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Previous Story - INDEX - Next Story Joshua And Judges 1. Preparation For Crossing The Jordan 2. Rahab And The Two Spies 3. Israel Crosses The Jordan River 4. Israel Picks Up Twelve Stones Out Of The Jordan 5. The Manna Stops Coming And The People Eat From The Land 6. Joshua Meets The Captain Of The Lord Of Hosts 7. Directions Given By God Of How To Take Jericho 8. Achan's Sin Discovered 9. Joshua Takes Ai 10. The Gibeonites Deceive Israel 11. The Sun Stands Still 12. Five Kings Hide In A Cave 13. Joshua Captures More Of Canaan 14. Joshua Takes The Whole Land According To What The Lord Told Moses 15. A List Of Kings Defeated 16. Joshua Is Old And Much Remains To Be Done 17. Joshua Give Hebron To Caleb 18. More Of The Land Divided Up By Lot 19. Joshua Designates The Cities Of Refuge 20. The Levites Are Given Pasture Land 21. The Tribes East Of The Jordan Cause Consternation 22. Israel Has Rest From All Their Enemies 23. Joshua's Final Words 24. Deborah 25. Gideon Called To Deliver Israel 26. Gideon Selects His Army And Defeats Midian 27. Gideon's Mopping Up Action 28. Abimelech 29. Israel Calls On God For Deliverance 30. Jephthah Saves Israel 31. Jephthah Fights Ephraim 32. Samson, Miracle Child 33. Samson Takes A Wife 34. Samson And Three Hundred Foxes 35. Samson Kills A Thousand Philistines 36. Samson And Delilah 1. Preparation For Crossing The Jordan - Back to Page Index Joshua 1:1-18 After the death of Moses, the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, who had been Moses servant, saying, "Moses My servant is dead. Arise and cross this Jordan with all the people into the land I am giving to the children of Israel. Just as I said to Moses, every place you set your foot I have given to you. From the wilderness and Lebanon as far as the great river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. All of your life no man will be able to stand before you. I will be with you just as I was with Moses and I will not forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers. Just be careful to show your courage by doing exactly as I commanded Moses in the law. Do not turn from it to the right or the left. Then you will succeed. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe it in every particular. Doing this will bring you success. Haven't I commanded you to be strong and full of courage? Do not tremble or be concerned, for the LORD your God is always with you." Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people to prepare provisions, for in three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and possess the land the LORD is giving you." To the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, "Remember the word which Moses, God's servant, said to you about when you would have rest in your land. Your wives, your little ones and your cattle shall remain in the land that Moses gave to you east of the Jordan. But you shall cross over to help your brothers in battle, until the LORD gives your brothers rest, as He has given you, and they possess the land promised by the God of their fathers. Then you may return to your own land which the LORD gave you east of the Jordan." They answered Joshua, saying, "All that you command we will do. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD be with you as He was with Moses. Anyone who does not obey your words shall be put to death. Be strong and courageous." 2. Rahab And The Two Spies - Back to Page Index Joshua 2:1-24 Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men from Shittim to secretly spy out the land, especially Jericho. So they went and lodged at the house of a harlot named Rahab. The king of Jericho was told that two men from the children of Israel had come that evening to search out the country. He sent word to Rahab that she should bring out the men who had come to her house for they had come to search out the land. Instead she hid the two men and said to those who came for the men, "Yes, the men came to me but I did not know where they were from. When it was dark and time to shut the gate, they left and I do not know where they went. Pursue them quickly and you will overtake them." In fact, she had brought them up on the roof and covered them with stalks of flax she had laid out. So the king's men went out on the road to the fords at the Jordon trying to find the men, the gates of the city having been shut behind them. Before the two spies lay down, she came up on the roof, and said to them, "I know the LORD has given you the land, for the terror of you has fallen on us. We have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea when you came out of Egypt. We heard of how you utterly destroyed Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites, and their people beyond the Jordan. When we heard it our hearts melted with fear because the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. Please swear to me by the LORD to deal kindly with me and my household, since I have dealt kindly with you. Spare my father and mother, my sisters and all who belong to them and deliver us from death." So the men said to her, "You saved our lives and if you do not tell your king about us then when the LORD gives us this land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you." Then she let them down through the window of her house which was on the city wall. She had told them to go to the hill country and hide themselves for three days until their pursuers returned from their search. Then they could safely be on their way. The men then said, "To keep the oath we made, you must bind a scarlet cord in your window so that we may know it is your house and that of your father's household. If anyone leaves your house his blood shall be on his own head. Those in your house will not be hurt. But if you tell this information to anyone, we shall be free of our oath to you." She said, "Just as you say, it shall be." So she sent them away and then tied the scarlet cord in her window. The two men departed and came to the hill country and remained there for three days until those pursuing them had gone back to Jericho. Then they went back over the Jordan and related everything to Joshua the son of Nun, saying, "Surely the LORD has given all the land into our hands. All the inhabitants are very afraid of us." 3. Israel Crosses The Jordan River - Back to Page Index Joshua 3:1-17 Then Joshua got up early the next day and he and all Israel left Shittim for the Jordan River where they lodged before crossing over. After three days the officers went through the camp, saying to the people, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, you shall follow after it. But you must keep a distance of about 2,000 cubits (3,000 feet) from it. Do not come near the ark, but follow after it." Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders before your eyes." He spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people. Now the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of Israel, that they may know that just as I have been with Moses, so I will be with you. Tell the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant that when they come to the edge of the Jordan River, they shall stand still in it." Then Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here and hear the words of the LORD your God. Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will dispossess the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite and the Jebusite. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the LORD of all the earth will cross over the Jordan ahead of you. Appoint one man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. And when the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the LORD are in the water, the Jordan will pile up and cease to flow where the priests who carry the ark are standing." So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, following the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, and when those carrying the ark came to the Jordan and their feet dipped into the edge of the water, for it was harvest time and the river was overflowing its banks, the waters above piled up at the town of Adam beside Zarethan so that the river bed dried up and the water flowing down toward the salt sea of the plain were cut off. And the people crossed the Jordan opposite Jericho. The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel finished crossing over. 4. Israel Picks Up Twelve Stones Out Of The Jordan - Back to Page Index Joshua 4:1-14 When the entire nation of Israel had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, "Choose one man from each tribe. Command them to each pick up a stone from the middle of the Jordan River bed where the priests are standing. They are to each carry a rock to camp." So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed, one from each tribe. And he said to them, "Go to where the ark of the LORD your God is in the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, one stone for each of the twelve tribes. Let these be a sign to you so that when your children ask, what do these stones mean?" Then you say to them, "The LORD cut off the waters of the Jordan before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. While the waters were cut off these stones were gathered from the river bed as a memorial to the children of Israel forever." So these men did as Joshua commanded. Each one took a stone from the middle of the Jordan, just as the LORD had said to Joshua, and carried it to the camp site on the west of the Jordan. Then Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been picked up at the feet of the priests who were standing in the middle of the Jordan holding the ark of the covenant. The stones remain to this day where Joshua piled them. The priests who carried the ark stood in the middle of the river bed while Joshua spoke the LORD's command to the people, and the people hurried across the dry river bed. When all the people had finished crossing, and the children of Reuben, of Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them. There were about 40,000 men equipped for war from the tribes that had settled east of the Jordan who now came to the plains of Jericho. On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the eyes of Israel. And they revered him all the days of his life just as they had revered Moses.
5. The Manna Stops Coming And The People Eat From The Land - Back to Page Index Joshua 5:1-12 Now it happened that when the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan and the kings of the Canaanites by the sea heard of how the LORD dried up the waters of the Jordan so that Israel could cross, it caused their hearts melted with fear. At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the children of Israel a second time." So Joshua did this at the hill of the foreskins (Gibeath Haaraloth). This needed to be done was because the men who came from Egypt had died. Those men had been circumcised but the ones born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. The LORD had sworn that He would not let those who lacked faith enter Canaan to see the land of milk and honey that He had promised to their fathers. It was their children who had taken their place whom Joshua circumcised because they had not been circumcised. After being circumcised they remained in camp until they had healed. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have taken away the reproach of Egypt from you." So the place is called Gilgal to this day. While the children of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho. On the day following Passover they ate unleavened cakes and parched grain from the produce of the land. Manna stopped falling on that day because they had food from the land of Canaan from then on.
6. Joshua Meets The Captain Of The Lord Of Hosts - Back to Page Index Joshua 5:13-15 Joshua was by Jericho when he saw a man standing not far from him with a drawn sword. Joshua went toward him and said, "Are you for us or against us?" He answered, "I have come as Captain of the LORD's host." Then Joshua fell on his face and said, "What has my Lord to say to His servant?" The Captain of the LORD's host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground." And Joshua removed his sandals. 7. Directions Given By God Of How To Take Jericho - Back to Page Index Joshua 6:1-27 At this time the gates of Jericho were tightly shut for fear of the children of Israel. The LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given you Jericho, along with its king and everyone in it. You and all your men of war shall march around the city once each day for six days. Seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of ram's horns ahead of the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times and the priests shall then blow the trumpets. At the moment you hear them make a long blast with the ram's horns, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat. Then every man shall go straight into the city." So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and told them to take up the ark of the covenant, and have seven priests each carry a ram's horn trumpet before the ark of the LORD. Then he directed the people, saying, "Go forward and march around the city. The armed men are to go before the ark of the LORD." And the people did just as Joshua had told them to do. The armed men came first, then the seven priests with their trumpets. The rear guard came after the ark. All the while the trumpets were being blown. Joshua told the people they were not to shout or even speak a word until they were told to shout. So he had the ark of the LORD taken around the city, circling it only once that first day. Then they returned to camp and spent the night. Joshua rose early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD once more. The seven priests carried the ram's horn trumpets before the ark of the LORD, blowing them continually with the armed men going before them and the rear guard following after the ark of the LORD. On this second day they marched around the city just once and then returned to camp. They repeated this for six days. On the seventh day they rose at dawn and marched around the city in the same manner, but on this day they marched around the city seven times. On the seventh time around when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given the city to you. Everything in it belongs to the LORD. You are banned from taking anything for yourselves. Only Rahab and those with her shall be allowed to live, because she hid the messengers we sent. And you must keep yourselves from the things of the city, for the LORD has banned these. Do not covet or take anything and thereby bring a curse on the camp of Israel. All the silver and gold, articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD and shall go into His treasury." So when the people heard the sound of the trumpets blown by the priests, they shouted with a mighty shout and the walls fell down flat. Then they went up into the city and took it. They utterly destroyed every man and woman, young and old, and the oxen, the sheep and the donkeys, with the edge of the sword. Joshua sent the two men who had spied out the land into the harlot's house to bring her and her family out to safety as they had sworn. So they brought Rahab and her father and mother, her brothers and all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city and everything in it. Only the silver, the gold and the articles of bronze and iron were put in the treasury of the LORD. And only Rahab and her relatives were spared by Joshua. She continued to lived in the midst of Israel to this day because she hid the messengers Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. At this time Joshua made them take an oath, saying, "Cursed before the LORD is the man who rebuilds Jericho. He will lose his firstborn when he lays the foundation and his youngest son when he sets up its gates." So the LORD was with Joshua giving him fame in all the land. 8. Achan's Sin Discovered - Back to Page Index Joshua 7:1-26 But the children of Israel acted unfaithful in regard to those things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah from the tribe of Judah, took some things that were banned and the anger of the LORD was against Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai which is near Bethaven east of Bethel. He told them to go up and spy out Ai. They did this, and returned to Joshua, saying, "All of Israel is not needed. Only about two or three thousand soldiers are needed to take Ai for they are few people." So about three thousand men of Israel went up but they were routed before the men of Ai, who struck down about thirty six of Israel's men and pursued them as far as the gate of Shebarim striking them down on the descent. This caused the children of Israel's hearts to melt with fear. Joshua tore his clothes and fell on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening. So did the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. Joshua said, "Alas, O LORD God, why did You bring this people across the Jordan only to deliver them into the hand of the Amorites. We could have lived east of the Jordan. O LORD, what can I say now that Israel has turned their back before their enemies? The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it. They will surround us and remove us from the earth. What are You going to do for Your great name?" So the LORD said to Joshua, "Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned. They have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have stolen some of the things under the ban and placed them among their own things. This is why the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies, turning their backs and running before them. I will not be with them while there are those who have taken things under the ban. Rise up! Consecrate the people and tell them to consecrate themselves. Then and tell them, "Tomorrow the LORD God of Israel has said, 'Things under the ban are in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until these things are removed from your midst. '. "In the morning you shall come near by tribe and it shall be that the tribe the LORD takes by lot shall then come near by families of whom the LORD will choose one by lot. Then the LORD will select a household by lot. They shall come near the LORD man by man. It shall be that the one who is found to have those things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belong to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and committed a disgraceful thing in Israel." So Joshua arose early the next morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the heads of families of the tribe of Judah near and the family of the Zerahites was selected. He brought the family of the Zerahites near to him man by man and Zabdi was taken. He brought Zabdi's household near man by man and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and tell me what you have done. Do not hide anything from me." So Achan answered and said to Joshua, "Truly, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. Here is what I did: when I saw a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took and hid them in the earth under my tent." So Joshua sent men to the tent and found everything concealed as Achan had described it. They brought the things to Joshua for all the children of Israel to see, and poured them out before the LORD. Then Joshua with all Israel took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen, his donkeys and his sheep, his tent and everything that belonged to him, and brought them into the valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? Today the LORD will trouble you." And all of Israel stoned them and then burned them. They raised a great heap of stones over him that stands there to this day, and the LORD's fierce anger was turned from them. For this reason the place has always been called the valley of Achor. 9. Joshua Takes Ai - Back to Page Index Joshua 8:1-35 After this the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid to take all the people of war and go to Ai. See, I have given the king and all the people of his city and his land into your hand. You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho. You shall take its spoil and cattle for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city from behind it." So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai. He chose 30,000 valiant warriors and sent them out at night. He told them, "You are going to ambush the city from behind. Come near the city and be ready. Then I and all the people with me will approach the city. When they come out to meet us as they did last time, we will flee before them. We will draw them away from the city. They will think we are an easy mark because we are fleeing." Then you are to rise up from your ambush and take possession of the city. The LORD your God will deliver Ai into your hand. "When you have seized the city, the LORD has commanded that you set it on fire." So Joshua sent the smaller group to set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, just to the west of Ai. Joshua spent the night among the people. He rose early in the morning and with the elders mustered the people to approach Ai. All the men of war who were with him came to the front of the city and camped north of it with a valley between them and Ai. He set about 5,000 in ambush to the west of Ai. Joshua had spent the night across the valley to the north of the city. Early in the morning when the king of Ai saw them, he and his men hurried out to meet Israel in battle. He did not know about the ambush and took all his men of war. Joshua and all Israel fled back to the wilderness and the men of Ai followed. Even more came from the city to pursue them. And so they left the city unprotected. Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel. The city was unguarded while they followed after Israel. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Stretch out your javelin toward Ai, for I will give it to you." So Joshua stretched out his javelin toward the city. The men waiting in ambush rose up quickly when they saw Joshua stretch out his javelin. They ran to entered the city and captured it quickly. Then they set it on fire. When the men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke coming up from their city, they lost heart. At the same time Israel turned back from the wilderness against their pursuers. Joshua and all Israel slew the men of Ai. Those coming out of Ai were trapped in the middle of everyone and no one survived. The king of Ai was taken alive to Joshua. When everyone from Ai had fallen by the sword in the field, Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the sword. There were about 12,000 men and women of Ai who fell that day. Joshua kept his javelin outstretched until the inhabitants of Ai were utterly destroyed, both men and women. Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of the city for themselves, just as the LORD had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap for all time. It is that way to this day. He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sunset Joshua had his body taken down and thrown at the entrance to the city where they then raised a great pile of stones over it. The pile of stones stands there to this day. Then Joshua built an alter to the LORD God of Israel in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses. It was an alter of uncut stones. No iron tool had been used to shaped these stones. And they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, as well as peace offerings. Joshua wrote a copy of the law of Moses on stones there in the presence of the children of Israel. All Israel with their elders, officers and judges witnessed this as they stood on both sided of the ark of the covenant before the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses had said to do. Afterwards, Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, just as they were written in the book of the law. There was not one word which Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to all the assembly of Israel, including the women, children and the strangers who lived among them. 10. The Gibeonites Deceive Israel - Back to Page Index Joshua 9:1-27 All of the kings west of the Jordan, in the hill country and the lowland, and all of the coast of the Great Sea as far north as Lebanon, heard of Israel's success. These nations included the Hittites, the Amorites, then Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. They gathered together with the common goal of fighting against Joshua and Israel. When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard of what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they acted with cunning and sent envoys with worn out sacks and old wineskins on their donkeys. They wore worn out and patched sandals and clothing. They had bread that was dry and moldy. They came to Joshua in Gilgal, saying to him, "We have come from a far country and we want to make a covenant with you." The men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you are living within our land. How can we make a covenant with you?" But they answered Joshua, saying, "We are your servants." Joshua asked them, "Who are you and where do you come from?" They said, "Your servants have come from a far country because of the fame of the LORD your God. We have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt. We have also heard of what He did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country told us to take provisions for the journey and go to meet you and say, 'We are your servants. Please make a covenant with us.' This bread was warm on the day we began our journey, and now it is dry and moldy. These wineskins were new and now are torn. See our clothes and sandals, and how worn out they are from the long journey." So the men of Israel took some of their provisions and did not ask for the counsel of the LORD. Joshua made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of Israel swore and oath to them. It came about that three days later they learned that these people were their neighbors and lived within the land. Then the children of Israel set out for their cities, which were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kiriathjearim. Israel did not strike them because their leaders had sworn unto them by the LORD the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the leaders. But the leaders said to the whole congregation, "We have sworn to them by the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. This is what we will do. We will let them live, so that God's wrath is not upon us for breaking the oath we swore to them. We will let them live, but they will be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation." Then Joshua called these people and questioned them, saying, "Why have your deceived us by claiming to be from a far country? Because you have lied to us you are cursed and you will always be slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God." So they answered Joshua, saying, "We heard that the LORD your God commanded Moses to give you all the land destroy its inhabitants. We feared for our lives and that is why we did this thing. So now we are in your hands. Do to us as seems best to you." Thus Joshua did to them and delivered them from the hands of the children of Israel, and they were not slain. And on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD. This was to continue in the place the LORD would choose for his tabernacle. 11. The Sun Stands Still - Back to Page Index Joshua 10:1-15 Now it came about that when Adonizedec king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had utterly destroyed Ai as he had done to Jericho, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, he was very afraid because Gibeon was a great city, even greater than Ai, and its men were mighty. So Adonizedec king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish and to Debir king of Eglon, saying to them, "come up and help me attach Gibeon, for they have made peace with Joshua and the children of Israel." So these five kings of the Amorites gathered together and went up and camped by Gibeon and fought against it. Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua at Gilgal, saying, "Do not abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us from all the kings of the Amorites of the hill country, for they have assembled against us." So Joshua went up from Gilgal with all the people of war including his valiant warriors. The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. None of them shall stand before you." Joshua marched all night from Gilgal and surprised them. And the LORD confounded them before Israel and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon. Israel pursued them by way of the ascent to Bethhoron and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. As they were fleeing before Israel, while they were at the descent of Bethhoron, the LORD threw large hailstones on them from heaven. This took place all the way to Azekah, and they died. There were more killed with hailstones than those killed by the children of Israel. Then Joshua spoke to the LORD on the day that the LORD delivered the Amorites to Israel, and he said in the hearing of Israel, "O sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, remain in the valley of Aijalon." So the sun stood still and the moon stopped, until Israel had avenged themselves of their enemies. This is written in the book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not go down for about a whole day. There has been no day like that before or since, when the LORD listened to a man's voice, for the LORD fought for Israel. Then Joshua and all Israel returned to the camp at Gilgal.
12. Five Kings Hide In A Cave - Back to Page Index Joshua 10:16-27 Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah. Joshua was told that they had been found there. He had them roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and assigned men to guard it. He told his men to pursue their enemies, attacking them in the rear. He said, "Do not allow them to enter their cities for the LORD has delivered them into your hand." It came about that when Joshua and the children of Israel had finished slaying them with a very great slaughter, that the only ones left, had entered the fortified cities. So they returned to Joshua and the camp at Makkedah in peace and no one uttered a word against any of the children of Israel. Then Joshua had the mouth of the cave opened and the five kings brought out to him. There was the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish and the king of Eglon. When the five kings had been brought to Joshua, he called for all the men of Israel and said to the chief men of war, "Come near and place your feet on the necks of these kings." So they did this. Joshua said, "Do not be afraid! Be strong and courageous, for this is what the LORD will do to all of your enemies with whom you will fight." After this Joshua struck them and put them to death, hanging them on five trees until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered that they be taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave where they had hidden. Large stones were then placed over the entrance to the cave and they are there to this day.
13. Joshua Captures More Of Canaan - Back to Page Index Read Joshua 10:28-43 14. Joshua Takes The Whole Land According To What The Lord Told Moses - Back to Page Index Read Joshua 11:1-23 15. A List Of Kings Defeated - Back to Page Index Read Joshua 12:1-24 16. Joshua Is Old And Much Remains To Be Done - Back to Page Index Read Joshua 13:1-33 17. Joshua Give Hebron To Caleb - Back to Page Index Joshua 14:1-15 Now these are the territories 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 tribes of the children of Israel apportioned as an inheritance to them. Through Moses the LORD commanded by lot the inheritance for the other nine tribes and for the half tribe of Manasseh. Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and a half tribe on the east side Jordan, but unto the Levites he gave no inheritance. The sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. Levi did not get a portion except for the cities they lived in with pasture land for their flocks. Thus the children of Israel divided the land, doing just as the LORD had commanded through Moses. Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, said to Joshua, "You know the word of the LORD spoken through Moses concerning you and me when we were in Kadeshbarnea. I was forty years old when Moses the LORD's servant sent me from Kadeshbarnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word of what I saw. But my brethren who spied out the land with me caused the people to melt with fear at the things which they related about the land. But I followed the LORD my God fully. So Moses swore on that day that the land we had walked on would be an inheritance to your children and mine because we followed the LORD fully. Now that the LORD has let me live these forty-five years, I am now eighty-five years old today. I am still as strong as I was when Moses sent me to spy out the land. Give me this hill country which the LORD spoke about on that day when we learned of the Anakim and their great fortified cities. Perhaps the LORD will be with me and I will drive them out as He has said." So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh, for an inheritance. And this has been his inheritance until this day, because he followed the LORD God of Israel fully. The name of Hebron was formerly Kirjatharba. Arba had been a great man among the Anakims. And now the land had rest from war. 18. More Of The Land Divided Up By Lot - Back to Page Index Read Joshua 15-19 19. Joshua Designates The Cities Of Refuge - Back to Page Index Joshua 20:1-9 Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel. Tell them to designate the cities of refuge of which I spoke of through Moses, so that the man who kills anyone unintentionally may have a place to escape from the avenger. There he may stand at the entrance of the gate and state his case in the hearing of the elders of that city. They are then to take him into their city that he may dwell with them. If the avenger pursues him there, they shall not deliver him to the avenger provided he struck down his neighbor without premeditation. He shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, or until the death of the high priest. After that he shall return to his house in his own city." So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriatharba which is in Hebron in the mountains of Judah. East of the Jordan they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. These are the appointed cities for all the children of Israel and the stranger sojourning among them. Whoever kills a person unintentionally may flee to one of these cities and not die at the hand of the avenger until he has stood before the congregation. 20. The Levites Are Given Pasture Land - Back to Page Index Read Joshua 21-1-45 21. The Tribes East Of The Jordan Cause Consternation - Back to Page Index Joshua 22:1-34 Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, "You have kept all the commands of Moses the servant of the LORD. And you have listened to my voice, as well. You have not forsaken your brothers since you entered the promised land. And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers. Therefore you may go to your own tents and the land of your possession which Moses gave to you beyond the Jordan. Only be careful to observe the commandments of the law which Moses, the LORD's servant, gave to you, to love the LORD your God, walking in His ways, keeping His commandments and holding fast to Him with all your heart and soul." So Joshua blessed them and sent them away to their tents. Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan Moses had given possession in Bashan, but unto the other half west of the Jordan Joshus gave them their portion. And said to them, "Return to your tents with great riches, live stock, silver, gold, bronze, iron and much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers." The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned to their home east of the Jordan to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession which they had possessed, according to the command of the LORD through Moses. When they came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, they built a large altar by the river. The children of Israel west of the Jordan heard that they had built an altar on the west side of the Jordan. They gathered at Shiloh and prepared to go to war against the tribes east of the Jordan because they had built this altar. And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, ten princes, chiefs of each of the tribes west of the Jordan accompanied Phinehas. They came to the sons of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead and said to them, "the whole congregation of the LORD wants to know the meaning of your unfaithful and rebellious act against the God of Israel by building an alter for yourselves? Is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us, which we are still recovering from to this day? Are you turning away from the LORD? If you rebel against the LORD He will be angry with the entire congregation of Israel. If the land of your possession is unfit for you then come over to where the tabernacle stands and take possession among us. Just do not rebel against the LORD, or us, by building an altar for yourselves in addition to the altar of the LORD. Remember how Achan the son of Zerah acted unfaithfully in the things under ban? Remember how wrath fell on the entire congregation of Israel? He was not the only one who perished for his sin." Then the sons of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered them, saying. "The LORD God Almighty knows whether or not we have built this altar in rebellion. If we have built the altar to turn away from following the LORD, or to burn any kind of offering on it, let the LORD require it of us. But we have done this out of concern that your sons may eventually want nothing to do with our sons. For the LORD has made the Jordon a border between you and us. Your sons may tell our sons that they have no portion with the LORD and then our sons will stop fearing the LORD. Therefore we said, 'Let us build an altar that is not for burnt offering or sacrifice,' But as a witness between us and our future generations, that when we come to perform our service to the LORD your sons will not say to our sons, 'You have no part with us in the LORD.' So we decided to put up a memorial to be a witness between us, so that if either of us forget our part with you, we can both see this copy of the altar of the LORD which our fathers made. Far be it for us to rebel against the LORD by building this altar for any other purpose." So when Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the congregation heard the words of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, it pleased them. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar said to them, "Today we know that the LORD is in your midst, because you have not committed an unfaithful act against Him." Then Phinehas and the leaders returned to Canaan from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, and brought back word to the tribes west of the Jordon. And the word pleased the children of Israel and they blessed God. And they stopped speaking of destroying the tribes east of the Jordon. The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad named the altar Witness, saying, "It is a witness between us that the LORD is God." 22. Israel Has Rest From All Their Enemies - Back to Page Index Joshua 23:1-16 After many days when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies on every side, and Joshua was advanced in years, he called the elders, the judges and officers of Israel together, and said to them, "I am old and advanced in years. You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all the nations around you, for He has been fighting for you. I have apportioned the land of these nations from the Jordon to the east to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun. The LORD your God will thrust out before you those remaining and you will possess their land, just as He promised. Therefore, be courageous and keep everything that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn to the right or the left, so that you will not associate with these nations which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or swear by them, serve them or bow down to them. Rather, you are to cling to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. For the LORD has driven out great and strong nations from before you, and none of these nations has withstood you. One of you have put to flight a thousand because the LORD your God has fought for you, just as He promised. Be diligent in your love for the LORD your God. For if you ever go back to the ways of these nations, intermarry with them, and associate with them, you may be certain that the LORD will not continue to drive them out before you. They will become snares to entrap you and scourge you with thorns until you perish from off this good land which He has given to you. Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You well know that the LORD has not failed you in even one of His good promises. It shall come about that just as He has fulfilled all His good promises to you, so He will bring all His threats upon you and remove you from this good land if you fail to follow Him. When you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, and serve other gods, the LORD's anger will burn against you and you will perish quickly from off this good land which He has given to you." 23. Joshua's Final Words - Back to Page Index Joshua 24:1-33 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem and called for the elders and their judges and officers to present themselves before the LORD. Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the river. They were Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. And they served other gods.' Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan. I multiplied his descendants by giving him Isaac. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I sent plagues on Egypt. Afterwards I brought you out from there. Your fathers came to the Red Sea, and Egypt pursued them with chariots and horsemen. But when your fathers cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between your fathers and the army of the Egyptians. In the end He covered them with the sea. Your fathers saw what I did in Egypt and you lived in the wilderness for a long time." "Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites beyond the Jordan. They fought with you and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you." "Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, fought against Israel and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you and I delivered you from his hand." "You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. They fought against you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. I gave all of them into your hand. I sent hornets to drive out the two kings of the Amorites before you. You didn't use your bow or your sword. I gave you land for which you did not labor, cities which you did not build. And you are eating from vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant." "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt. Serve the LORD only. If you are unhappy today serving the LORD, then choose whom you will serve, whether it be the gods of your fathers, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." The people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD and serve other gods. For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers up from the house of bondage in Egypt. He did great signs and preserved us all along the way among the people whose land we passed through. The LORD drove them out before us, even the Amorite. We will serve the LORD for He is our God." Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve other gods, He will turn and do you harm because you forsook Him after all the good He has done for you." The people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve the LORD." Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD and will serve Him." And they replied, "We are witnesses." "Now you must put away the foreign gods which are in your midst and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice." So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. He set up a large stone under the oak by the sanctuary of the LORD. He 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. Thus it shall be a witness against you so that you do not deny your God." Then Joshua dismissed the people to return each one to his own inheritance. After this Joshua the son of Nun and servant of the LORD died. He was one hundred and ten years old. They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnathserah which is in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash. Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua and had known the deeds the LORD had done for Israel. They buried the bones of Joseph which had been brought up from Egypt at Shechem in the piece of ground which Jacob had purchased for one hundred pieces of money from the sons of Hamor who was the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's sons. And Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in a hill that belonged to his son Phinehas, which was given to him in Mount Ephraim. 24. Deborah - Back to Page Index Judges 4:1-24 After Ehud died the children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor. Sisera was the commander of his army. He lived in Harosheth which belonged to the Gentiles. The children of Israel cried to the LORD because he had nine hundred chariots and oppressed Israel severely for twenty years. Deborah was a prophetess and the wife of Lappidoth. And she judged Israel in those days. She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel would come to her for judgment. Deborah summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedeshnaphtali, and said to him, "Behold, the LORD God of Israel has commanded you to take ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun and march to Mount Tabor. I will draw Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, out to you. He will come with his chariots and many troops and I will give him into your hand." Barak said to her, "If you go with me I will go. If you will not then I will not go." Deborah replied, "I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on this journey you are about to take, for the LORD will give Sisera into the hands of a woman." Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together at Kadesh. Ten thousand men went with him. And Deborah went too. Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses. He had pitched his tent on the plain of Zaanaim which is by Kedesh. It was told to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. Sisera call together all his chariots. There were nine hundred of them made of iron. He also called all the people with him from Harosheth to the river Kishon. Deborah said to Barak, "Arise! This is the day which the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Behold, the LORD has gone before you." So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. The LORD routed Sisera, all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot, while Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Gentiles. All of Sisera's army fell by the sword with not one man left. Now Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between the king of Hazor and Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Rest here, my master. Do not fear." And he went into her tent and she covered him with a rug. Being thirsty he asked for a little water. So she opened a bottle of milk and gave him some before she covered him. He said, "Stand in the doorway of the tent, and if anyone comes looking for me and asks if anyone is here, say 'No.'" But Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and a hammer, and went into the tent quietly. Sisera was exhausted and sound asleep. She drove the tent peg into his temple and into the ground. And so he died. As Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said, "Come and I will show you the man you are looking for." He went into the tent with her and found Sisera lying dead with a tent peg in his temple. So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the children of Israel, and they pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until he had been destroyed. Judges 5:1-31 "The kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder in silver. The stars fought from heaven against Sisera. The ancient torrent of Kishon swept them away, marching on with strength. Then the hooves of his valiant steeds were broken. Curse Meroz," said the angel of the LORD."Utterly curse its inhabitants, because they did not come to help the LORD against the mighty. Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Most blessed is she of women in the tent." He asked her for water and she gave him milk, curds in a magnificent bowl. "She reached for a tent peg and in her right hand took a hammer. Then she struck Sisera, smashing his head and piercing his temple. He bowed between her feet and lay where he fell. The mother of Sisera looked out through the lattice of her window and lamented, 'Why does his chariot delay in coming home?' Her wise princesses answer her but she repeats the words to herself. Are they not dividing the spoil with a maiden, or two, for every warrior. And to Sisera, a spoil of dyed cloth with embroidery on both sides. Thus let Your enemies perish, O LORD. Let those who love you be like the rising sun in its might." And the land was undisturbed for forty years.
Now it came about that when the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of Midian, that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'I was the one who brought you up out of Egypt from the house of slavery.' I delivered you from the Egyptians and all who oppressed you. I took what was theirs and gave it to you. I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live. But you have not obeyed Me.'" Then the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in an effort to save it from the Midianites. The Angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior." Then Gideon said to him, "O my Lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are the LORD's miracles which our fathers told us about? Now the LORD has abandoned us into the hands of the Midianites." The LORD looked at him and said, "Go in your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" Gideon said, "O LORD, how shall I deliver Israel? My family is the least in Manasseh and I am the youngest in my father's house." But the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you and you shall defeat Midian." So Gideon said to Him, "If I have found favor in Your sight, show me a sign that I may know that it is You who is speaking with me. Please do not leave this place until I bring out my offering and lay it before you." And He said, "I will stay here until you return." Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He presented these with a pot of broth to the angel of the LORD under the oak. And the Angel of the LORD told him to place the meat and the unleavened bread on a rock and pour the broth over them. And he did this. Then the Angel of the LORD reached out with his staff and touched the meat and unleavened bread. Fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. When Gideon perceived that he had been talking with the Angel of the LORD, he said, "Alas, O LORD God! I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face." The LORD said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear. You will not die." Then Gideon built an altar to the LORD in that place and named it, Jehovahshalom. It is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. On the same night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull and a second bull that is seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father. Then cut down the Asherah which is beside it." Then build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock. Take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which you shall cut down. Then Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had told him. He was afraid of his father's household and the men of the city, so he did it at night instead of during the day. When the men of the city arose early in the morning, they saw that the altar of Baal had been torn down, the Asherah cut down and the second bull had been offered on the altar which had been built. They said to one another, "Who did this?" And when they had inquired about they learned that Gideon, the son of Joash, had done it. The men of the city asked Joash to bring his son out that he might be put to death, because he had torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it. But Joash said to all those who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal to deliver him? Whoever pleads for Baal shall be put to death. If he is a god, let him contend for himself when his altar has been torn down." On that day Gideon was named Jerubbaal, because it had been said, "Let Baal contend against him, because he has thrown down his altar." Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites with the children of the east assembled themselves in the valley of Jezreel. The Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon and he blew the trumpet. The Abiezrites gathered to him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh to call the people to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him. Then Gideon said to God, "I want to test You to see if You will deliver Israel by my hand, as You have said. I will put out a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on it and the ground around it is dry, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me as You have said." And it happen that when he arose the next morning, he squeezed a bowl full of dew out of the fleece. Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me if I ask for one more proof. Tomorrow let the ground be wet and the fleece be dry." So God did this for Gideon. The next morning the ground was wet and the fleece was dry.
So the 300 men took their provisions and their trumpets and Gideon sent all the others home. And the host of Midian were spread out below him in the valley. That evening the LORD said to Gideon, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. But if you are afraid to go down against them, take your servant Purah and go down to the camp, and you will hear what they are saying. Afterwards your hands will be strengthened to go against the Midianite camp." So Gideon and his servant went down to the outposts of the Midianite camp. Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were in the valley as numerous as locusts, and they had camels beyond counting. When Gideon came near the outpost, a man was relating a dream to his friend. He said, "Behold, I had a dream. A loaf of bread came tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and flattened it." His friend replied, "This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given all the host of Midian into his hands." When Gideon heard the account of the dream, and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. Returning to the camp of Israel, he said, "Arise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hands." He divided the 300 men into three companies, and gave each one man a trumpet and an empty pitcher with a burning torch inside of it. He said, "Watch me and do what you see me do as we come to the outskirts of their camp. When I and those with me blow our trumpets, all of you do the same. And shout, 'For the LORD and for Gideon.'" So Gideon and the hundred men with him came to the outskirts of the Midianite camp. It was at the beginning of the middle watch when the guards had just been posted. Gideon's men blew their trumpets and smashed the pitchers that covered their torches. When all three companies blew their trumpets and broke their pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets with their right hands. After blowing their trumpets they shouted, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!" Each of them held his ground around the camp and the army within cried out as they fled. As they blew all three hundred trumpets, the LORD set the sword of one man against another throughout the whole army. The army fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah by Tabbath. The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian and take the waters before them. Go as far as Bethbarah and the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim did this." They captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they continued to pursue Midian. And they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.
Then Gideon and the 300 men with him crossed the Jordan being weary from the pursuit. He said to the men of Succoth, "Please give some bread to these people with me, for they are weary from pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian." The leaders of Succoth said, "You have not yet captured Zebah and Zalmunna and we will not give bread to your army." Gideon said, "All right. When the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will thrash your bodies with thorns and briers from the wilderness." He went up from there to Penuel and asked them for bread. They gave him the same answer as Succoth had answered. So he told them that when he returned he would tear down their tower. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with about fifteen thousand men, the only ones left of all the army from the east. An hundred and twenty thousand had already fallen. Gideon came at them by way of their tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote them, for they were not expecting him from that direction. When Zebah and Zalmunna fled he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian and routed their whole army. And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle before the sun was up. They enquired of a young man from Succoth and he described the princes of Succoth and seventy seven elders. Gideon came to the men of Succoth and said, "Remember Zebah and Zalmunna, of whom you taunted me, saying that they are not yet in your hands and we will not give you bread?" He then took the elders of the city and disciplined them with thorns and briers from the wilderness. He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?" They said, "They were like you, each one resembling the son of a king." Gideon said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. If you had let them live I would not kill you." So he said to Jether his firstborn, "Rise up and kill them." But his son did not do it because he was a youth and afraid. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength." So Gideon killed both Zebah and Zalmunna and took the crescent ornaments which were on their camel's necks. Then the men of Israel said, "Rule over us, both you and your son and your son's sons, for you have delivered us from Midian." But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you and neither shall my son. The LORD shall rule over you." Yet Gideon said to them, "I would like to request of each of you an earring from your spoil." For the Ismaelites wore gold earrings. They agreed to this and they spread out a garment and everyone of them threw an earring on it from his spoil. The total weight of the earrings was 1,700 gold shekels. Gideon also had the crescent ornaments, the pendants and the purple robes that the Midianite kings had worn, besides the neck bands on their camels. Gideon made these into an ephod and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it. It became a snare to Gideon and his household. So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel and they did not cause trouble any more. Israel had peace for the next forty years while Gideon lived. Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, the son of Joash moved out of his father's house to live on his own. He had seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. His concubine who lived in Shechem bore him a son and he named him Abimelech. And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in his father's tomb in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. As soon as Gideon was dead, his sons played the harlot with the Baals, making Baalberith their God. So the children of Israel did not remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of their enemies on every side. Neither did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, or remember all the good he had done for Israel.
When Jotham learned of this he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, calling out loudly, saying, "Listen to me, O men of Shechem, that God may listen to you. There was a time that the trees went out to anoint a king over them. They said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us!' But the olive tree said to them, 'Shall I leave my fatness where I am honored by God and men to be promoted over the trees?' Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You, come and reign over us!' But the fig tree replied, 'Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit, and be promoted over the trees?' Then the trees said to the vine, 'Come and reign over us!' But the vine said to them, 'Shall I leave my new wine, which cheers God and men, and go to be promoted over the trees?' Finally all the trees said to the bramble, 'You, come and reign over us!' The bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you are anointing me as your king, then come and take refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'" "Now, therefore, if you have dealt in truth and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have done right by Jerubbaal and his house, treating him as he deserved, for my father fought for you and risked his life to deliver you from Midian, and you have risen against my father's house today and killed his sons on one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother, and if you have dealt in truth and integrity with the house of Jerubbaal this day, then you and Abimelech should rejoice in each other. But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the men of Shechem and the house of Millo, and let fire come out from them as well and consume Abimelech." Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer and remaining there because of Abimelech. So Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years. Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and they dealt treacherously with him, so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be laid on Abimelech who had killed them, and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. The men of Shechem set men to wait in ambush against Abimelech. They were robbing all who passed by and it was told to Abimelech. Gaal the son of Ebed came to Shechem with his relatives and the men of Shechem trusted him. They gathered grapes, made juice, and held a festival. They went into the house of their god, ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn't he the son of Jerubbaal, and isn't Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, but why serve Abimelech? I wish that these men were under my authority! Then I would remove Abimelech." And he challenged Abimelech to come out with his army. Zebul, the ruler of the city, was angry when he heard Gaal's words. He sent messengers to warn Abimelech, saying, "Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives are stirring up the city of Shechem against you. Arise by night with the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. In the morning at sunrise rush the city. When Gaal and those with him come out of the city to deal with you, then you deal with them as you are able." So Abimelech divided his men into four companies and went out at night and lay in wait against Shechem. The next morning Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the city gate. It was then that Abimelech and his people got up from their ambush. As Gaal saw them coming, he said to Zebul, "Look, people are coming down from the mountain tops." But Zebul replied, "You are seeing only shadows that look like men." Gaal spoke again, saying, "Look, people are coming from the highest places and others are coming by the plain of Meonenim." Then Zebul said to him, "Where now is your boasting when you asked, 'Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Is this not the people whom you despise? Go out and fight with them.'" So Gaal went out leading the leaders of Shechem and they fought with Abimelech. Abimelech chased Gaal and he fled. Many fell wounded in the entrance to the gate. So Abimelech remained at Arumah, but Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives and none remained in Shechem. The next day the people went out to the field and Abimelech was told about this. So he divided his people into three companies and laid in wait. When the people came out of the city he rose up and slew them. They ran to the city gate and the other two companies fought against those in the field, killing all of them. Abimelech fought against the city all that day, killing all the people in it and capturing the city. Then he razed the city and sowed it with salt. When all the leaders of the tower of Shechem heard of this, they entered the inner chamber of the temple of the god Berith. Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the tower of Shechem had gathered there. So he went up to Mount Zalmon taking all the people with him. And he took an axe and cut a branch from a tree and laying it on his shoulder and said to the people, "Do as I am doing and be quick about it." Each of the people also cut a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire. So about a thousand men and women died in the tower of Shechem. Then Abimelech went to Thebez and camped there and captured it. There was a strong tower in the center of the city. All the men and women with the leaders shut themselves in and went up on the roof of the tower. So Abimelech fought against the tower and approached the entrance to the tower to burn it with fire. A certain woman threw the upper millstone down on Abimelech's head, and this crushed his skull. Abimelech called quickly to his armor bearer and asked him to kill him with his sword, saying to him, "I do not want it said that a woman killed me." So the young man pierces him through, and he died. When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each one departed for his own home. Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech toward his father when he killed his seventy brothers. And God returned all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their own heads, for the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them.
After him Jair the Gileadite arose and judged Israel twenty two years. He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. They had thirty cities in Gilead which are called Havothjair to this day. And Jair died and was buried in Kamon. Then the children of Israel once again did evil in the sight of the LORD, serving the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon and the Philistines. They forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of the Philistines and the sons of Ammon. These afflicted the children of Israel for eighteen years. This went on beyond the Jordan in the land of Gilead and in the land of the Amorites. The sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim. This greatly distressed Israel. Then the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against You, for we have forsaken our God and served the Baals." The LORD said to them, "Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, Ammon and the Philistines? And when the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, you cried out to Me and I delivered you from them. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. This is why I will not deliver you. Go cry out to the gods you have been serving. Let them deliver you from your distress." The children of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us today." So they put away the foreign gods and served the LORD, and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer. Then the children of Ammon camped at Gilgal and the children of Israel camped at Mizpah. The leaders of Gilgal said to each other, "Who is the man who will begin the fight against the children of Ammon? He shall become our leader in Gilead."
Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, "Why have you come to fight against my land?" The king of Ammon sent messengers back, saying, "Because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from Arnon as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan. Therefore, return the land peaceably now." Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon, and they said, "Thus says Jephthah, Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of Ammon. For when Israel came up from Egypt they went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. Then Israel asked the king of Edom for permission to pass through the land, but the king of Edom would not listen. They also asked the king of Moab for permission to pass though, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh. Then they went through the wilderness and around Edom and Moab coming to the east of Moab. They camped beyond the Arnon, but did not enter Moab, for Arnon was its border." Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, at Heshbon, saying, "Please allow us to pass through your land to our own place. But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel. The LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they were defeated. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites and its inhabitants. They possessed all the territory from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. Since the God of Israel drove out the Amorites from before His people, are you then to possess it? Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And so what the LORD our God has given to us we will possess. Are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? How did he fare when he fought against Israel? While Israel possessed Heshbon and its villages, and in all the cities on the bank of the Arnon, why did you never recover the land during the three hundred years since that time? I have not sinned against you, but you are doing wrong by making war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon." But the king of Ammon disregarded Jephthah's message. The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and after going to Mizpah of Gilead, he went on to Ammon. Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, saying, "If You will give the children of Ammon into my hand, then whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in peace, shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it as a burnt offering." So Jephthah crossed over against the children of Ammon to fight with them, and the LORD gave them into his hand. He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith, twenty cities. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. When Jephthah came to his own house at Mizpah, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She was his only child. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Alas my daughter! You have brought me very low and I am troubled because of you. For I have given my word to the LORD, and cannot take it back." She said to him, "My father, you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have promised, since the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the children of Ammon." She said to her father, "Let this thing be done to me, only give me two months to go into the mountains and weep with my companions, because I will never have children." And he said, "Go." So he sent her away for two months, and she went to the mountains with her companions to bewail her loss. At the end of two months she returned to her father who did to her according to his vow to the LORD, and she never married. Thus it became a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel would lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days each year.
Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim. They captured the fords of the Jordan next to Ephraim. When a fugitive of Ephraim wanted to cross over they would question them as to who they were. If a person said they were not of Ephraim, they would say, "Pronounce "Shibboleth" for a man of Ephraim could not pronounce it correctly. And when he could not say it correctly, they would kill him. Thus 40,000 of Ephraim fell at that time." Jephthah judged Israel six years until he died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
Manoah said, "When he is born, and grows up, what will be his vocation?" The Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Let the woman pay attention to everything I say. She should not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor strong drink or any unclean thing. She must observe everything I have commanded." Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you." The Angel of the LORD said, "Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but you may prepare a burnt offering to the LORD." For Manoah did not know that he had been talking to the Angel of the LORD. Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "What is Your name, so that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?" The Angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is a secret?" So Manoah took the young goat and offered it to the LORD on the rock with the grain offering while his wife watched. When the flame went up from the alter toward heaven, the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell to the ground on their faces. The Angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah and his wife no more, and they knew that it was the LORD Who had visited them. Then Manoah said to his wife, surely we will die for we have seen God. But his wife said, "If the LORD had wanted to kill us He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us. Neither would He have made known to us what He has shown us." The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson, and the child grew up with the blessing of the LORD. And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir Samson from time to time in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Then Samson went down to Timnah with his parents. When they had come to Timnah's vineyards, a young lion came toward him roaring. The Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon Samson, and with his bare hands he tore the lion as though it was a young goat. His parents were not with him at the time and he did not tell them about what he had done. So Samson went down and talked with the woman and she looked good to him. When he came back later to take her as his wife, he turned aside to see what had become of the lion. He was surprised to see that a swarm of bees was in the dead lion making honey inside of it. He took some of the honey in his hands. He ate some and gave some to his father and mother and they ate it. But he did not tell them where he had gotten it. His father went and made arrangements for the marriage. And Samson made a great feast for the young men as was the custom. In all there were thirty of them. Samson proposed a riddle, which if they could solve it before the end of the seven day feast, he would give each of them a linen wrap and a change of clothes. But if they could not solve the riddle, they would owe him thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes. They agreed, saying, "We want to hear your riddle." So he said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat. And out of the strong came something sweet." After three days they still had not figured out the riddle. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband to tell you the riddle so that you can then tell it to us. Otherwise we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Is it your intention to impoverish us?" So Samson's wife wept before him, saying, "You must not love me for you have not made the riddle known to me." But he said to her, "I haven't even told it to my father or mother. So should I tell you?" However, she continued to weep before him for the rest of the days of the feast. On the seventh day she pressed him so hard that he told her the riddle and she told it to her own people. So the men of the city said to him, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" And Samson said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer you would not have found out my riddle." Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men there, and took their spoil so that he could give the changes of clothes to those who told him his riddle. And his anger burned and he returned to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to his friend who had been his best man.
Then Samson said, When he had finished speaking, he threw down the jawbone and named that place Ramathlehi. He was very thirsty and called to the LORD, saying, "You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant. Shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi and water came out. When he drank from it his strength returned and he was revived. He named the place Enhakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. So Samson continued to judge Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Sometime after this he loved a woman named Delilah in the valley of Sorek. The lords of the Philistines came to her and asked her to get him to tell her where his great strength came from, and how they could overpower him. They hoped to bind him and afflict him. They offered her eleven hundred pieces of silver. So Delilah began to work on Samson, saying, "Please tell me why you are so strong and how you can be bound and afflicted?" Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become as weak as any other man." Then the lords of the Philistines brought her the seven undried cords and she bound him with them. She had arranged for men to lie in wait in an inner room. She called out, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the cords as though they were threads. And so, his source of strength was not discovered. Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me telling me lies. Please tell me how you may be bound." He said to her, "If they bind me tightly with ropes that have never been used for anything, then I will become as weak as any other man." So Delilah bound him with new ropes and said to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!." For the men were once again lying in wait in an inner room. But he snapped the ropes from his arms as though they were threads. Then Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now you have deceived me with lies. Tell me how you may be bound." And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my hair in the cloth on a loom, I will then be weak like any man." So while he slept Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into cloth on a loom. Then she said to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he woke up and pulled free from the loom. Then she said to him, "How can you say that you love me when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me three times and not told me where your great strength comes from." She pressed him daily, urging him to tell her, until his soul was vexed to death. So he told her all that was on his heart. He said, "A razor has never come to my head. I am a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me and I will be like any other man." When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was on his heart, she sent for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come at once, for he has told me all that is on his heart." Then the lords came up and brought her the money. Delilah made Samson sleep on her knees and then called for a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him. She said, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you." And he awoke and said, "I will go out as always and shake myself free." He did not know that the LORD had departed from him. The Philistines seized him, put out his eyes and brought him to Gaza. They bound him with bronze chains and made him grind at the mill in prison. As time passed his hair began to grow again. Now the lords of the Philistines assembled for a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They were rejoicing, for they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands." And whenever the people saw him, they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hands. He destroyed our country and many of us." When they were in high spirits, they called for Samson to be brought out from prison to amuse them. They had him stand between the center pillars as they made sport of him. Then Samson said to the boy holding his hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests that I may lean against them." The house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there. And there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof looking on while Samson amused them. Then Samson called to the LORD, and said, "O LORD God, please strengthen me only this once, that I may be avenged upon the Philistines for my two eyes." Standing between the two middle pillars on which the house rested, Samson placed a hand on each pillar, and said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bowed himself with all his might against the pillars so that the house fell on the lords and all the people with them. So in his death he killed more than all the people he had killed in his lifetime. His brothers and all his father's house came down and took him up to be buried between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he judged Israel twenty years.
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