Judges 1-6

Judges 1

¹After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of the LORD, saying, “Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”

²The LORD said, “Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.”

³Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot.” So Simeon went with him.

⁴Judah went up, and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck ten thousand men in Bezek.

⁵They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and they fought against him. They struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

⁶But Adoni-Bezek fled. They pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

⁷Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has done to me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, took it, struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

⁹After that, the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland.

¹⁰Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron. (The name of Hebron before that was Kiriath Arba.) They struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

¹¹From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir before that was Kiriath Sepher.)

¹²Caleb said, “I will give Achsah my daughter as wife to the man who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it.”

¹³Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it, so he gave him Achsah his daughter as his wife.

¹⁴When she came, she got him to ask her father for a field. She got off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”

¹⁵She said to him, “Give me a blessing; because you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water.” Then Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

¹⁶The children of the Kenite, Moses’ brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

¹⁷Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.

¹⁸Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.

¹⁹The LORD was with Judah, and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

²⁰They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said, and he drove the three sons of Anak out of there.

²¹The children of Benjamin didn’t drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

²²The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.

²³The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city before that was Luz.)

²⁴The watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.”

²⁵He showed them the entrance into the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go.

²⁶The man went into the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

²⁷Manasseh didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

²⁸When Israel had grown strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and didn’t utterly drive them out.

²⁹Ephraim didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

³⁰Zebulun didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.

³¹Asher didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob;

³²but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they didn’t drive them out.

³³Naphtali didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labor.

³⁴The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;

³⁵but the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. Yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor.

³⁶The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

Judges 2

¹The LORD’s angel came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, “I brought you out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to give your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you.

²You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this?

³Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’”

⁴When the LORD’s angel spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept.

⁵They called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to the LORD.

⁶Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel each went to his inheritance to possess the land.

⁷The 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 work of the LORD that he had worked for Israel.

⁸Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred ten years old.

⁹They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

¹⁰After all that generation were gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who didn’t know the LORD, nor the work which he had done for Israel.

¹¹The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and served the Baals.

¹²They abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger.

¹³They abandoned the LORD, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

¹⁴The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

¹⁵Wherever they went out, the LORD’s hand was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken, and as the LORD had sworn to them; and they were very distressed.

¹⁶The LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.

¹⁷Yet they didn’t listen to their judges; for they prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They quickly turned away from the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the LORD’s commandments. They didn’t do so.

¹⁸When the LORD raised up judges for them, then the LORD was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it grieved the LORD because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.

¹⁹But when the judge was dead, they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. They didn’t cease what they were doing, or give up their stubborn ways.

²⁰The LORD’s anger burned against Israel; and he said, “Because this nation transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to my voice,

²¹I also will no longer drive out any of the nations that Joshua left when he died from before them;

²²that by them I may test Israel, to see if they will keep the LORD’s way to walk therein, as their fathers kept it, or not.”

²³So the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily. He didn’t deliver them into Joshua’s hand.

Judges 3

¹Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

²only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least those who knew nothing of it before:

³the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.

⁴They were left to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the LORD’s commandments, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

⁵The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

⁶They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

⁷The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

⁸Therefore the LORD’s anger burned 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.

⁹When the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

¹⁰The LORD’s Spirit came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. His hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim.

¹¹The land had rest forty years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹²The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the LORD’s sight.

¹³He gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to himself; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.

¹⁴The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵But when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.

¹⁶Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he wore it under his clothing on his right thigh.

¹⁷He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

¹⁸When Ehud had finished offering the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute.

¹⁹But he himself turned back from the stone idols that were by Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The king said, “Keep silence!” All who stood by him left him.

²⁰Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God to you.” He arose out of his seat.

²¹Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body.

²²The handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn’t draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind.

²³Then Ehud went out onto the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.

²⁴After he had gone, his servants came and saw that the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room.”

²⁵They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn’t open the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their lord had fallen down dead on the floor.

²⁶Ehud escaped while they waited, passed beyond the stone idols, and escaped to Seirah.

²⁷When he had come, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he led them.

²⁸He said to them, “Follow me; for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” They followed him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn’t allow any man to pass over.

²⁹They struck at that time about ten thousand men of Moab, every strong man and every man of valor. No man escaped.

³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. Then the land had rest eighty years.

³¹After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. He also saved Israel.

Judges 4

¹The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, when Ehud was dead.

²The LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

³The children of Israel cried to the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time.

⁵She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

⁶She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

⁷I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.’”

⁸Barak 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.”

⁹She said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the journey that you take won’t be for your honor; for the LORD will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.

¹²They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.

¹³Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.

¹⁴Deborah said to Barak, “Go; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn’t the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

¹⁵The LORD confused Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled away on his feet.

¹⁶But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left.

¹⁷However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don’t be afraid.” He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

¹⁹He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, and gave him a drink, and covered him.

²⁰He said to her, “Stand in 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.’”

²¹Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died.

²²Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples.

²³So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day.

²⁴The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Judges 5

¹Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

²“Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, LORD!

³“Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to the LORD. I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁴“LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.

⁵The mountains quaked at the LORD’s presence, even Sinai at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁶“In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways.

⁷The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until I arose a mother in Israel.

⁸They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

⁹My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the LORD!

¹⁰“Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way.

¹¹Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they will rehearse the LORD’s righteous acts, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. “Then the LORD’s people went down to the gates.

¹²‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.’

¹³“Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. The LORD came down for me against the mighty.

¹⁴Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim, after you, Benjamin, among your peoples. Governors come down out of Machir. Those who handle the marshal’s staff came out of Zebulun.

¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak. They rushed into the valley at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben, there were great resolves of heart.

¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheepfolds? To hear the whistling for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and lived by his creeks.

¹⁸Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.

¹⁹“The kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder of silver.

²⁰From the sky the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera.

²¹The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength.

²²Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancing, the prancing of their strong ones.

²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the LORD’s angel. ‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they didn’t come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

²⁴“Jael shall be blessed above women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

²⁵He asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought him butter in a lordly dish.

²⁶She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. With the hammer she struck Sisera. She struck through his head. Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples.

²⁷At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay. At her feet he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

²⁸“Through the window she looked out, and cried: Sisera’s mother looked through the lattice. ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots wait?’

²⁹Her wise ladies answered her, Yes, she returned answer to herself,

³⁰‘Have they not found, have they not divided the plunder? A lady, two ladies to every man; to Sisera a plunder of dyed garments, a plunder of dyed garments embroidered, of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the plunder?’

³¹“So let all your enemies perish, LORD, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest forty years.

Judges 6

¹The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

²The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made themselves the dens which are in the mountains, the caves, and the strongholds.

³So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.

⁴They encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza. They left no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey.

⁵For they came up with their livestock and their tents. They came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.

⁶Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to the LORD.

⁷When the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of Midian,

⁸The LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel; and he said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage.

⁹I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land.

¹⁰I said to you, “I am the LORD your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not listened to my voice.’”

¹¹The LORD’s angel came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.

¹²The LORD’s angel appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

¹³Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴The LORD looked at him, and said, “Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven’t I sent you?”

¹⁵He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

¹⁶The LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷He 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.

¹⁸Please don’t go away until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you.” He said, “I will wait until you come back.”

¹⁹Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

²⁰The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” He did so.

²¹Then the LORD’s angel stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. Then the LORD’s angel departed out of his sight.

²²Gideon saw that he was the LORD’s angel; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord GOD! Because I have seen the LORD’s angel face to face!”

²³The LORD said to him, “Peace be to you! Don’t be afraid. You shall not die.”

²⁴Then 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.

²⁵That same night, the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull, even the second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it.

²⁶Then build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold, in an orderly way, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”

²⁷Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had spoken to him. Because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, he could not do it by day, but he did it by night.

²⁸When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built.

²⁹They said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” When they inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”

³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it.”

³¹Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has broken down his altar!”

³²Therefore on that day he named him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar.”

³³Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.

³⁴But the LORD’s Spirit came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together to follow him.

³⁵He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they also were gathered together to follow him. He sent messengers to Asher, to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

³⁶Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,

³⁷behold, I will 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’ll know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken.”

³⁸It was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

³⁹Gideon said to God, “Don’t let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Please let me make a trial just this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.”

⁴⁰God did so that night; for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.