In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael caravans ¹  disappeared; ²  travelers ³  had to go on winding side roads.

God chose new leaders, ¹  then fighters appeared in the city gates; ²  but, I swear, not a shield or spear could be found, ³  among forty military units ⁴  in Israel.

The men of Benjamin, however, did not conquer the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. ¹  The Jebusites live with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this very day. ² 

He struck them down and defeated them. ¹  Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.

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.)

They ruthlessly oppressed ¹  the Israelites that eighteenth year ²  – that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead.

When he reached Seirah, ¹  he blew a trumpet ²  in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with Ehud in the lead. ³ 

Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated. The Israelites retreated before ¹  Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah.

The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight ¹  after Ehud’s death.

His concubine, ¹  who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech. ² 

However, she ¹  got angry at him ²  and went home ³  to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. When she had been there four months,

They stopped there and decided to spend the night ¹  in Gibeah. They came into the city and sat down in the town square, but no one invited them to spend the night. ² 

The Israelites and the men hiding in ambush had arranged a signal. When the men hiding in ambush ¹  sent up a smoke signal from the city,

He led ¹  Israel for twenty-three years, then died and was buried in Shamir.

The Lord’s spirit began to control him ¹  in Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Now, come up ¹  at night with your men ²  and set an ambush in the field outside the city. ³ 

The Levite, ¹  the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, “I and my concubine stopped in ²  Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin ³  to spend the night.

All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. ¹  Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”

The Amorites managed ¹  to remain in Har Heres, ²  Aijalon, and Shaalbim. Whenever the tribe of Joseph was strong militarily, ³  the Amorites were forced to do hard labor.