Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. ¹  He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, ² 

Warriors ¹  were scarce, ²  they were scarce in Israel, until you ³  arose, Deborah, until you arose as a motherly protector ⁴  in Israel.

When he got home, ¹  he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. ²  Now get her for my wife.”

He said to his mother, “You know ¹  the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen ²  from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole ³  it, but now I am giving it back to you.” ⁴  His mother said, “May the Lord reward ⁵  you, my son!”

When he gave the silver back to his mother, she ¹  took two hundred pieces of silver ²  to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. ³ 

When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate ¹  this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” ² 

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. ¹ 

His mother’s relatives ¹  spoke on his behalf to ²  all the leaders of Shechem and reported his proposal. ³  The leaders were drawn to Abimelech; ⁴  they said, “He is our close relative.” ⁵ 

He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear, ¹  as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

Through the window she looked; Sisera’s mother cried out through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so slow to return? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariot-horses ¹  delayed?’

The Lord’s spirit empowered ¹  him and he tore the lion ²  in two with his bare hands ³  as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing, ¹  because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines ²  (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel).

But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our ¹  people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.” ²  But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, ³  because she is the right one for me.” ⁴ 

So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder ¹  and said, “You must ²  hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men ³  a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” ⁴ 

He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned ¹  to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass. ² 

Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached ¹  the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him. ² 

The Lord’s messenger told ¹  Manoah, “Your wife should pay attention to everything I told her. ² 

Finally he told her his secret. ¹  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ²  for I have been dedicated to God ³  from the time I was conceived. ⁴  If my head ⁵  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes ¹  and gave them ²  to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. ³