<t /><p class="bodytext">The Israelites did evil in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sight.<n id="1" /> They forgot the <sc>Lordsc> their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.<n id="2" />

Eglon formed alliances with<n id="1" /> the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees.

<p class="bodytext">When he reached Seirah,<n id="1" /> he blew a trumpet<n id="2" /> in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with Ehud in the lead.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">After Ehud<n id="1" /> came<n id="2" /> Shamgar son of Anath; he killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad and, like Ehud,<n id="3" /> delivered Israel.p>

She would sit<n id="1" /> under the Date Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel<n id="2" /> in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites would come up to her to have their disputes settled.<n id="3" />p>

Israel&#8217;s power continued to overwhelm<n id="1" /> King Jabin of Canaan until they did away with<n id="2" /> him.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">God chose new leaders,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">then fighters appeared in the city gates;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">but, I swear, not a shield or spear could be found,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">among forty military units<n id="4" /> in Israel.p>

<p class="poetry">Hear<n id="1" /> the sound of those who divide the sheep<n id="2" /> among the watering places;p> <p class="poetry">there they tell of<n id="3" /> the Lord&#8217;s victorious deeds,p> <p class="poetry">the victorious deeds of his warriors<n id="4" /> in Israel.p> <p class="poetry">Then the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s people went down to the city gates &#8211;p>

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

Then the <sc>Lordsc> himself<n id="1" /> turned to him and said, &#8220;You have the strength.<n id="2" /> Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites!<n id="3" /> Have I not sent you?&#8221;

Gideon<n id="1" /> said to him, &#8220;But Lord,<n id="2" /> how<n id="3" /> can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.&#8221;<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The men of Israel said to Gideon, &#8220;Rule over us &#8211; you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian&#8217;s power.&#8221;<n id="1" />

Gideon used all this to make<n id="1" /> an ephod,<n id="2" /> which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites<n id="3" /> prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it<n id="4" /> there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites&#8217; fighting spirit was broken.<n id="1" /> The land had rest for forty years during Gideon&#8217;s time.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith<n id="1" /> their god.

The Israelites did not remain true<n id="1" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them.

They did not treat<n id="1" /> the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">After Abimelech&#8217;s death,<n id="1" /> Tola son of Puah, grandson<n id="2" /> of Dodo, from the tribe of Issachar,<n id="3" /> rose up to deliver Israel. He lived in Shamir in the Ephraimite hill country.

The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight with Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim.<n id="1" /> Israel suffered greatly.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The Israelites cried out for help to the <sc>Lordsc>: &#8220;We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped<n id="1" /> the Baals.&#8221;