he took his men<n id="1" /> and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city,<n id="2" /> he attacked and struck them down.<n id="3" />

So Jephthah left<n id="1" /> his half-brothers<n id="2" /> and lived in the land of Tob. Lawless men joined Jephthah&#8217;s gang and traveled with him.<n id="3" />p>

She said, &#8220;The Philistines are here,<n id="1" /> Samson!&#8221; He woke up<n id="2" /> and thought,<n id="3" /> &#8220;I will do as I did before<n id="4" /> and shake myself free.&#8221; But he did not realize that the <sc>Lordsc> had left him.

When her master<n id="1" /> got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

<t /><p class="bodytext">All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba<n id="1" /> and from the land of Gilead<n id="2" /> left their homes<n id="3" /> and assembled together<n id="4" /> before the <sc>Lordsc> at Mizpah.

The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they<n id="1" /> arranged their battle lines against Gibeah.

The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day.<n id="1" />p>

Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property.<n id="1" />

They abandoned the <sc>Lordsc> God of their ancestors<n id="1" /> who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods &#8211; the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped<n id="2" /> them and made the <sc>Lordsc> angry.

The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s spirit empowered him<n id="1" /> and he led Israel. When he went to do battle, the <sc>Lordsc> handed over to him King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram and he overpowered him.<n id="2" />

But he went back<n id="1" /> once he reached<n id="2" /> the carved images<n id="3" /> at Gilgal. He said to Eglon,<n id="4" /> &#8220;I have a secret message for you, O king.&#8221; Eglon<n id="5" /> said, &#8220;Be quiet!&#8221;<n id="6" /> All his attendants left.

Deborah said to Barak, &#8220;Spring into action,<n id="1" /> for this is the day the <sc>Lordsc> is handing Sisera over to you!<n id="2" /> Has the <sc>Lordsc> not taken the lead?&#8221;<n id="3" /> Barak quickly went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, &#8220;Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for.&#8221; He went with her into the tent,<n id="1" /> and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead<n id="2" /> with the tent peg in his temple.p>

he<n id="1" /> sent a prophet<n id="2" /> to the Israelites. He said to them, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says: &#8216;I brought you up from Egypt<n id="3" /> and took you out of that place of slavery.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">Gideon went and prepared a young goat,<n id="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<n id="2" /> to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.

The men of the city said to Joash, &#8220;Bring out your son, so we can execute him!<n id="1" /> He pulled down the Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.&#8221;

The thornbush said to the trees, &#8216;If you really want to choose<n id="1" /> me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches!<n id="2" /> Otherwise<n id="3" /> may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!&#8217;p>

In the morning at sunrise quickly attack the city. When he and his men come out to fight you, do what you can to him.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Zebul said to him, &#8220;Where now are your bragging words,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?&#8217; Are these not the men<n id="2" /> you insulted?<n id="3" /> Go out now and fight them!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out<n id="1" /> to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines.<n id="2" /> She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.