Now be careful! Do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. ¹ 

Then Samson’s father accompanied him to Timnah for the marriage. ¹  Samson hosted a party ²  there, for this was customary for bridegrooms ³  to do.

Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you deceived ¹  me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.”

They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us, ¹  so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.” ² 

the spies spotted ¹  a man leaving the city. They said to him, “If you show us a secret entrance into the city, we will reward you.”

Gideon ¹  said to him, “But Lord, ²  how ³  can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” ⁴ 

He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, ¹  reporting, “Beware! ²  Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming ³  to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. ⁴ 

Since ¹  the Lord God of Israel has driven out ²  the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? ³ 

The Lord’s angelic ¹  messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You ²  are infertile and childless, ³  but you will conceive and have a son.

The Danites went on their way; when Micah realized ¹  they were too strong to resist, ²  he turned around and went home.

But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, ¹  for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’ ² 

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’s angelic messenger ¹  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ²  was threshing ³  wheat in a winepress ⁴  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ⁵ 

As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the Lord’s messenger went up in it ¹  while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown ²  to the ground.

But if you cannot solve it, ¹  you will give me thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes.” They said to him, “Let us hear your riddle.” ² 

Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s ¹  concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. ²  But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!”

However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel ¹  (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.”

Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, “Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for.” He went with her into the tent, ¹  and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead ²  with the tent peg in his temple.

Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it ¹  is dry, then I will be sure ²  that you will use me to deliver Israel, ³  as you promised.”

When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. ¹  The man ²  said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw ³  a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.” ⁴