25 And now artthou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever
strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,
26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the
cities that bealong by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not
recover themwithin that time?
27 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the
LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which
he sent him.
29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh,
and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over untothe children of
Ammon.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the
children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I
return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for
a burnt offering.
32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD
delivered them into his hands.
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, eventwenty cities, and unto
the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were
subdued before the children of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him
with timbrels and with dances: and she was hisonly child; beside her he had neither son nor
daughter.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter!
thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my
mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, ifthou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me
according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken
vengeance for thee of thine enemies, evenof the children of Ammon.
37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I
may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away fortwo months: and she went with her companions,
and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did
with her accordingto his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in
Israel,
40 Thatthe daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite
four days in a year.
1 And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto
Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not
call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire.
2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of
Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.
3 And when I saw that ye delivered menot, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against
the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come
up unto me this day, to fight against me?
4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men
fugitives of Ephraim among the
Ephraimites, andamong the Manassites.
5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that
when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said
unto him, Artthou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
6 Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to
pronounce itright. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at
that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one
ofthe cities of Gilead.
8 And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
9 And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whomhe sent abroad, and took in thirty
daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.
10 Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Bethlehem.
11 And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years.
12 And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.
13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel.
14 And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he
judged Israel eight years.
15 And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of
Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.
1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them
into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name wasManoah;
and his wife wasbarren, and bare not.
3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art
barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any
unclean thing:
5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child
shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand
of the Philistines.
6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his
countenance waslike the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not
whence he was, neither told he me his name:
7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor
strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the
womb to the day of his death.
8 Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst
send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as
she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband wasnot with her.
10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the
man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the otherday.
11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Artthou
the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.
12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how
shall we do unto him?
13 And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her
14 She may not eat of any thingthat cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong
drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.
15 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall
have made ready a kid for thee.
16 And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy
bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew
not that he wasan angel of the LORD.
17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What isthy name, that when thy sayings come
to pass we may do thee honour?
18 And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is
secret?
19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered itupon a rock unto the LORD: and the
angeldid wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.
20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the
angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and
fell on their faces to the ground.
21 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew
that he wasan angel of the LORD.
22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
23 But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a
burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these
things, nor would as at this time have told us such thingsas these.
24 And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD
blessed him.
25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and
Eshtaol.
1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the
Philistines.
2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath
of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is therenever a woman among the daughters of
thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised
Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
4 But his father and his mother knew not that it wasof the LORD, that he sought an occasion
against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the
vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a
kid, and he hadnothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.
8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion:
and, behold, there wasa swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and
he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the
carcase of the lion.
10 So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the
young men to do.
11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with
