So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fee for divination in their hand. They came to Balaam and reported ¹  to him the words of Balak.

Then God met Balaam, who ¹  said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

When Balaam ¹  came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

You must not give in to him or even listen to him; do not feel sympathy for him or spare him or cover up for him.

“The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror ¹  to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ¹  I have let you see it, ²  but you will not cross over there.”

They came to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Make a treaty with us.”

They told him, “Your subjects ¹  have come from a very distant land because of the reputation ²  of the Lord your God, for we have heard the news about all he did in Egypt ³ 

Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby. ¹ 

When Joshua was very old, ¹  the Lord told him, “You are very old, and a great deal of land remains to be conquered.

Eglon formed alliances with ¹  the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees.

Jael came out to welcome Sisera. She said to him, “Stop and rest, ¹  my lord. Stop and rest with me. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera ²  stopped to rest in her tent, and she put a blanket over him.

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?”

Gideon ¹  said to him, “But Lord, ²  how ³  can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” ⁴ 

Gideon ¹  said to him, “If you really are pleased with me, ²  then give me ³  a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me.

God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, ¹  and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed. ² 

He captured a young man from Succoth ¹  and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. ² 

The woman ran at once and told her husband, ¹  “Come quickly, ²  the man who visited ³  me the other day has appeared to me!”

So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here, ¹  Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) ²  But he tore the ropes ³  from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are here, ¹  Samson!” ²  He woke up ³  and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.