8221;

He said to his mother, &#8220;You know<n id="1" /> the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen<n id="2" /> from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole<n id="3" /> it, but now I am giving it back to you.&#8221;<n id="4" /> His mother said, &#8220;May the <sc>Lordsc> reward<n id="5" /> you, my son!&#8221;

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.)

Here are my virgin daughter and my guest&#8217;s<n id="1" /> concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like.<n id="2" /> But don&#8217;t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!&#8221;