<t /><p class="bodytext">Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men<n id="1" /> got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod.<n id="2" /> The Midianites<n id="3" /> were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.

The men<n id="1" /> who were chosen<n id="2" /> took supplies<n id="3" /> and their trumpets. Gideon<n id="4" /> sent all the men of Israel back to their homes;<n id="5" /> he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites<n id="6" /> were camped down below<n id="7" /> in the valley.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God.<n id="1" /> Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, &#8220;Get up, for the <sc>Lordsc> is handing the Midianite army over to you!&#8221;

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" />

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>

There was a fortified<n id="1" /> tower<n id="2" /> in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city&#8217;s leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower.

He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty cities. To this day these towns are called Havvoth Jair<n id="1" /> &#8211; they are in the land of Gilead.<n id="2" />

The leaders<n id="1" /> of Gilead said to one another, &#8220;Who is willing to lead the charge<n id="2" /> against the Ammonites? He will become the leader of all who live in Gilead!&#8221;p>

The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, &#8220;That may be true,<n id="1" /> but now we pledge to you our loyalty.<n id="2" /> Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader<n id="3" /> of all who live in Gilead.&#8221;<n id="4" />

Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, &#8220;All right!<n id="1" /> If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the <sc>Lordsc> gives them to me,<n id="2" /> I will be your leader.&#8221;<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s spirit empowered<n id="1" /> Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went<n id="2" /> to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites.<n id="3" />

The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan River<n id="1" /> opposite Ephraim.<n id="2" /> Whenever an Ephraimite fugitive<n id="3" /> said, &#8220;Let me cross over,&#8221; the men of Gilead asked<n id="4" /> him, &#8220;Are you an Ephraimite?&#8221; If he said, &#8220;No,&#8221;

He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family,<n id="1" /> and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons.<n id="2" /> Ibzan<n id="3" /> led<n id="4" /> Israel for seven years;

Look, you will conceive and have a son.<n id="1" /> You must never cut his hair,<n id="2" /> for the child will be dedicated to God<n id="3" /> from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power<n id="4" /> of the Philistines.&#8221;p>

He said to me, &#8216;Look, you will conceive and have a son.<n id="1" /> So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean.<n id="2" /> For the child will be dedicated<n id="3" /> to God from birth till the day he dies.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">On the fourth<n id="1" /> day they said to Samson&#8217;s bride, &#8220;Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle.<n id="2" /> If you refuse,<n id="3" /> we will burn up<n id="4" /> you and your father&#8217;s family.<n id="5" /> Did you invite us here<n id="6" /> to make us poor?&#8221;<n id="7" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Sometime later, during the wheat harvest,<n id="1" /> Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride.<n id="2" /> He said to her father,<n id="3" /> &#8220;I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!&#8221;<n id="4" /> But her father would not let him enter.

When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s spirit empowered<n id="1" /> him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in<n id="2" /> fire, and they<n id="3" /> melted away from his hands.

Finally he told her his secret.<n id="1" /> He said to her, &#8220;My hair has never been cut,<n id="2" /> for I have been dedicated to God<n id="3" /> from the time I was conceived.<n id="4" /> If my head<n id="5" /> were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When they really started celebrating,<n id="1" /> they said, &#8220;Call for Samson so he can entertain us!&#8221; So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them.<n id="2" /> They made him stand between two pillars.