They came from Ephraim, who uprooted Amalek, ¹  they follow ²  after you, Benjamin, with your soldiers. From Makir leaders came down, from Zebulun came ³  the ones who march carrying ⁴  an officer’s staff.

Three hundred men lapped; ¹  the rest of the men ²  kneeled to drink water.

If only these men ¹  were under my command, ²  I would get rid of Abimelech!” He challenged Abimelech, ³  “Muster ⁴  your army and come out for battle!” ⁵ 

When Gaal son of Ebed came out and stood at the entrance to the city’s gate, Abimelech and his men got up from their hiding places.

Gaal again said, “Look, men are coming down from the very center ¹  of the land. A unit ²  is coming by way of the Oak Tree of the Diviners.” ³ 

But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He ¹  assembled his whole army, ²  camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. ¹  I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. ² 

The priest was happy. He took the ephod, the personal idols, and the carved image and joined the group. ¹ 

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!

Among this army ¹  were seven hundred specially-trained left-handed soldiers. ²  Each one could sling a stone and hit even the smallest target. ³ 

The Israelite army ¹  took heart ²  and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before.

So the people came to Bethel ¹  and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably. ² 

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 

Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah, ¹  located in the Negev. ²  They went and lived with the people of Judah. 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 

They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors ¹  who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped ²  them and made the Lord angry.

he ¹  ordered ²  all his chariotry – nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels – and all the troops he had with him to go from Harosheth-Haggoyim to the River Kishon.

Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men ¹  got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. ²  The Midianites ³  were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.

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 

So he brought the men ¹  down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.” ²