Go and cry for help to the gods you have chosen! Let them deliver you from trouble!&#8221;<n id="1" />

But the Ammonite king disregarded<n id="1" /> the message sent by Jephthah.<n id="2" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger told<n id="1" /> Manoah, &#8220;Your wife should pay attention to everything I told her.<n id="2" />

So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried and they tied him up with them.

They said to him, &#8220;Seek a divine oracle for us,<n id="1" /> so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.&#8221;<n id="2" />

The priest said to them, &#8220;Go with confidence.<n id="1" /> The <sc>Lordsc> will be with you on your mission.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Meanwhile the six hundred Danites, fully armed, stood at the entrance to the gate.<n id="1" />

So they traveled on,<n id="1" /> and the sun went down when they were near Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin.<n id="2" />

Do this:<n id="1" /> exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male.<n id="2" /> But spare the lives of any virgins.&#8221; So they did as instructed.<n id="3" />

That entire generation passed away;<n id="1" /> a new generation grew up<n id="2" /> that had not personally experienced the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s presence or seen what he had done for Israel.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> was furious with Israel.<n id="1" /> He said, &#8220;This nation<n id="2" /> has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors<n id="3" /> by disobeying me.<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s angelic messenger<n id="1" /> came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash&#8217;s son Gideon<n id="2" /> was threshing<n id="3" /> wheat in a winepress<n id="4" /> so he could hide it from the Midianites.<n id="5" />

So Gideon took ten of his servants<n id="1" /> and did just as the <sc>Lordsc> had told him. He was too afraid of his father&#8217;s family<n id="2" /> and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime.<n id="3" />p>

But Joash said to all those who confronted him,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Must you fight Baal&#8217;s battles?<n id="2" /> Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause<n id="3" /> will die by morning!<n id="4" /> If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles!<n id="5" /> After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.&#8221;<n id="6" />

<p class="bodytext">Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp<n id="1" /> at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying.<n id="2" />

The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels.<n id="1" /> This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry,<n id="2" /> purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels.<n id="3" />

He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal&#8217;s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother<n id="1" /> who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them.<n id="2" />

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;

They ruthlessly oppressed<n id="1" /> the Israelites that eighteenth year<n id="2" /> &#8211; that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead.