The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!

She summoned ¹  Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, “Is it not true that the Lord God of Israel is commanding you? Go, march to Mount Tabor! Take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun!

He and all his men ¹  went up on Mount Zalmon. He ²  took an ax ³  in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it ⁴  on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” ⁵ 

The Philistines asked, ¹  “Who did this?” They were told, ²  “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite ³  took Samson’s ⁴  bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. ⁵ 

Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord ¹  in those days), “Should we ²  once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, ³  or should we ⁴  quit?” The Lord said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them ⁵  over to you.”

When the man got ready to leave ¹  with his concubine and his servant, ²  his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look! The day is almost over! ³  Stay another night! Since the day is over, ⁴  stay another night here and have a good time. You can get up early tomorrow and start your trip home.” ⁵ 

Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. ¹  He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. ²  He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron. ³ 

The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole ¹  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. ² 

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

So Gideon took ten of his servants ¹  and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family ²  and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime. ³ 

They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. ¹  They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb ²  in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites ³  and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River. ⁴ 

When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people ¹  from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them ²  when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them. ³ 

So if you have shown loyalty and integrity to Jerub-Baal and his family ¹  today, then may Abimelech bring you happiness and may you bring him happiness! ² 

Samson led ¹  Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence. ² 

The Israelites got up the next morning and moved ¹  against Gibeah.

So Abimelech and all his men came up ¹  at night and set an ambush outside Shechem – they divided into ²  four units.

The priest said to them, “Go with confidence. ¹  The Lord will be with you on your mission.” ² 

Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down. ¹ 

The Israelites did evil before ¹  the Lord by worshiping ²  the Baals.

Go and cry for help to the gods you have chosen! Let them deliver you from trouble!” ¹