Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple<n id="1" /> and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other.

This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to find another place to live. He came to the Ephraimite hill country and made his way to Micah&#8217;s house.<n id="1" />

Micah said to him, &#8220;Where do you come from?&#8221; He replied, &#8220;I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for a new place to live.&#8221;<n id="1" />

He said, &#8220;You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, &#8216;What do you want?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />

They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel&#8217;s sons.<n id="1" /> But the city&#8217;s name used to be Laish.

They worshiped<n id="1" /> Micah&#8217;s carved image<n id="2" /> the whole time God&#8217;s authorized shrine<n id="3" /> was in Shiloh.p>

But his master said to him, &#8220;We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live.<n id="1" /> We will travel on to Gibeah.&#8221;

The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master<n id="1" /> was staying until it became light.<n id="2" />

The Levite,<n id="1" /> the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, &#8220;I and my concubine stopped in<n id="2" /> Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin<n id="3" /> to spend the night.

<p class="bodytext">The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe<n id="1" /> of Benjamin, saying, &#8220;How could such a wicked thing take place?<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">The Israelite army<n id="1" /> took heart<n id="2" /> and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before.

Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated.p> <p class="bodytext">The Israelites retreated before<n id="1" /> Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah.

They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook<n id="1" /> them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed.<n id="1" />

The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites<n id="1" /> gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around.<n id="2" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Gideon again, &#8220;There are still too many men.<n id="1" /> Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more.<n id="2" /> When I say, &#8216;This one should go with you,&#8217; pick him to go;<n id="3" /> when I say,<n id="4" /> &#8216;This one should not go with you,&#8217; do not take him.&#8221;<n id="5" />

He and all his men<n id="1" /> went up on Mount Zalmon. He<n id="2" /> took an ax<n id="3" /> in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it<n id="4" /> on his shoulder and said to his men, &#8220;Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!&#8221;<n id="5" />

Adoni-Bezek said, &#8220;Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up<n id="1" /> food scraps<n id="2" /> under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them.&#8221;<n id="3" /> They brought him to Jerusalem,<n id="4" /> where he died.

<p class="bodytext">Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses&#8217; father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah,<n id="1" /> located in the Negev.<n id="2" /> They went and lived with the people of Judah.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s angelic messenger<n id="1" /> went up from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, &#8220;I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land I had solemnly promised to give to your ancestors.<n id="2" /> I said, &#8216;I will never break my agreement<n id="3" /> with you,