He said to her, “If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, ¹  I will become weak and be just like any other man.”

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.)

When they called out to the Danites, the Danites ¹  turned around and said to Micah, “Why have you gathered together?”

All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba ¹  and from the land of Gilead ²  left their homes ³  and assembled together ⁴  before the Lord at Mizpah.

All Israel rose up in unison ¹  and said, “Not one of us will go home! ²  Not one of us will return ³  to his house!

They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire ¹  tribe has disappeared from Israel today!”

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 

The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered ¹  the hill country, but they could not ²  conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels. ³ 

The people worshiped ¹  the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men ²  who outlived him remained alive. These men had witnessed ³  all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. ⁴ 

When Ehud had left, Eglon’s ¹  servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself ²  in the well-ventilated inner room.” ³ 

The Lord routed ¹  Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword. ²  Sisera jumped out of ³  his chariot and ran away on foot.

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. ¹  Israel might brag, ²  ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ ³ 

The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army ¹  and I will hand Midian over to you. ²  The rest of the men should go home.” ³ 

Gideon used all this to make ¹  an ephod, ²  which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites ³  prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it ⁴  there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

“Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, ¹  if you have properly repaid him ²  –

They went out to the field, harvested their grapes, ¹  squeezed out the juice, ²  and celebrated. They came to the temple ³  of their god and ate, drank, and cursed Abimelech.

Zebul said to him, “Where now are your bragging words, ¹  ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the men ²  you insulted? ³  Go out now and fight them!”

The Ammonite king said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel stole ¹  my land when they ²  came up from Egypt – from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and as far west as the Jordan. ³  Now return it ⁴  peaceably!”

The Lord’s spirit empowered ¹  Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went ²  to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. ³ 

Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and they fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because the Ephraimites insulted them, saying, ¹  “You Gileadites are refugees in Ephraim, living within Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s territory.” ²