The Lord was furious with Israel. ¹  He said, “This nation ²  has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors ³  by disobeying me. ⁴ 

They invaded the land ¹  and devoured ²  its crops ³  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ⁴  and they took away ⁵  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ¹  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give ¹  bread to your army?” ² 

He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. ¹  The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had. ² 

Gideon went up the road of the nomads ¹  east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army. ² 

He captured a young man from Succoth ¹  and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. ² 

He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear, ¹  as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

He ordered Jether his firstborn son, “Come on! ¹  Kill them!” But Jether was too afraid to draw his sword, ²  because he was still young.

Gideon son of Joash died at a very ¹  old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith ¹  their god.

Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. ¹  He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, ² 

When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem ¹  heard the news, they went to the stronghold ²  of the temple of El-Berith. ³ 

Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “All right! ¹  If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, ²  I will be your leader.” ³ 

The Lord’s angelic ¹  messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You ²  are infertile and childless, ³  but you will conceive and have a son.

The woman ran at once and told her husband, ¹  “Come quickly, ²  the man who visited ³  me the other day has appeared to me!”

So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he met ¹  the man, he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” ²  He said, “Yes.” ³ 

Manoah said, “Now, when your announcement comes true, ¹  how should the child be raised and what should he do?” ² 

Now this man Micah owned a shrine. ¹  He made an ephod ²  and some personal idols and hired one of his sons to serve as a priest. ³ 

They went up and camped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. (To this day that place is called Camp of Dan. ¹  It is west ²  of Kiriath Jearim.)