That day they killed about ten thousand Moabites ¹  – all strong, capable warriors; not one escaped.

Kings came, they fought; the kings of Canaan fought, at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, ¹  but ²  they took no silver as plunder.

‘Call judgment down on ¹  Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic ²  messenger; ‘Be sure ³  to call judgment down on ⁴  those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, ⁵  to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’ ⁶ 

‘No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder ¹  – a girl or two for each man to rape! ²  Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, ³  he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, ⁴  two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth, for the neck of the plunderer!’ ⁵ 

They invaded the land ¹  and devoured ²  its crops ³  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ⁴  and they took away ⁵  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Then the Lord himself ¹  turned to him and said, “You have the strength. ²  Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! ³  Have I not sent you?”

He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear, ¹  as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

He ordered Jether his firstborn son, “Come on! ¹  Kill them!” But Jether was too afraid to draw his sword, ²  because he was still young.

The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. ¹  The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. ² 

The Israelites did not remain true ¹  to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them.

They did not treat ¹  the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

The Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,

Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave ¹  my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?”

The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will judge any grievance you have against us, ¹  if we do not do as you say.” ² 

and said to him, “This is what Jephthah says, ‘Israel did not steal ¹  the land of Moab and the land of the Ammonites.

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.

You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the Lord our God has driven out before us. ¹ 

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 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 Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. ¹