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;

It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?&#8221;<n id="1" /> When he said this, they calmed down.<n id="2" />p>

Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Come on,<n id="2" /> you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.&#8221;<n id="3" /> So Gideon killed<n id="4" /> Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.p>

But if not, may fire blaze from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo! May fire also blaze from the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo and consume Abimelech!&#8221;

He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal&#8217;s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother<n id="1" /> who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them.<n id="2" />

Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled<n id="1" /> the city and spread salt over it.<n id="2" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel handed Sihon and his whole army over to Israel and they defeated them. Israel took<n id="1" /> all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land.

<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 Philistines asked,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Who did this?&#8221; They were told,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Samson, the Timnite&#8217;s son-in-law, because the Timnite<n id="3" /> took Samson&#8217;s<n id="4" /> bride and gave her to his best man.&#8221; So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.<n id="5" />

His brothers and all his family<n id="1" /> went down and brought him back.<n id="2" /> They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led<n id="3" /> Israel for twenty years.p>

<p class="bodytext">They were having a good time,<n id="1" /> when suddenly<n id="2" /> some men of the city, some good-for-nothings,<n id="3" /> surrounded the house and kept beating<n id="4" /> on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, &#8220;Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.&#8221;<n id="5" />

The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;The men of Judah should take the lead.<n id="1" /> Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.&#8221;<n id="2" />

Whenever Israel was strong militarily, they forced the Canaanites to do hard labor, but they never totally conquered them.p>

<p class="bodytext">The men of Ephraim did not conquer the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.p>

<p class="bodytext">The Amorites forced the people of Dan to live in the hill country. They did not allow them to live in<n id="1" /> the coastal plain.

The people<n id="1" /> buried him in his allotted land<n id="2" /> in Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

This is why<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately;<n id="2" /> he did not hand them over to Joshua.p>

The Israelites were subject to<n id="1" /> King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.p>

He brought the tribute payment to King Eglon of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.)p>