Ehud made himself a sword – it had two edges and was eighteen inches long. ¹  He strapped it under his coat on his right thigh.

When Ehud had left, Eglon’s ¹  servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself ²  in the well-ventilated inner room.” ³ 

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?”

When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated ¹  upper room all by himself. Ehud said, “I have a message from God ²  for you.” When Eglon rose up from his seat, ³ 

But he went back ¹  once he reached ²  the carved images ³  at Gilgal. He said to Eglon, ⁴  “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Eglon ⁵  said, “Be quiet!” ⁶  All his attendants left.

He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, ¹  the seventy legitimate ²  sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, ³  because he hid.

But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ¹  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ²  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ³  will die by morning! ⁴  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ⁵  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ⁶ 

In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite ¹  living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine ²  from Bethlehem ³  in Judah.

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

Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple ¹  and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other.

Now Heber the Kenite had moved away ¹  from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He lived ²  near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

So he brought the men ¹  down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.” ² 

and keep your eyes open. ¹  When you see ²  the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, ³  jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin.

The Lord’s spirit took control of ¹  Gideon. He blew a trumpet, ²  summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. ³ 

Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard ¹  and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. ² 

That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ¹  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. ¹ 

When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out ¹  to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. ²  She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

They stopped there and decided to spend the night ¹  in Gibeah. They came into the city and sat down in the town square, but no one invited them to spend the night. ²