Summary Verses 14:2 Samson desires to take a wife from among the Philistines. 14:6 Samson kills a lion. 14:12 Samson gives a riddle to Philistine men attending the wedding. 14:19 His wife betrays his trust and he kills thirty Philistines. 14:20 Samson’s Philistine wife forsakes him and takes another husband. 15:4 Samson ties firebrands to the tails of foxes. 15:6 The Philistines in retaliation burn his ex-wife, her father and their house. 15:15 With the jaw bone of a donkey Samson kills a thousand Philistine men. 15:19 God gives Samson water from the jaw bone after breaking a tooth out of the jaw bone. 16:3 Samson carries away the gates of the city of Gaza. 16:18 Samson is deceived by Delilah. 16:30 Samson pulls down the building killing himself and the Philistines.
Judges Chapter 14 14:1 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 14:2 So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.” 14:3 Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” 14:4 But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord-that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. 14:5 So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. 14:6 And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 14:7 Then he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. 14:8 After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. 14:9 He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. 14:10 So his father went down to the woman. And Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so. 14:11 And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 14:12 Then Samson said to them, “Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. 14:13 “But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” And they said to him, “Pose your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14:14 So he said to them: “Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.” Now for three days they could not explain the riddle. 14:15 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?” 14:16 Then Samson’s wife wept on him, and said, “You only hate me You do not love me You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” And he said to her, “Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?” 14:17 Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people. 14:18 So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down: “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them: “If you had not plowed with my heifer, You would not have solved my riddle” 14:19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father’s house. 14:20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
Judges Chapter 15 15:1 After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a young goat. And he said, “Let me go in to my wife, into her room.” But her father would not permit him to go in. 15:2 Her father said, “I really thought that you thoroughly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead.” 15:3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them” 15:4 Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 15:5 When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. 15:6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. 15:7 Samson said to them, “Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.” 15:8 So he attacked them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; then he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam. 15:9 Now the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah, and deployed themselves against Lehi. 15:10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” So they answered, “We have come up to arrest Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.” 15:11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.” 15:12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Then Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.” 15:13 So they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 15:14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. 15:15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it. 15:16 Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men” 15:17 And so it was, when he had finished speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place Ramath Lehi. 15:18 Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?” 15:19 So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out, and he drank; and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name En Hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. 15:20 And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Judges Chapter 16 16:1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 16:2 When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” 16:3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. 16:4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 16:5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.” 16:7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 16:8 So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. 16:9 Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. 16:10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.” 16:11 So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 16:12 Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson” And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. 16:13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”- 16:14 So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom. 16:15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16:16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 16:17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 16:19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 16:20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. 16:21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 16:22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. 16:23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy” 16:24 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, The destroyer of our land, And the one who multiplied our dead.” 16:25 So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. 16:26 Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.” 16:27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there-about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. 16:28 Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes” 16:29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. 16:30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. 16:31 And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.
Summary Verses 11:2 Jephthah was exiled by his brothers though later made captain over Israel. 11:30 Jephthah made a stupid rash vow because of his pride. 11:32 Jephthah vanquishes the Ammonites. 11:39 Because of his stupid rash vow, which he did not have to keep, he sacrificed his daughter. 12:6 Jephthah kills forty-two thousand Ephraimites. 12:8 Jephthah was succeeded by Ibzan. 12:11 Ibzan was succeeded by Elon. 12:13 Elon was succeeded by Abdon. 13:1 Israel because of their wickedness is oppressed by the Philistines. 13:3 An Angel of the Lord appears to Manoah’s wife. 13:16 The Angel of the Lord commands Manoah to make an offering. 13:24 The birth of Samson.
Judges Chapter 11 11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. 11:2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 11:3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. 11:4 It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. 11:5 And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 11:6 Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.” 11:7 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” 11:8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 11:9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?” 11:10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” 11:11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. 11:12 Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?” 11:13 And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.” 11:14 So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, 11:15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon; 11:16 ‘for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. 11:17 ‘Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh. 11:18 ‘And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 11:19 ‘Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land into our place.” 11:20 ‘But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 11:21 ‘And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. 11:22 ‘They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. 11:23 ‘And now the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? 11:24 ‘Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. 11:25 ‘And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them? 11:26 ‘While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? 11:27 ‘Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.'” 11:28 However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him. 11:29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon. 11:30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, 11:31 “then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” 11:32 So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. 11:33 And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith-twenty cities-and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. 11:34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 11:35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter You have brought me very low You are among those who trouble me For I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it.” 11:36 So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” 11:37 Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.” 11:38 So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. 11:39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel 11:40 that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
Judges Chapter 12 12:1 Then the men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire” 12:2 And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. 12:3 “So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the people of Ammon; and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” 12:4 Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.” 12:5 The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” 12:6 then they would say to him, “Then say, ‘Shibboleth'” And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites. 12:7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in among the cities of Gilead. 12:8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 12:9 He had thirty sons. And he gave away thirty daughters in marriage, and brought in thirty daughters from elsewhere for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. 12:10 Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem. 12:11 After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. He judged Israel ten years. 12:12 And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the country of Zebulun. 12:13 After him, Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 12:14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy young donkeys. He judged Israel eight years. 12:15 Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mountains of the Amalekites.
Judges Chapter 13 13:1 Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 13:2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. 13:3 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 13:4 “Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 13:5 “For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” 13:6 So the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. 13:7 “And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'” 13:8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.” 13:9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. 13:10 Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me” 13:11 So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?” And He said, “I am.” 13:12 Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?” 13:13 So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 13:14 “She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.” 13:15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.” 13:16 And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.) 13:17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?” 13:18 And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?” 13:19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on- 13:20 it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar- the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. 13:21 When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord. 13:22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God” 13:23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time.” 13:24 So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. 13:25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Summary Verses 9:1 Abimelech usurps the kingdom and kills his brethren. 9:7 Jotham proposes a parable. 9:23 Hatred between Abimelech and the Shechemites. 9:26 Gaal conspires against Abimelech and is overcome. 9:53 Abimelech lays siege against a tower and is killed by a woman. 10:2 The death of Tola. 10:5 The death of Jair. 10:7 The Israelites are punished by God for their sins. 10:10 The cry unto the Lord for mercy and God has pity on them.
Judges Chapter 9 9:1 Then Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, 9:2 “Please speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal reign over you, or that one reign over you?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and bone.” 9:3 And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem; and their heart was inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” 9:4 So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men; and they followed him. 9:5 Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. 9:6 And all the men of Shechem gathered together, all of Beth Millo, and they went and made Abimelech king beside the terebinth tree at the pillar that was in Shechem. 9:7 Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted his voice and cried out. And he said to them: “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, That God may listen to you 9:8 “The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us’ 9:9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I cease giving my oil, With which they honor God and men, And go to sway over trees?’ 9:10 “Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us’ 9:11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit, And go to sway over trees?’ 9:12 “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us’ 9:13 But the vine said to them, ‘Should I cease my new wine, Which cheers both God and men, And go to sway over trees?’ 9:14 “Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us’ 9:15 And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me as king over you, Then come and take shelter in my shade; But if not, let fire come out of the bramble And devour the cedars of Lebanon’ 9:16 “Now therefore, if you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him as he deserves 9:17 for my father fought for you, and endangered his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; 9:18 “but you have risen up against my father’s house this day, and killed his seventy sons on one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother 9:19 if then you have acted in truth and sincerity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. 9:20 “But if not, let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and Beth Millo; and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo and devour Abimelech” 9:21 And Jotham ran away and fled; and he went to Beer and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. 9:22 After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, 9:23 God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, 9:24 that the crime done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be settled and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who aided him in the killing of his brothers. 9:25 And the men of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way; and it was told Abimelech. 9:26 Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. 9:27 So they went out into the fields, and gathered grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and made merry. And they went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. 9:28 Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? 9:29 “If only this people were under my authority Then I would remove Abimelech.” So he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out” 9:30 When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was aroused. 9:31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, “Take note Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and here they are, fortifying the city against you. 9:32 “Now therefore, get up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. 9:33 “And it shall be, as soon as the sun is up in the morning, that you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may then do to them as you find opportunity.” 9:34 So Abimelech and all the people who were with him rose by night, and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies. 9:35 When Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance to the city gate, Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from lying in wait. 9:36 And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains” But Zebul said to him, “You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were men.” 9:37 So Gaal spoke again and said, “See, people are coming down from the center of the land, and another company is coming from the Diviners’ Terebinth Tree.” 9:38 Then Zebul said to him, “Where indeed is your mouth now, with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out, if you will, and fight with them now.” 9:39 So Gaal went out, leading the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. 9:40 And Abimelech chased him, and he fled from him; and many fell wounded, to the very entrance of the gate. 9:41 Then Abimelech dwelt at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, so that they would not dwell in Shechem. 9:42 And it came about on the next day that the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech. 9:43 So he took his people, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the field. And he looked, and there were the people, coming out of the city; and he rose against them and attacked them. 9:44 Then Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city; and the other two companies rushed upon all who were in the fields and killed them. 9:45 So Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city and killed the people who were in it; and he demolished the city and sowed it with salt. 9:46 Now when all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that, they entered the stronghold of the temple of the god Berith. 9:47 And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. 9:48 Then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it and laid it on his shoulder; then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done.” 9:49 So each of the people likewise cut down his own bough and followed Abimelech, put them against the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire above them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women. 9:50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he encamped against Thebez and took it. 9:51 But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and women-all the people of the city-fled there and shut themselves in; then they went up to the top of the tower. 9:52 So Abimelech came as far as the tower and fought against it; and he drew near the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 9:53 But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull. 9:54 Then he called quickly to the young man, his armorbearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, ‘A woman killed him.'” So his young man thrust him through, and he died. 9:55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed, every man to his place. 9:56 Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. 9:57 And all the evil of the men of Shechem God returned on their own heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.
Judges Chapter 10 10:1 After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. 10:2 He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir. 10:3 After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. 10:4 Now he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, which are called “Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 10:5 And Jair died and was buried in Camon. 10:6 Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. 10:7 So 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 people of Ammon. 10:8 From that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years-all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead. 10:9 Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed. 10:10 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals” 10:11 So the Lord said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? 10:12 “Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. 10:13 “Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. 10:14 “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.” 10:15 And the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.” 10:16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. 10:17 Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah. 10:18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
Summary Verses 7:1 The Lord commands Gideon to send away a large part of His army. 7:22 God delivers the Midianites into the hands of Gideon and three-hundred men. 7:24 Oreb and Zeeb princes of the Midianites are slain. 8:1 Gideon appeases the tribe of Ephraim who complain after the victory. 8:4 Gideon and his men pass over the Jordan river. 8:16 Gideon avenges himself against the cities of Succoth and Penuel. 8:27 Gideon makes an Ephod which later leads the people into idolatry. 8:30 Summary of Gideon’s sons and his death.
Judges Chapter 7 7:1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. 7:2 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 7:3 “Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.'” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained. 7:4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.” 7:5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” 7:6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. 7:7 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.” 7:8 So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. 7:9 It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. 7:10 “But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, 7:11 “and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. 7:12 Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude. 7:13 And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.” 7:14 Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.” 7:15 And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” 7:16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. 7:17 And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: 7:18 “When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of the Lord and of Gideon'” 7:19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 7:20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers-they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing-and they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon” 7:21 And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. 7:22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. 7:23 And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites. 7:24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.” Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. 7:25 And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.
Judges Chapter 8 8:1 Now the men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you done this to us by not calling us when you went to fight with the Midianites?” And they reprimanded him sharply. 8:2 So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 8:3 “God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger toward him subsided when he said that. 8:4 When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit. 8:5 Then he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.” 8:6 And the leaders of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” 8:7 So Gideon said, “For this cause, when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers” 8:8 Then he went up from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. 8:9 So he also spoke to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I come back in peace, I will tear down this tower” 8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East; for one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen. 8:11 Then Gideon went up by the road of those who dwell in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah; and he attacked the army while the camp felt secure. 8:12 When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them; and he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army. 8:13 Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle, from the Ascent of Heres. 8:14 And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth and interrogated him; and he wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. 8:15 Then he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you ridiculed me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your weary men?'” 8:16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. 8:17 Then he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. 8:18 And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” So they answered, “As you are, so were they; each one resembled the son of a king.” 8:19 Then he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” 8:20 And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them” But the youth would not draw his sword; for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. 8:21 So Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself, and kill us; for as a man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on their camels’ necks. 8:22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.” 8:23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.” 8:24 Then Gideon said to them, “I would like to make a request of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder.” For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites. 8:25 So they answered, “We will gladly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man threw into it the earrings from his plunder. 8:26 Now the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around their camels’ necks. 8:27 Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house. 8:28 Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted their heads no more. And the country was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon. 8:29 Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. 8:30 Gideon had seventy sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives. 8:31 And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. 8:32 Now Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 8:33 So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god. 8:34 Thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; 8:35 nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.
Summary Verses 5:1 The song and thanksgiving of Deborah and Barak after God’s victory. 6:1 The Israelites rebell against God again and oppressed by the Midianites. 6:14 God raises up Gideon to deliever and judge the people. 6:37 Gideon ask God for a sign.
Judges Chapter 5 5:1 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying: 5:2 “When leaders lead in Israel, When the people willingly offer themselves, Bless the Lord 5:3 “Hear, O kings Give ear, O princes I, even I, will sing to the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. 5:4 “Lord, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth trembled and the heavens poured, The clouds also poured water; 5:5 The mountains gushed before the Lord, This Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel. 5:6 “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, The highways were deserted, And the travelers walked along the byways. 5:7 Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel. 5:8 They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. 5:9 My heart is with the rulers of Israel Who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord 5:10 “Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, Who sit in judges’ attire, And who walk along the road. 5:11 Far from the noise of the archers, among the watering places, There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord, The righteous acts for His villagers in Israel; Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates. 5:12 “Awake, awake, Deborah Awake, awake, sing a song Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinoam 5:13 “Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles; The Lord came down for me against the mighty. 5:14 From Ephraim were those whose roots were in Amalek. After you, Benjamin, with your peoples, From Machir rulers came down, And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff. 5:15 And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As Issachar, so was Barak Sent into the valley under his command; Among the divisions of Reuben There were great resolves of heart. 5:16 Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the pipings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart. 5:17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan, And why did Dan remain on ships? Asher continued at the seashore, And stayed by his inlets. 5:18 Zebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield. 5:19 “The kings came and fought, Then the kings of Canaan fought In Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; They took no spoils of silver. 5:20 They fought from the heavens; The stars from their courses fought against Sisera. 5:21 The torrent of Kishon swept them away, That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength 5:22 Then the horses’ hooves pounded, The galloping, galloping of his steeds. 5:23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord, ‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly, Because they did not come to the help of the Lord, To the help of the Lord against the mighty.’ 5:24 “Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents. 5:25 He asked for water, she gave milk; She brought out cream in a lordly bowl. 5:26 She stretched her hand to the tent peg, Her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head, She split and struck through his temple. 5:27 At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; At her feet he sank, he fell; Where he sank, there he fell dead. 5:28 “The mother of Sisera looked through the window, And cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’ 5:29 Her wisest ladies answered her, Yes, she answered herself, 5:30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil: To every man a girl or two; For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments, Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’ 5:31 “Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord But let those who love Him be like the sun When it comes out in full strength.” So the land had rest for forty years.
Judges Chapter 6 6:1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 6:2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 6:3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 6:4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. 6:5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. 6:6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. 6:7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, 6:8 that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; 6:9 ‘and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 6:10 ‘Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.'” 6:11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 6:12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor” 6:13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” 6:14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” 6:15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 6:16 And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” 6:17 Then he said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. 6:18 “Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.” And He said, “I will wait until you come back.” 6:19 So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. 6:20 The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 6:21 Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. 6:22 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.” 6:23 Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” 6:24 So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 6:25 Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; 6:26 “and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.” 6:27 So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. 6:28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. 6:29 So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 6:30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.” 6:31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down” 6:32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.” 6:33 Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 6:34 But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. 6:35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. 6:36 So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said 6:37 look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” 6:38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 6:39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” 6:40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.
Summary Verses 2:1 An Angel rebuked the people for making peace with the Canaanites. 2:11 The Israelites fell into idolatry with the Canaanites after Joshua’s death. 2:14 The Israelites are delivered into their enemies’ hand. 2:16 God delivers the Israelites by raising up judges. 2:21 We understand why God allowed the remaining idolaters to stay. 3:1 The Canaanites were left to test Israel. 3:9 Othniel delivers Israel. 3:21 Ehud kills the wicked king Eglon. 3:21 Shamgar delivers the Israelites from the Philistines. 4:1 Israel sins and is given into the hands of Jabin. 4:4 Deborah judges Israel and exhorts Barak to deliver the people. 4:15 Sisera commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor flees from the battle. 4:17 Sisera is killed by Jael a woman.
Judges Chapter 2 2:1 Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. 2:2 ‘And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 2:3 “Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'” 2:4 So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. 2:5 Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the Lord. 2:6 And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land. 2:7 So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 2:8 Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. 2:9 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 2:10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. 2:11 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; 2:12 and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. 2:13 They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 2:14 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 2:15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. 2:16 Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 2:17 Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. 2:18 And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. 2:19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. 2:20 Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, 2:21 “I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 2:22 “so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” 2:23 Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
Judges Chapter 3 3:1 Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan 3:2 (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), 3:3 namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 3:4 And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 3:5 Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3:6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods. 3:7 So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs. 3:8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. 3:9 When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 3:10 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim. 3:11 So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 3:12 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. 3:13 Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the City of Palms. 3:14 So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. 3:15 But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 3:16 Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. 3:17 So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) 3:18 And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. 3:19 But he himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” He said, “Keep silence” And all who attended him went out from him. 3:20 And Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he arose from his seat. 3:21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 3:22 Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out. 3:23 Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. 3:24 When he had gone out, Eglon’s servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, “He is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber.” 3:25 So they waited till they were embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead on the floor. 3:26 But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Seirah. 3:27 And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them. 3:28 Then he said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. 3:29 And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not a man escaped. 3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years. 3:31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.
Judges Chapter 4 4:1 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. 4:2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 4:3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he harshly oppressed the children of Israel. 4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 4:5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 4:6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 4:7 ‘and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?” 4:8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go” 4:9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 4:10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up with him. 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh. 4:12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 4:13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon. 4:14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 4:15 And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 4:16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left. 4:17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 4:18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. 4:19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 4:20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.'” 4:21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 4:22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple. 4:23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 4:24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
Summary Verses 23:2 Joshua exhorts the people not to intermarry or join themselves with the Canaanites. 23:7 Joshua exhorts the people not to follow the idols of the Canaanites. 23:14 The promise of blessing of the fear God and follow Him. 23:15 The cursing if the people stop following the Lord. 24:2 Joshua rehearses God’s benefits before the people. 24:14 Joshua exhorts the people once more to follow God. 24:25 The covenant renewed between God and the people. 24:29 The death of Joshua. 24:32 The bones of Joseph are buried with his father. 24:33 Eleazar dies. 1:1 After the death of Joshua, the tribe of Judah leads the people in battle. 1:6 Adoni-Besek is captured. 1:14 The request of Achsah. 1:16 The children of Keni. 1:23 The Canaanites are made tributaries; but not destroyed.
Joshua Chapter 23 23:1 Now it came to pass, a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age. 23:2 And Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them: “I am old, advanced in age. 23:3 “You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the Lord your God is He who has fought for you. 23:4 “See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward. 23:5 “And the Lord your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God promised you. 23:6 “Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, 23:7 “and lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them, 23:8 “but you shall hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. 23:9 “For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. 23:10 “One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you. 23:11 “Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. 23:12 “Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations-these that remain among you-and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, 23:13 “know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. 23:14 “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. 23:15 “Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. 23:16 “When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you.”
Joshua Chapter 24 24:1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. 24:2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. 24:3 ‘Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. 24:4 ‘To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 24:5 ‘Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out. 24:6 ‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 24:7 ‘So they cried out to the Lord; and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness a long time. 24:8 ‘And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. 24:9 ‘Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. 24:10 ‘But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 24:11 ‘Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you-also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand. 24:12 ‘I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. 24:13 ‘I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’ 24:14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord 24:15 “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 24:16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 24:17 “for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 24:18 “And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” 24:19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 24:20 “If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” 24:21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord” 24:22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses” 24:23 “Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.” 24:24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey” 24:25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 24:26 Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 24:27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” 24:28 So Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance. 24:29 Now it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old. 24:30 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Serah, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 24:31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 24:32 The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph. 24:33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in a hill belonging to Phinehas his son, which was given to him in the mountains of Ephraim.
Judges Chapter 1 1:1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, “Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?” 1:2 And the Lord said, “Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.” 1:3 So Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me to my allotted territory, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I will likewise go with you to your allotted territory.” And Simeon went with him. 1:4 Then Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand; and they killed ten thousand men at Bezek. 1:5 And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him; and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 1:6 Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 1:7 And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. 1:8 Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. 1:9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in the South, and in the lowland. 1:10 Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. (Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kirjath Arba.) And they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 1:11 From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir was formerly Kirjath Sepher.) 1:12 Then Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife.” 1:13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife. 1:14 Now it happened, when she came to him, that she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?” 1:15 So she said to him, “Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water.” And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. 1:16 Now the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the City of Palms with the children of Judah into the Wilderness of Judah, which lies in the South near Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. 1:17 And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah. 1:18 Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 1:19 So the Lord was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron. 1:20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he expelled from there the three sons of Anak. 1:21 But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. 1:22 And the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 1:23 So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city was formerly Luz.) 1:24 And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you mercy.” 1:25 So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go. 1:26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day. 1:27 However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. 1:28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out. 1:29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; so the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 1:30 Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites dwelt among them, and were put under tribute. 1:31 Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. 1:32 So the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out. 1:33 Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but they dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were put under tribute to them. 1:34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley; 1:35 and the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; yet when the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, they were put under tribute. 1:36 Now the boundary of the Amorites was from the Ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela, and upward.
Summary Verses 20:2 The Lord commands Joshua to appoint cities of refuge. 20:3 The use and names of the cities of refuge. 21:3 The cities given to the Levites. 21:41 Forty-eight cities were given to the Levites. 21:44 The Lord according to His promises gave the children of Israel rest. 22:1 Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh are sent again to their possessions. 22:10 The children of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh build an altar at the Jordan river border. 22:15 The children of the remaining tribes of Israel misunderstand the meaning of the altar. 22:21 The children of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh explain why they built the altar.
Joshua Chapter 20 20:1 The Lord also spoke to Joshua, saying, 20:2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 20:3 ‘that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. 20:4 ‘And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. 20:5 ‘Then if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand. 20:6 ‘And he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.'” 20:7 So they appointed Kedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in the mountains of Judah. 20:8 And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. 20:9 These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwelt among them, that whoever killed a person accidentally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation.
Joshua Chapter 21 21:1 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. 21:2 And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock.” 21:3 So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their common-lands: 21:4 Now the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin. 21:5 The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh. 21:6 And the children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. 21:7 The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun. 21:8 And the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses. 21:9 So they gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities which are designated by name, 21:10 which were for the children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for the lot was theirs first. 21:11 And they gave them Kirjath Arba (Arba was the father of Anak), which is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah, with the common-land surrounding it. 21:12 But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession. 21:13 Thus to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Libnah with its common-land, 21:14 Jattir with its common-land, Eshtemoa with its common-land, 21:15 Holon with its common-land, Debir with its common-land, 21:16 Ain with its common-land, Juttah with its common-land, and Beth Shemesh with its common-land: nine cities from those two tribes; 21:17 and from the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its common-land, Geba with its common-land, 21:18 Anathoth with its common-land, and Almon with its common-land: four cities. 21:19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their common-lands. 21:20 And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot from the tribe of Ephraim. 21:21 For they gave them Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), Gezer with its common-land, 21:22 Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities; 21:23 and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land, 21:24 Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities; 21:25 and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities. 21:26 All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath. 21:27 Also to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities; 21:28 and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land, 21:29 Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities; 21:30 and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land, 21:31 Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities; 21:32 and from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities. 21:33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands. 21:34 And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land, 21:35 Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities; 21:36 and from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land, 21:37 Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities; 21:38 and from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land, 21:39 Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all. 21:40 So all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities. 21:41 All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands. 21:42 Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities. 21:43 So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. 21:44 The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. 21:45 Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Joshua Chapter 22 22:1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, 22:2 and said to them: “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. 22:3 “You have not left your brethren these many days, up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. 22:4 “And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren, as He promised them; now therefore, return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 22:5 “But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 22:6 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. 22:7 Now to half the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half of it Joshua gave a possession among their brethren on this side of the Jordan, westward. And indeed, when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, 22:8 and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.” 22:9 So the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they had obtained according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 22:10 And when they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan-a great, impressive altar. 22:11 Now the children of Israel heard someone say, “Behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan-on the children of Israel’s side.” 22:12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them. 22:13 Then the children of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, 22:14 and with him ten rulers, one ruler each from the chief house of every tribe of Israel; and each one was the head of the house of his father among the divisions of Israel. 22:15 Then they came to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 22:16 “Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord: ‘What treachery is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that you have built for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel this day against the Lord? 22:17 ‘Is the iniquity of Peor not enough for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, 22:18 ‘but that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? And it shall be, if you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 22:19 ‘Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over to the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession among us; but do not rebel against the Lord, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar besides the altar of the Lord our God. 22:20 ‘Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.'” 22:21 Then the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the divisions of Israel: 22:22 “The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, He knows, and let Israel itself know-if it is in rebellion, or if in treachery against the Lord, do not save us this day. 22:23 “If we have built ourselves an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer on it burnt offerings or grain offerings, or if to offer peace offerings on it, let the Lord Himself require an account. 22:24 “But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, “What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? 22:25 “For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between you and us, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part in the Lord.” So your descendants would make our descendants cease fearing the Lord.’ 22:26 “Therefore we said, ‘Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, 22:27 ‘but that it may be a witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, “You have no part in the Lord.” ‘ 22:28 “Therefore we said that it will be, when they say this to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say, ‘Here is the replica of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between you and us.’ 22:29 “Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn from following the Lord this day, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before His tabernacle.” 22:30 Now when Phinehas the priest and the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. 22:31 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh, “This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against the Lord. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord.” 22:32 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the rulers, returned from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought back word to them. 22:33 So the thing pleased the children of Israel, and the children of Israel blessed God; they spoke no more of going against them in battle, to destroy the land where the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt. 22:34 The children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar, Witness, “For it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”
Summary Verses 16:1 The lot assigned to Ephraim. 16:10 They let the Canaanites dwell among them. 17:1 The portion of the half tribe of Manasseh. 17:3 The inheritance to the daughters of Zelophehad. 17:13 Israel allows the Canaanites to become tributaries. 17:14 Manasseh and Ephraim require a greater portion of heritage. 18:1 The tabernacle set in Shiloh. 18:4 Certain men are sent from each tribe to divide the land. 18:11 The lot assigned to the children of Benjamin. 19:1 The portion of Simeon. 19:10 The portion of Zebulun. 19:17 The portion of Issachar. 19:24 The portion of Asher. 19:32 The portion of Naphtali. 19:40 The portion of Dan. 19:49 The possession of Joshua.
Joshua Chapter 16 16:1 The lot fell to the children of Joseph from the Jordan, by Jericho, to the waters of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goes up from Jericho through the mountains to Bethel, 16:2 then went out from Bethel to Luz, passed along to the border of the Archites at Ataroth, 16:3 and went down westward to the boundary of the Japhletites, as far as the boundary of Lower Beth Horon to Gezer; and it ended at the sea. 16:4 So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance. 16:5 The border of the children of Ephraim, according to their families, was thus: The border of their inheritance on the east side was Ataroth Addar as far as Upper Beth Horon. 16:6 And the border went out toward the sea on the north side of Michmethath; then the border went around eastward to Taanath Shiloh, and passed by it on the east of Janohah. 16:7 Then it went down from Janohah to Ataroth and Naarah, reached to Jericho, and came out at the Jordan. 16:8 The border went out from Tappuah westward to the Brook Kanah, and it ended at the sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families. 16:9 The separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. 16:10 And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day and have become forced laborers.
Joshua Chapter 17 17:1 There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph: namely for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war; therefore he was given Gilead and Bashan. 17:2 And there was a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families: for the children of Abiezer, the children of Helek, the children of Asriel, the children of Shechem, the children of Hepher, and the children of Shemida; these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families. 17:3 But Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters. And these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 17:4 And they came near before Eleazar the priest, before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers. 17:5 Ten shares fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side of the Jordan, 17:6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons; and the rest of Manasseh’s sons had the land of Gilead. 17:7 And the territory of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethath, that lies east of Shechem; and the border went along south to the inhabitants of En Tappuah. 17:8 Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim. 17:9 And the border descended to the Brook Kanah, southward to the brook. These cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook; and it ended at the sea. 17:10 Southward it was Ephraim’s, northward it was Manasseh’s, and the sea was its border. Manasseh’s territory was adjoining Asher on the north and Issachar on the east. 17:11 And in Issachar and in Asher, Manasseh had Beth Shean and its towns, Ibleam and its towns, the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of En Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns-three hilly regions. 17:12 Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, but the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. 17:13 And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out. 17:14 Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit, since we are a great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?” 17:15 So Joshua answered them, “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.” 17:16 But the children of Joseph said, “The mountain country is not enough for us; and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Shean and its towns and those who are of the Valley of Jezreel.” 17:17 And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph-to Ephraim and Manasseh-saying, “You are a great people and have great power; you shall not have only one lot, 17:18 “but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong.”
Joshua Chapter 18 18:1 Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them. 18:2 But there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. 18:3 Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you? 18:4 “Pick out from among you three men for each tribe, and I will send them; they shall rise and go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance, and come back to me. 18:5 “And they shall divide it into seven parts. Judah shall remain in their territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain in their territory on the north. 18:6 “You shall therefore survey the land in seven parts and bring the survey here to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. 18:7 “But the Levites have no part among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. And Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.” 18:8 Then the men arose to go away; and Joshua charged those who went to survey the land, saying, “Go, walk through the land, survey it, and come back to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.” 18:9 So the men went, passed through the land, and wrote the survey in a book in seven parts by cities; and they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh. 18:10 Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions. 18:11 Now the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the territory of their lot came out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. 18:12 Their border on the north side began at the Jordan, and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the mountains westward; it ended at the Wilderness of Beth Aven. 18:13 The border went over from there toward Luz, to the side of Luz (which is Bethel) southward; and the border descended to Ataroth Addar, near the hill that lies on the south side of Lower Beth Horon. 18:14 Then the border extended around the west side to the south, from the hill that lies before Beth Horon southward; and it ended at Kirjath Baal (which is Kirjath Jearim), a city of the children of Judah. This was the west side. 18:15 The south side began at the end of Kirjath Jearim, and the border extended on the west and went out to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. 18:16 Then the border came down to the end of the mountain that lies before the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is in the Valley of the Rephaim on the north, descended to the Valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite city on the south, and descended to En Rogel. 18:17 And it went around from the north, went out to En Shemesh, and extended toward Geliloth, which is before the Ascent of Adummim, and descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. 18:18 Then it passed along toward the north side of Arabah, and went down to Arabah. 18:19 And the border passed along to the north side of Beth Hoglah; then the border ended at the north bay at the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the southern boundary. 18:20 The Jordan was its border on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, according to its boundaries all around, according to their families. 18:21 Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, according to their families, were Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 18:22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 18:23 Avim, Parah, Ophrah, 18:24 Chephar Haammoni, Ophni, and Gaba: twelve cities with their villages; 18:25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 18:26 Mizpah, Chephirah, Mozah, 18:27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 18:28 Zelah, Eleph, Jebus (which is Jerusalem), Gibeath, and Kirjath: fourteen cities with their villages. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.
Joshua Chapter 19 19:1 The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. And their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah. 19:2 They had in their inheritance Beersheba (Sheba), Moladah, 19:3 Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem, 19:4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, 19:5 Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susah, 19:6 Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen: thirteen cities and their villages; 19:7 Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan: four cities and their villages; 19:8 and all the villages that were all around these cities as far as Baalath Beer, Ramah of the South. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. 19:9 The inheritance of the children of Simeon was included in the share of the children of Judah, for the share of the children of Judah was too much for them. Therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of that people. 19:10 The third lot came out for the children of Zebulun according to their families, and the border of their inheritance was as far as Sarid. 19:11 Their border went toward the west and to Maralah, went to Dabbasheth, and extended along the brook that is east of Jokneam. 19:12 Then from Sarid it went eastward toward the sunrise along the border of Chisloth Tabor, and went out toward Daberath, bypassing Japhia. 19:13 And from there it passed along on the east of Gath Hepher, toward Eth Kazin, and extended to Rimmon, which borders on Neah. 19:14 Then the border went around it on the north side of Hannathon, and it ended in the Valley of Jiphthah El. 19:15 Included were Kattath, Nahallal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages. 19:16 This was the inheritance of the children of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages. 19:17 The fourth lot came out to Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to their families. 19:18 And their territory went to Jezreel, and included Chesulloth, Shunem, 19:19 Haphraim, Shion, Anaharath, 19:20 Rabbith, Kishion, Abez, 19:21 Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah, and Beth Pazzez. 19:22 And the border reached to Tabor, Shahazimah, and Beth Shemesh; their border ended at the Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages. 19:23 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Issachar according to their families, the cities and their villages. 19:24 The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families. 19:25 And their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, 19:26 Alammelech, Amad, and Mishal; it reached to Mount Carmel westward, along the Brook Shihor Libnath. 19:27 It turned toward the sunrise to Beth Dagon; and it reached to Zebulun and to the Valley of Jiphthah El, then northward beyond Beth Emek and Neiel, bypassing Cabul which was on the left, 19:28 including Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Greater Sidon. 19:29 And the border turned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre; then the border turned to Hosah, and ended at the sea by the region of Achzib. 19:30 Also Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob were included: twenty-two cities with their villages. 19:31 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages. 19:32 The sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali, for the children of Naphtali according to their families. 19:33 And their border began at Heleph, enclosing the territory from the terebinth tree in Zaanannim, Adami Nekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; it ended at the Jordan. 19:34 From Heleph the border extended westward to Aznoth Tabor, and went out from there toward Hukkok; it adjoined Zebulun on the south side and Asher on the west side, and ended at Judah by the Jordan toward the sunrise. 19:35 And the fortified cities are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, 19:36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, 19:37 Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor, 19:38 Iron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth Anath, and Beth Shemesh: nineteen cities with their villages. 19:39 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali according to their families, the cities and their villages. 19:40 The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families. 19:41 And the territory of their inheritance was Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh, 19:42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Jethlah, 19:43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 19:44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 19:45 Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon, 19:46 Me Jarkon, and Rakkon, with the region near Joppa. 19:47 And the border of the children of Dan went beyond these, because the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem and took it; and they struck it with the edge of the sword, took possession of it, and dwelt in it. They called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father. 19:48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages. 19:49 When they had made an end of dividing the land as an inheritance according to their borders, the children of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun. 19:50 According to the word of the Lord they gave him the city which he asked for, Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim; and he built the city and dwelt in it. 19:51 These were the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel divided as an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So they made an end of dividing the country.
Summary Verses 14:1 The land of Canaan was divided among the nine and half tribes. 14:6 Caleb calls for the inheritance promised to him when he was young. 14:13 Hebron was given to Caleb by Joshua. 15:1 The lot given to the children of Judah and the names of the cities and villages. 15:13 Caleb’s portion. 15:18 The request of Achsah.
Joshua Chapter 14 14:1 These are the areas which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel distributed as an inheritance to them. 14:2 Their inheritance was by lot, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. 14:3 For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe on the other side of the Jordan; but to the Levites he had given no inheritance among them. 14:4 For the children of Joseph were two tribes: Manasseh and Ephraim. And they gave no part to the Levites in the land, except cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for their livestock and their property. 14:5 As the Lord had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did; and they divided the land. 14:6 Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. 14:7 “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. 14:8 “Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. 14:9 “So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ 14:10 “And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. 14:11 “As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. 14:12 “Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.” 14:13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. 14:14 Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. 14:15 And the name of Hebron formerly was Kirjath Arba (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim). Then the land had rest from war.
Joshua Chapter 15 15:1 So this was the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families: The border of Edom at the Wilderness of Zin southward was the extreme southern boundary. 15:2 And their southern border began at the shore of the Salt Sea, from the bay that faces southward. 15:3 Then it went out to the southern side of the Ascent of Akrabbim, passed along to Zin, ascended on the south side of Kadesh Barnea, passed along to Hezron, went up to Adar, and went around to Karkaa. 15:4 From there it passed toward Azmon and went out to the Brook of Egypt; and the border ended at the sea. This shall be your southern border. 15:5 The east border was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan. And the border on the northern quarter began at the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. 15:6 The border went up to Beth Hoglah and passed north of Beth Arabah; and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. 15:7 Then the border went up toward Debir from the Valley of Achor, and it turned northward toward Gilgal, which is before the Ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the valley. The border continued toward the waters of En Shemesh and ended at En Rogel. 15:8 And the border went up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to the southern slope of the Jebusite city (which is Jerusalem). The border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the Valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the Valley of Rephaim northward. 15:9 Then the border went around from the top of the hill to the fountain of the water of Nephtoah, and extended to the cities of Mount Ephron. And the border went around to Baalah (which is Kirjath Jearim). 15:10 Then the border turned westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, passed along to the side of Mount Jearim on the north (which is Chesalon), went down to Beth Shemesh, and passed on to Timnah. 15:11 And the border went out to the side of Ekron northward. Then the border went around to Shicron, passed along to Mount Baalah, and extended to Jabneel; and the border ended at the sea. 15:12 The west border was the coastline of the Great Sea. This is the boundary of the children of Judah all around according to their families. 15:13 Now to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a share among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, namely, Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). 15:14 Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak from there: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. 15:15 Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir (formerly the name of Debir was Kirjath Sepher). 15:16 And Caleb said, “He who attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife.” 15:17 So Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 15:18 Now it was so, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?” 15:19 She answered, “Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water.” So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. 15:20 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families: 15:21 The cities at the limits of the tribe of the children of Judah, toward the border of Edom in the South, were Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, 15:22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, 15:23 Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, 15:24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, 15:25 Hazor, Hadattah, Kerioth, Hezron (which is Hazor), 15:26 Amam, Shema, Moladah, 15:27 Hazar Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet, 15:28 Hazar Shual, Beersheba, Bizjothjah, 15:29 Baalah, Ijim, Ezem, 15:30 Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, 15:31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, 15:32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon: all the cities are twenty-nine, with their villages. 15:33 In the lowland: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, 15:34 Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, 15:35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, 15:36 Sharaim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim: fourteen cities with their villages; 15:37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad, 15:38 Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel, 15:39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, 15:40 Cabbon, Lahmas, Kithlish, 15:41 Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah: sixteen cities with their villages; 15:42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan, 15:43 Jiphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, 15:44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah: nine cities with their villages; 15:45 Ekron, with its towns and villages; 15:46 from Ekron to the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their villages; 15:47 Ashdod with its towns and villages, Gaza with its towns and villages-as far as the Brook of Egypt and the Great Sea with its coastline. 15:48 And in the mountain country: Shamir, Jattir, Sochoh, 15:49 Dannah, Kirjath Sannah (which is Debir), 15:50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, 15:51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh: eleven cities with their villages; 15:52 Arab, Dumah, Eshean, 15:53 Janum, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, 15:54 Humtah, Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron), and Zior: nine cities with their villages; 15:55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, 15:56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, 15:57 Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah: ten cities with their villages; 15:58 Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, 15:59 Maarath, Beth Anoth, and Eltekon: six cities with their villages; 15:60 Kirjath Baal (which is Kirjath Jearim) and Rabbah: two cities with their villages. 15:61 In the wilderness: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, 15:62 Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En Gedi: six cities with their villages. 15:63 As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.
