The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger appeared and said to him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> is with you, courageous warrior!&#8221;

The <sc>Lordsc> said to him, &#8220;Ah, but<n id="1" /> I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">That night the <sc>Lordsc> said to Gideon,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Get up! Attack<n id="2" /> the camp, for I am handing it over to you.<n id="3" />

But the Ammonite king disregarded<n id="1" /> the message sent by Jephthah.<n id="2" />p>

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.

Jael came out to welcome Sisera. She said to him, &#8220;Stop and rest,<n id="1" /> my lord. Stop and rest with me. Don&#8217;t be afraid.&#8221; So Sisera<n id="2" /> stopped to rest in her tent, and she put a blanket over him.

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" />

Gideon<n id="1" /> said to him, &#8220;If you really are pleased with me,<n id="2" /> then give me<n id="3" /> a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me.

God&#8217;s messenger said to him, &#8220;Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock,<n id="1" /> and pour out the broth.&#8221; Gideon did as instructed.<n id="2" />

He captured a young man from Succoth<n id="1" /> and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth&#8217;s officials and city leaders &#8211; seventy-seven men in all.<n id="2" />

The woman ran at once and told her husband,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Come quickly,<n id="2" /> the man who visited<n id="3" /> me the other day has appeared to me!&#8221;

So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, &#8220;The Philistines are here,<n id="1" /> Samson!&#8221; (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.)<n id="2" /> But he tore the ropes<n id="3" /> from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.p>

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, &#8220;The Philistines are here,<n id="1" /> Samson!&#8221;<n id="2" /> He woke up<n id="3" /> and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.p>

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" />

The Danites said to him, &#8220;Don&#8217;t say another word to us, or some very angry men<n id="1" /> will attack you, and you and your family will die.&#8221;<n id="2" />

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;

When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated<n id="1" /> upper room all by himself. Ehud said, &#8220;I have a message from God<n id="2" /> for you.&#8221; When Eglon rose up from his seat,<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">She summoned<n id="1" /> Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, &#8220;Is it not true that the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel is commanding you? Go, march to Mount Tabor! Take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun!

Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other.<n id="1" /> She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground<n id="2" /> while he was asleep from exhaustion,<n id="3" /> and he died.