THE BOOK OF JUDGES

Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first to fight against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites and I likewise will go with you into your lot. So Simeon went with him. And Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men....

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the children of Israel served Chushan-Rishathaim eight years. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel and went out to war. And...

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them. And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep,...

And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god. And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side, neither showed kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown unto Israel.

And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, unto his mother’s brethren, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, Speak, I...

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord and served not him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites,...

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and bore not. And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, Behold now, you are barren and bear not, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray you, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing, for you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come on his head...

And there was a man of Mount Ephraim whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, about which you cursed and spoke of also in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be you of the Lord, my son. And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it unto you. Yet he restored the money unto his mother...

And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem-Judah. And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father’s house to Bethlehem-Judah, and was there four whole months. And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses. And she brought him into her father’s house and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him....